John Lewis to open 1st department store outside UK

LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - John Lewis [JLP.UL] announced plans on Thursday to open its first department store outside the UK, saying it had agreed to anchor a new shopping centre in Dublin, Ireland, expected to open in 2013.

The employee-owned group, whose upmarket food chain Waitrose opened its first shop outside the UK earlier this week, said it had agreed with developer Chartered Land to invest 50 million euros ($64.3 million) in a five-floor, 250,000-square-foot store for the Dublin Centre development in O'Connell Street.

The investment would bring over 800 jobs to the Irish capital, it said in a statement.

John Lewis, which is owned by its 69,000 staff, plans to double the size of its business over the next 10 years.

At its interim results in September, the group said it remained committed to this goal, despite current tough trading conditions, though there might be some delays at individual sites due to a more cautious stance from developers.

John Lewis has already announced plans to open a department store at Sprucefield, near Lisburn in Northern Ireland.

Waitrose said earlier this week it had opened the first of two new stores in Dubai in a licensing partnership with Fine Fare Food Market.

Last week, John Lewis reported a 0.2 percent rise in third-quarter sales, including a 1.2 percent decline at its department stores and a 1.3 percent rise at Waitrose. (Reporting by Mark Potter, editing by Will Waterman)