Customers will be welcomed back to John Lewis in Oxford this month.

The store at the Westgate centre was listed in The Times last week as one of the branches that could close, but the retailer has announced today that it will reopen on July 30.

Oxford's shop will join nine other branches across the country, including Reading, to open its doors.

Eight John Lewis sites, however, will not reopen in order to secure the business' long-term future and respond to customers' shopping needs.

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The shops that will close are travel hub shops at Heathrow and St Pancras, four At Home shops in Croydon, Newbury, Swindon and Tamworth and two full size department stores in Birmingham and Watford.

Around 1,300 Partners across the eight shops will now enter into consultation. 

Before the pandemic, the eight shops identified were already financially challenged and the pandemic has accelerated the switch from shopping in-store to online.