The John Lewis Partnership said it is focused on survival as it called for the government to ditch the business rates system.
In an interview with The Telegraph, chair Sharon White said chancellor Rishi Sunak should replace it with a new land tax so high street names can compete with online retailers.
READ: John Lewis Partnership said eight John Lewis shops won’t reopen once lockdown is lifted
“As we get the shot in the arm from the vaccine and the economy takes off we can’t lose sight of adapt, adapt, adapt. Those retailers who adapt survive and those who don’t will die,” she said.
In March, the partnership announced that eight of its 42 John Lewis shops wouldn’t reopen when restrictions were going to be lifted in mid-April.
Since the pandemic hit, the estate has shrunk to 34 from 51, with almost 3,000 jobs at risk but no further closures are being planned.
The Waitrose owner had previously reported its first-ever annual loss.
“We had doubled the number of stores from 2008,” White said.
“The decisions we have taken have basically taken us back to where we were in 2012. So we have fewer, but now your stores have got to be extraordinary and they have got to be destinations.”