John Lewis, the department store chain, today blamed Andy Murray and the heat wave for a dip in last week's sales.

The partnership, which also owns Waitrose, said that sales in the week to July 4 were 2.3 per cent lower than in the same week last year, due in part to "the distractions of sunny weather and Andy Murray's progress at Wimbledon".

However, the hot weather boosted trade in some areas, with sales of fans that week higher than for the whole of 2008.

Weekly food sales at its chain of 213 Waitrose supermarkets jumped 14.2 per cent to £88.76 million.

Customers choices' reflected the hot weather, with Waitrose notching up record breaking sales of sandwiches, quiche and yoghurts.

Waitrose's expansion continues, with a new store aimed at well-healed customers coming to Glasgow this year in an old Somerfield location. Waitrose will also take over a Woolworths store in Crouch End, north London, which is due to be open by October.

The figures cover John Lewis's first week of summer clearance sales. The company said the results were solid, with a "pleasing mix of full price and special purchase lines".

Children's wear performed strongly but sales of items for the home were below last year's level.

John Lewis's weekly figures reflect a mixed picture about the state of the economy.

The chain, which is owned by its staff who are known as partners, said in the preceding week' that its figures had shown signs that shoppers were returning to pre-recession spending.

In that week — ending June 27 — some 27 department stores recorded their best performance of the first half, John Lewis said.

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