John Lewis beige and greyJohn Lewis bed — in stunning two-tone beige and grey, our two favorite colors

An article “The red hot seducers of the high street can forget it — we want beige” by Taffanie Darke in yesterday’s The Sunday Times explains how beige helped John Lewis achieve 7.2% increase in sales in 2013, coming at a time when practically all their competitors suffered downturns in sales results.

“John Lewis trades on beige. It would no sooner host a champagne party for Tom Ford (Harrods), install walk-in scent cylinders for the perfumier Frederic Malle (Liberty) or take Harry Styles on a personal shopping spree (Selfridges), than it would flog a dodgy cake mixer.”

The article goes on to mention something that suits us just fine, that the stores’ customers are not the glitz crowd, fashionistas, or shopping obsessives. The stores are quiet, reassuring temples to conservatism, reliable trading, and trustworthy customer service.