It's smiles all round as John Lewis opens for business

Standing inside the doors of John Lewis as the gleaming new store prepared to open this morning, there was a palpable buzz, which was in the most part being created by the partners waiting to serve their first 'real' customers. Dress rehearsal over, now the staff of John Lewis need to step up to the mark and put all their training into practice to satisfy the eager customers waiting to come and take a look, shop and just absorb the ambiance. In the motivational speach just before the doors opened, JL partners were reminded that the most important thing for the store to achieve success would be to put the customer and their 100% satisfaction first.

The streams of people lining up to be the first through the doors this morning illustrate that there is an incredible amount of interest that has built up over the past few months, but now this has to be converted into actual sales in order to retain the 300 staff that were recruited, 77 of which were previously unemployed. The Exeter Daily spoke to Kim Marsh from the beauty and fragrance counter about her feelings on opening day. "Before working here, I had been 20 years out of retail, so I am very excited to be back in a front of house role. I live just on the outskirts of Exeter, so the idea of being able to walk to work, especially in the summer months, is fantastic. I am looking forward to meeting lots of customers and giving them 110% service so they keep coming back time and time again."

Through all the excitement surrounding the launch, the bottom line is that John Lewis needs to prove to both its fans and detractors alike that the launch of the Exeter branch of John Lewis is a positive move for the city. General Manager Kate Connock told The Exeter Daily, "We always knew we would open on time. When we set about doing something, we achieve it. We are very excited now to welcome our new customers in.

"When opening this store was first considered, John Lewis researched into the impact this would have and this revealed to benefit an area as a whole and in fact increase footfall to the city. We hope it will have a very positive effect on the city as a whole."

More on how John Lewis performs during this first weekend will be announced on Monday, so watch this space.

If you have visited the store, let us know your thoughts at TED@thedailyuk.com or comment below.