Record sales for John Lewis

John Lewis department stores enjoyed record sales in the first week of this month, boosting hopes of a bumper Christmas for Britain's high street retailers.

The group, which also has department stores in Oxford Street, Kingston and Brent Cross, plus Peter Jones in Sloane Square, said sales totalled £72million in the week to 8 December - the largest amount of money ever taken in a week. It added that the peak was yet to come, and sales so far this week were six per cent higher than the equivalent week a year ago.

All things Harry Potter continue to fly off the shelves. And in a sign that the schoolboy wizard is encouraging his fans to read, there was a surge in demand for children's books, together with educational toys and pogo sticks.

Adult treats included bread-makers, widescreen televisions and DVD players. Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess book is proving popular, along with cashmere items and diamond and silver jewellery.

John Lewis merchandise director Nigel Wreford-Brown said sales had been boosted by the group's newly-launched internet site which was receiving more than 1,000 orders a day. "E-commerce is really taking off," he said.

He said shoppers were returning to Oxford Street after shunning the West End in the aftermath of the 11 September terrorist attacks. "The upturn coincided with the switching-on of the Christmas lights," he said. "They reminded people the West End can be a rather magical place."

The John Lewis figures, regarded as the bellwether of the retail sector, come a day after official figures showed shoppers splashed out last month at the fastest rate since the late-Eighties boom.

Spending is being boosted by the lowest interest rates in 40 years and record employment.

Psychologists say Britain is undergoing a spending boom as a result of the 11 September attacks.

They say the binge is the result of a sub-conscious desire by people to make themselves feel better. Jim Goudie, consumer psychologist at Northumbria University, said: "What actually happens following a tragedy like 11 September or when a country is at war is that the morale goes up, not down.

"Statistics going back well over 100 years show that after the initial shock has worn off it bonds people together and their feelings of wellbeing go up. One consequence of that is that the suicide rate goes down; another is that spending goes up."

Professor Gary Davis, from Manchester Business School, said: "We seem to have shaken off 11 September and are just determined to go out and spend."

Mark Ritson, assistant professor of marketing at London Business School, said the surge was due to the feelgood factor engendered by the conflict: "We are winning a war we never thought we were going to win," he said.

"You see the same effect if you go back to 1945 or to the Falklands at the start of the Eighties boom."