Department store chain John Lewis yesterday posted a 13.2% rise in weekly department store sales, boosting hopes that consumer spending will increase in the fourth quarter as retailers across the country gear up for the key Christmas period.

The healthy John Lewis sales figures also come hard on the heels of significantly improved survey evidence on retail sales in October from both the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

The 145-year-old company, which also owns upmarket supermarket Waitrose, said sales at its 28 department stores and one John Lewis at home store came in at £65.4m in the week to November 7, compared with £57.8m in the same period last year, marking the eighth consecutive week of increased sales in its department stores.

Sales in central Scotland surged, with the Glasgow store rising 4.5% during the week compared with the same week the previous year, and John Lewis in Edinburgh climbed 4.7% – although sales at the Aberdeen department store tumbled 7.5%, the only negative in the group’s 28 outlets.

The group’s latest figures are noteworthy as the department store chain is considered a key high-street indicator of UK retail trends and marks a significant turnaround following general belt-tightening that has characterised the past 18 months.

Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “This boosts hopes that consumer spending will increase in the fourth quarter (after falling since the second quarter of 2008) and help the economy to finally return to growth after six quarters of overall sharp contraction.”

The latest BRC figures reveal UK high street sales growth accelerated sharply in October, providing some hope for retailers ahead of the key festive trading period.

The BRC reported total UK retail sales value in October was up 5.9% on the same month last year, marking the best year-on-year growth in sales for any October since 2002.

A CBI survey showed UK retailers last month enjoyed their strongest annual sales growth for nearly two years, even as recent Office for National Statistics figures revealed the UK economy had contracted by a further 0.4% during the three months to September.

Nonetheless, John Lewis said: “It was an excellent week last week. Our second-best movement of the half year to date. We saw double-digit advances from six out of seven days, and also across all three buying directorates.”

The group noted: “Seven weeks to Christmas and things are hotting up.”

The sales increase was driven by a 20.4% rise in the electricals and home technology category.

Homewares sales were up 14.6% and fashion sales increased by 12.4%.

Sales at Waitrose increased 17.1% to £90.5m, the grocer’s highest growth for a standard trading week since 2006.

The upmarket supermarket chain recently expanded its Scottish operation by opening its first store in Glasgow’s West End. Waitrose already has two branches in Scotland, both in Edinburgh, which were acquired from Somerfield in 2006.