Managing Director of the cardiff store, Liz Mihell, officially took over on Friday 12st August 2009, with a little less than 5 weeks to complete the final stages of preparation for the opening day of 24th September.

John Lewis has been preparing for this stage well in advance and has a team of stock specialists from around the country ready to begin the task of ensuring that over £13 million of stock will be correctly positioned on the shop floors and stock rooms in time for the grand opening.

Inside, the building is indeed, vast, with 280,000 square feet of store, it will provide the flagship for the new development in the Hayes that will incorporate the St David's 2 development also very near completion.

Currently, an intensive training programme is underway for the 780 partners who will help to run the store in Cardiff.  This will ensure that everyone is fully familiar with the various computer and till systems within the store.

Having visited the store on Friday to witness the opening, I can indeed report that this is quite an impressive building and the layout is quite superb.  A spoke with a very enthusuastic Liz Mihell who simply can't wait for the store to open.  The other partners are, likewise eager and ready to get going.

This store is the second largets John Lewis store to be opened, the glass prow at the front of the store overlooks the Hayes and provides a prominent landmark for the 21st century Cardiff.

Inside the store will boast a huge array of departments with some new partnerships and brands never before seen in John Lewis, a fantastic 293 seat restaurant on the third floor provides a place to eat, while on th first floor a 129 seat Espresso bar will be the largest in any John Lewis Branch.

Beneath the store is a 500 bay undergrouns carpark, to ensure the shopping experience can be a dry one from start to finish.  Just as well for those wet weekends in Cardiff that we are so accustomed to.

Liz Mihell seems to be taking everything in her stride at this point, though clearly excited.  Having worked at John Lewis for 15 years, including time as a Managing Director at the store in Peterborough, she has been living in Cardiff for over a year now and has found the Welsh capital very much to her liking.

A full review will be available in our magazine, due for print on September 4th 2009.