“I want to make a difference and give back to the local community” Seb joins the GO! Southampton board

Seb Blevings, Store Manager of John Lewis in Southampton, has joined the board of GO! Southampton, the city centre’s Business Improvement District (BID).

For him, it’s a way to further contribute to the community his store, which employs around 550 people, belongs to.

“I’m not joining the board for the sake of my ego,” he explained.

“I’m doing it to make a difference, give back and do something for the local community – I always want to be a part of making things better.

“The idea of the BID, as far as I can see, is to make Southampton better for the people who live and work here.”

Seb, who has worked for John Lewis in a number of places around the UK since joining aged 18 in 1988, hopes that his experience of living in other places and perspective as someone who has moved to Southampton, gives him another lens to look through.

One of the areas he’s thought about is ease of navigation.

“I remember when I first took over I couldn’t work out how to get to my shop on the first day!

“We get these huge cruise ships stopping at Southampton and they’ll often have a day to explore the city.

“They enter straight onto a busy road, there’s no signage, no tourist information, hardly anywhere to leave your luggage – it’s a wonder they come in at all.

“Also, I think if you asked people what Southampton stands for to a tourist or visitor, you’d likely get a range od different answers. Some would say the port, some would say football, others might say shopping and others still might point to its history and culture.

“There’s nothing necessarily wrong with it meaning all those different things to different people, but anything we can do to market it better and make it easier for people, from all walks of life and backgrounds, to visit has to be worthwhile.

“While this isn’t entirely within the remit of the BID, they do have influence with the local councils.

“I’ve been on BIDs in other parts of the country which don’t do as much, but GO! Southampton seems to be really focused.

“Hopefully by not being a Southampton expert I can add some diversity of thought, especially as I’ve experienced the best and worst sides to a number of different locations in the UK.”

This isn’t the only thing Seb has brought with him to Southampton from his previous postings with John Lewis.

When Seb was based in Exeter around five years ago, one of his staff (who John Lewis refer to as Partners) suggested they start working with the NHS to help people who are buying their first wig after losing their hair either through conditions such as alopecia or treatments such as chemotherapy.

“We were holding a Dragon’s Den-style evening where our Partners were encouraged to offer commercial ideas we might get behind.

“To this day I remember one lady standing up and telling us about her friend who had lost her hair due to cancer treatment.

“She’d been given a voucher by the NHS to get her first wig, but had to go to one specific outlet where she felt she’d had an awful experience.

“’We should be doing this, this service is exactly what we’re good at’ she told us.

When the outlet which had been providing this service, through a third party, was experiencing difficulties, Seb approached the third party and suggested that, instead of making their staff redundant, they trial it at John Lewis.

“That was five years ago and they’re still going in Exeter to this day, so we’ve repeated it here. We’re linked in with local cancer units, charities and hospitals.

“In Southampton it’s our partners providing this service.

“The first person to use this service was in tears of joy by the end, because she’d had so little confidence in her appearance she couldn’t look at herself in the mirror, and the first 20 minutes was our partner reassuring her and giving her a pep talk.

“Although the online side to our business is really important, this is the kind of service which can’t be provided online.

“The app and our website is there for people who can’t get into the store or want to shop at all hours of the day, but if someone wants that personal touch – maybe they’re having their first child and they want a nursery advice appointment, or they want someone to explain how to properly measure the space for a blind – then that’s what we can offer instore.”

The department store is also a key employment site in the city centre, providing employment for around 550 people.

“We’re among the biggest retailers in Southampton and I have all parts of society working with me.

“I’ve got everyone from people who don’t need to work but like a bit of extra money, a discount and being able to tell people they work at John Lewis to those who are really worried where their next meal’s coming from and everything in between.

“We recently had work experience people with us who are 14 years old and we’ve got people who retired 5-10 years ago who are still working here part time.

“We have representation from every age group and every background, I love that.”