John Lewis said it was consulting on the need to have individual department managers for product sections in its stores.
Each John Lewis department store has about 10 managers looking after sections such as womenswear, beauty or furnishings. In 28 of John Lewis's 40 outlets they are to be replaced by one or two more senior managers in a cost-cutting move.
The cuts are part of John Lewis's Retail Revolution plan. A spokesperson for the company told The Guardian newspaper that store jobs had to go because the majority of the company's sales growth was coming online.
The managers affected have been given four weeks to put forward their views before a 90-day consultation on job losses starts in March.
The cuts were announced in the same week that another high street chain came under threat. Fashion retailer Republic has called in administrators, putting 2,500 jobs at risk.
Administrators for video rental chain Blockbuster said today they were closing another 164 more stores over the next few weeks, having already shut 129 shops when Blockbuster entered administration last month.
