diff --git a/lib/less/browser.js b/lib/less/browser.js
index 60119e6..a4ddd32 100644
--- a/lib/less/browser.js
+++ b/lib/less/browser.js
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ function loadStyleSheets(callback) {
 
 function loadStyleSheet(sheet, callback) {
     var css = typeof(localStorage) !== "undefined" && localStorage.getItem(sheet.href);
-    var styles = css && JSON.parse(css);
+    var timestamp = typeof(localStorage) !== "undefined" && localStorage.getItem(sheet.href + ':timestamp');
+    var styles = { css: css, timestamp: timestamp };
 
     xhr(sheet.href, function (data, lastModified) {
         if (styles && (new(Date)(lastModified).valueOf() ===
@@ -123,7 +124,8 @@ function createCSS(styles, sheet, lastModified) {
 
     // Don't update the local store if the file wasn't modified
     if (lastModified && typeof(localStorage) !== "undefined") {
-        localStorage.setItem(sheet.href, JSON.stringify({ timestamp: lastModified, css: styles }));
+        localStorage.setItem(sheet.href, styles);
+        localStorage.setItem(sheet.href + ':timestamp', lastModified);
     }
 }