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No This is why the high street is dying and household names are failing!!!
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Greenst
Posts: 218 Forumite
This is why shops are failing!! It's not just the High Street that's a problem.
Saturday I went out to get a new blind for the bathroom and also needed a curtain tie back, just needed one for the curtain over the front door. Wanted to get a cabinet too for the bathroom.
So, decided to go to the out of town John Lewis, OK so not on a high street but bare with me, free parking so that was good, very very busy in the car park, went in found the blind department, but half of the section was empty! and the slots with blinds the size I required were even more empty, it was OK if you had a ridiculously huge window or a tiny weeny one but a normal size 3 ft window, forget it.
OK so look at the curtain tie backs, so it's my fault I only need 1 and they all come in boxes of 2, but the prices started at £30! the next price up was £60!! I had seen some just as nice in the Next catalogue for £14.
Bathroom cabinets? Well I am certainly not paying £300 for a cupboard to put on the wall, or £275 for a wooden, or should I say MDF one that my son could have made in woodwork classes
I asked a member of staff re the blinds and they were expecting a delivery next week but I could order it in store, on line and have it delivered to my home!
Although there were a lot of people milling about in the shop there was hardly anyone at the tills buying goods.
So out I went, off to Matalan to get my daughter some new underwear. After sitting in the biggest traffic jam in the world, arrrgghhh, couldn't get out of it as it was one way and the whole of the town was gridlocked, I finally got to Matalan, again the car park was busy, got parked OK, went in, the knickers were 3 for 2, they only had 2 pairs in her size, arrrggghhhh. Looked for some PJs for my son but only little kid sizes in stock.
So off to Halfords for a socket. Back out into the traffic, took ages to go about 2 miles, got to the out of town Halfords, free parking, great, went in, the sockets are all in a glass cabinet, note on the cabinet says to ask an assistant to open it.
The parts counter is next to the cabinet, but the lad on the counter was on the phone and there was a queue snaking back through the shop, so walked round the shop looking for a member of staff, maybe stacking shelves or something but no one, went to the till at the front, there's 2 tills but only 1 member of staff who was looking very stressed with yet another huge queue, so I stood in the queue for ages finally got to the front asked if I could have the cabinet opened only to be told that the key is held at the back of the shop at the parts counter!!!! AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!
The only other members of staff were one guy upstairs in the bike department and one outside fitting windscreen wipers!
So gave up.
Went off to Next, again out of town, but in another town, wanted to get the curtain tie backs, did they have them??.....
Did they heck but the assistant said that she could order them in for me.... on line! I said I could have done that from home, I wanted them today to fit today as it was the weekend!!!
On the way out I saw a top, ohh, I thought that would be nice to wear to work, sorted through the rack, did they have my size?? Whaddya think?? :mad::mad:
So drove back to my local little town, they have a small high street Halfords, got parked, thankfully free parking yet again, went in, but it's all full of fluffy dice, and furry steering wheel covers and is great if you have a bike and need a part for it, but no sockets or indeed anything of any much use for a car.
Needed a bit of food shopping, there's a Waitrose in the local town, so went off there, wanted some fresh meat, got to the meat isle, and lo and behold, it's completely empty!! Stripped out!! No doubt everyone panic buying because of the terrible snow that's predicted and they are all going to starve over the next 2 days!!
So all in all a pretty crappy weekend, that's why not only the high street is failing but so are many high street names, I think they have got their stock control so sleek and slick that there's actually nothing left in the shops for the customers to buy!!
I am going to order the stuff I need this week on line and have it delivered to work then I don't need to be in when the delivery arrives and don't have to slog to the Post office or a sorting office or a courier warehouse that's miles out of town to pick up my item as they couldn't deliver it.
I am very lucky I am working and after a long time out of work it's taken me ages to get on my feet again, I am now able to go out and spend some of my hard earned money on items to start improving my home, something I have not been able to do for years, all I ask is that if I go to a shop there's actually something on the shelves to buy! and some staff to serve me. If all they do is direct me back to their web site then what's the point in having shops any more or high streets??
Saturday I went out to get a new blind for the bathroom and also needed a curtain tie back, just needed one for the curtain over the front door. Wanted to get a cabinet too for the bathroom.
So, decided to go to the out of town John Lewis, OK so not on a high street but bare with me, free parking so that was good, very very busy in the car park, went in found the blind department, but half of the section was empty! and the slots with blinds the size I required were even more empty, it was OK if you had a ridiculously huge window or a tiny weeny one but a normal size 3 ft window, forget it.
OK so look at the curtain tie backs, so it's my fault I only need 1 and they all come in boxes of 2, but the prices started at £30! the next price up was £60!! I had seen some just as nice in the Next catalogue for £14.
Bathroom cabinets? Well I am certainly not paying £300 for a cupboard to put on the wall, or £275 for a wooden, or should I say MDF one that my son could have made in woodwork classes

Although there were a lot of people milling about in the shop there was hardly anyone at the tills buying goods.
So out I went, off to Matalan to get my daughter some new underwear. After sitting in the biggest traffic jam in the world, arrrgghhh, couldn't get out of it as it was one way and the whole of the town was gridlocked, I finally got to Matalan, again the car park was busy, got parked OK, went in, the knickers were 3 for 2, they only had 2 pairs in her size, arrrggghhhh. Looked for some PJs for my son but only little kid sizes in stock.
So off to Halfords for a socket. Back out into the traffic, took ages to go about 2 miles, got to the out of town Halfords, free parking, great, went in, the sockets are all in a glass cabinet, note on the cabinet says to ask an assistant to open it.
The parts counter is next to the cabinet, but the lad on the counter was on the phone and there was a queue snaking back through the shop, so walked round the shop looking for a member of staff, maybe stacking shelves or something but no one, went to the till at the front, there's 2 tills but only 1 member of staff who was looking very stressed with yet another huge queue, so I stood in the queue for ages finally got to the front asked if I could have the cabinet opened only to be told that the key is held at the back of the shop at the parts counter!!!! AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!
The only other members of staff were one guy upstairs in the bike department and one outside fitting windscreen wipers!
So gave up.
Went off to Next, again out of town, but in another town, wanted to get the curtain tie backs, did they have them??.....
Did they heck but the assistant said that she could order them in for me.... on line! I said I could have done that from home, I wanted them today to fit today as it was the weekend!!!
On the way out I saw a top, ohh, I thought that would be nice to wear to work, sorted through the rack, did they have my size?? Whaddya think?? :mad::mad:
So drove back to my local little town, they have a small high street Halfords, got parked, thankfully free parking yet again, went in, but it's all full of fluffy dice, and furry steering wheel covers and is great if you have a bike and need a part for it, but no sockets or indeed anything of any much use for a car.
Needed a bit of food shopping, there's a Waitrose in the local town, so went off there, wanted some fresh meat, got to the meat isle, and lo and behold, it's completely empty!! Stripped out!! No doubt everyone panic buying because of the terrible snow that's predicted and they are all going to starve over the next 2 days!!
So all in all a pretty crappy weekend, that's why not only the high street is failing but so are many high street names, I think they have got their stock control so sleek and slick that there's actually nothing left in the shops for the customers to buy!!
I am going to order the stuff I need this week on line and have it delivered to work then I don't need to be in when the delivery arrives and don't have to slog to the Post office or a sorting office or a courier warehouse that's miles out of town to pick up my item as they couldn't deliver it.
I am very lucky I am working and after a long time out of work it's taken me ages to get on my feet again, I am now able to go out and spend some of my hard earned money on items to start improving my home, something I have not been able to do for years, all I ask is that if I go to a shop there's actually something on the shelves to buy! and some staff to serve me. If all they do is direct me back to their web site then what's the point in having shops any more or high streets??
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Comments
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Yep, couldn't agree more. Shops seem to have lost the plot for the last couple of years. I've had days exactly like yours when I've gone out with money in my pocket and a shopping list and come home empty handed. Nowadays, I don't waste my time and do most things online instead.
It's not just big chains either. I live and work in a vibrant village with several shops. There's a popular bakers/pie shop, but it's a lottery whether they have what you want - I often go in for a sausage roll, but often they don't have any - the other day I went in for a bacon/sausage bap - they actually had the bacon and sausage on the grill, but had run out of baps (this being a bakers!). It's definately a case of their customers having to buy what they've bought/made on the day rather than them ever having a full range.
My DS is into model railways and we have a good local model railway shop. Went in the other day for a few bits and pieces as he was extending it. The shop didn't actually have any track fixing pins, which are probably the most basic and cheapest of items necessarily for every enthusiasist - I asked when he'd have some in stock and he said he didn't know - maybe next month (and this is the owner, not a disinterested youth). So, without the pins, no point in buying the track, points, underlay, etc., so that's lost him a spend of around £50 or so for the sake of a £1 pack of pins!
Don't get me started on clothes shopping!0 -
I tend to find that most shopping experiences are pretty awful, I had a good one at xmas. My girlfriend bought me a shirt from Zara, which didn't fit unfortunately, we took the shirt back to get the large but unfortunately it had gone into the 75% off sale. So the shirt that had cost about £80 was now £25. When I went to the till, the young chap (early 30's) told me that I could only have a refund for the sale price and not original price.
Obviously, I asked for his manager who educated him, but imagine how many others he must have mistakenly robbed. Not to mention the queues I had to endure during the sales just to return this shirt. It was one of the only that was bought in a shop, rest was done online - all of it will be online this year.0 -
I agree with all this, but interestingly I caught the end of a radio discussion about recent statics on online shopping which revealed many people had turned away from it as they claimed it was more hassle having to for example wait indoors between 9-5 for a 'possible' delivery that day, and also having to go to the post office to collect items. Another finding was that many had stopped buying thier weekly supermarket shop online due to errors and also quality issues, such as green tinged beef which they would not have picked themselves had they been in the supermarket.0
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I tend to find that most shopping experiences are pretty awful, I had a good one at xmas. My girlfriend bought me a shirt from Zara, which didn't fit unfortunately, we took the shirt back to get the large but unfortunately it had gone into the 75% off sale. So the shirt that had cost about £80 was now £25. When I went to the till, the young chap (early 30's) told me that I could only have a refund for the sale price and not original price.
Obviously, I asked for his manager who educated him, but imagine how many others he must have mistakenly robbed. Not to mention the queues I had to endure during the sales just to return this shirt. It was one of the only that was bought in a shop, rest was done online - all of it will be online this year.
But you must realise that Zara were under no obligation to give you a refund at all or even an exchange so I'm afraid even the manager doestn seem to know what he was talking about. There was nothing wrong with the shirt, had it been faulty that would have been a different matter. If you had exchanged the shirt, you wouldnt have been robbed, you would be in a better position because you would have still had the same shirt, along with the bonust of it fitting you.
So, my friend, you have been extremely fortunate.
As for shops, I live in a little market town in Yorkshire, no problems here.make the most of it, we are only here for the weekend.
and we will never, ever return.0 -
Another finding was that many had stopped buying thier weekly supermarket shop online due to errors and also quality issues, such as green tinged beef which they would not have picked themselves had they been in the supermarket.
having ordered my grocery shopping a couple of times on line, i don't do it anymore just for this reason - you get rubbish meat. supermarket meat is already pretty ropey without getting the worst stuff picked out and given to you because they know it will be tricky to shift it in-store).
if there was a butcher within walking distance of my house, i would order everything else on line (far less fussy about a ropey looking cabbage) and just pick up the meat separately, but since i have to get in the car to get to the butcher, i might as well just drive to waitrose and do the whole lot in one go.0 -
But you must realise that Zara were under no obligation to give you a refund at all or even an exchange so I'm afraid even the manager doestn seem to know what he was talking about. There was nothing wrong with the shirt, had it been faulty that would have been a different matter. If you had exchanged the shirt, you wouldnt have been robbed, you would be in a better position because you would have still had the same shirt, along with the bonust of it fitting you.
So, my friend, you have been extremely fortunate.
As for shops, I live in a little market town in Yorkshire, no problems here.
Well yes and no. If the shop states it takes returns ( many shops do) it becomes part of the contract and can't be retrospectively gone back on.0 -
I hear the OP's frustration. My only problem with the internet ordering part (wish I could do it for everything) is two fold:
- some items I can't buy online (clothes - even in shops I've bought from for years don't seem to keep consistent sizes where I can pluck things off the shelf and be confident it'll be somewhat right!)
- and sometimes I'm working somewhere that I can't easily get deliveries to (my work location changes, mostly between three offices, so it's a bit crap if I'm on a week where I've no idea where I'll be between sites on which days until 2 or 3 days beforehand - argh!).
I've actually stopped counting on shops to have my sizing, products that I want to buy - my first stop is to look online (barring the above cases) and only if I'm not confident or it's going to be a pain to order do I even think about going to a shop directly.
Funnily enough one of the last home things I wanted to buy was also a window blind (the slatty types, horizontal, wasn't fussed about colour, purely a functional item for a bedroom that didn't have anything up at), my only requirement was the specific sizing. And when I popped along to the shops in my lunch break (lucky to be working at the office in town that day) there were none in stock in my window's size, which I'd carefully written down. Ended up ordering online when I got back to the office. Should have not bothered, as I normally don't, with shops.0 -
Window blinds etc - go to the manufacturer. Bought ours direct from Apollo - went to one of their shops with measurements, looked at different designs, negotiated a deal, agreed when they would have made them and when we could get them fitted.
And thats in the mahoosive city known as Stokesley.....0 -
chewmylegoff wrote: »if there was a butcher within walking distance of my house, i would order everything else on line (far less fussy about a ropey looking cabbage) and just pick up the meat separately, but since i have to get in the car to get to the butcher, i might as well just drive to waitrose and do the whole lot in one go.
This is an urban myth that still persists. Due to slaughtering rules & regulation, not many butchers buy locally sourced meat. Many of them buy it on the wholesale market, just like supermarkets. You as just as likely to get ropey meat in a butchers.0 -
Another finding was that many had stopped buying thier weekly supermarket shop online due to errors and also quality issues, such as green tinged beef which they would not have picked themselves had they been in the supermarket.
Yep, the internet is great for purchasing items like books or DVDs. You know what you're getting, you don't need to eat them or wear them, so no problem.
Buying food or clothes, is a complete no, no. These items need to be seen and chosen in person.0
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