John Lewis in Trouble

Yes they allow dogs! All dogs. Not just assistance ones. I don't hate dogs but I don't want this either. Plus I fear it will lead to an uninformed backlash against people who actually need them. Those who have a dog that can't survive a few hours at home should either fix that situation or shop online. It's ridiculous.

I love John Lewis and have had a loyalty card for 30 years. Most of my domestic items come from there. I'd be devastated to lose my local store -though it seems relatively safe and is one of the top performers, I understand.

Though - in recent years many of the staff are not what they once were ( a few 'proper' J.Lewis staff do survive) and lack the professionalism and customer focus of old.

The fact that I can no longer shop in JL without being surrounded by barking dogs is a bit of a game changer for me.

I have a dog. I have survived this far without taking him high street shopping.

FFS

The introduction to the magazine starts in the usual way, emphasising that its purpose is to “celebrate” and “educate”. Readers are told that ongoing debates around gender ideology are nothing more than “pointless politics” and that individual decisions they take should support JLP to “become the UK’s most inclusive business”.

"Educate and celebrate"

I'm so sick of these companies that think they should be educating us. Fuck off with that. Why can't they understand - we just want to buy the stuff and go home. They can piss off with the lectures and virtue signalling.

Last time I was in there a dog was slobbering around the womenswear section. I had no idea that dogs were allowed in and asked a young woman on the tills why the rules had changed.

I was patronisingly told she loves dogs and loves to see them. I politely told her that I don't understand why dogs need to be taken clothes shopping and that I find it very off putting to have dogs and their associated slobber, hair and smell around new clothes. I asked if she could please feedback to management that it's likely to decrease customer numbers. She refused. Couldn't see the problem.

I haven't been back.

I love John Lewis. I’d be gutted if they closed. The staff in my branch are friendly and very helpful. Even the young men! They are the only shop I really visit where I am. They have stuff I want and I trust their customer service.

This is truly awful 😱
It's a classic example of how an unrepresentative small group of people are able to spread conspiracy theories, unscientific gender woowoo and most chillingly, openly undermine the safeguarding of children via a major business.

It's extremely manipulative, factually inaccurate and creates a hostile environment for anyone who knows that sex is binary, children should be safeguarded, breast binders are dangerous and that young children shouldn't be transitioned before they're old enough to fully consent. Which ironically is the majority of the population.

Chilling. That article should be viral.

I used to spend £15,000 a year in Waitrose.

They redesigned the store to put a coffee counter in the wine department (to drink your free coffee) and a bakery/cafe. To accommodate this they raised the shelf heights

I am 5 foot 7 and cant reach the top shelf, every trip was other women asking me if I could stretch to pass them x or y

The wine counter is now a dumping ground for cardboard boxes and the cafe is closed and its an empty area.

They dont know or value their market.

I’ve bought some ok stuff from the Anyday range. I appreciate they’re trying to have some more affordable ranges, which contrasted with the Fenwicks I went into when visiting Newcastle recently. That seems to have gone £££ only.

Also the tech warranties have been good, I’ve had multiple items repaired and they were very easy to deal with.

The decline is nothing to do with trans issues though. All the large department stores, reliant on lots of customer purchases in high street-based, maximum footage stores had bit the dust in the early 2020s. They just couldn't compete with online sales and the decline of the traditional high street.

M&S has managed to weather and survive it by jettisoning city centre stores, and moving to out of town retail areas (JL did not do this - they just got rid of stores) where customers can park. Reducing product lines, you need smaller stores to do this or they do get that end of line, warehouse look and running their food business on the back of a smaller range of largely own brand products. They've finally returned to profitability and are expanding again, but only in out of town areas.

John Lewis has struggled to form an online identity and has lost it's high street presence so it has the worst of both worlds. I suspect it is struggling online at the moment as it is still at the top end of the high street market in terms of prices and the cost of living crisis means that people just aren't spending enough money with them.

https://www.jamesesses.com/p/the-trans-takeover-of-john-lewis

They seem keen on promoting GI.

We always get white goods from AO.

When they die on you, there isn’t time to wait 6 weeks delivery.

I saw the founder / CEO of AO, John Roberts, on BBC Breakfast the other day. He is a proper philanthropist and all-round good guy. I was very impressed, and will be shopping with them in future.

Surely you just shop the best place for the product you are buying at the time, I bought my Apple Watch from JL as they had the best deal at the time I wanted one, next day delivery to Waitrose and I could trade in my old one. Had they not had a deal on, I would have bought it elsewhere. I also bought some Josef Seibel boots as they had 20% off and were one of the few retailers I could return for free which is very important when buying bulky clothing and footwear that may not fit.

@TeatimeBiscuits I used to love going to the Edinburgh JL, the cafe was great and MIL and I used to meet up for Christmas shopping every year so she could choose things in the toy dept. She doesn't go now as you can't park there anymore as she has mobility problems.
My kids, aged 20-25 would never go there, they don't have home buying on the horizon and would tend to look in IKEA if they did, whereas in my 20s, I did browse and buy the odd nice grown up thing like duvet covers even before I had my own place so it was natural to have wedding lists and buy fridges and prams from there later.
My kids don't seem to mind ordering online and returning things whereas I find it annoying and can't browse properly online!

In 2019 an elderly friend of mine needed a new dishwasher, had a look around JL, saw something she liked and enquired. Response was "it'll take six weeks, we don't have this one in stock".
Looked up the same model on AO, had it delivered and installed the following day with the old one taken away.

I have very mixed feelings about JL. Still want to love it and still default to it for many things. But often come away disappointed. At my nearest branch for most of the ‘customer service’ I have to approach the tills. Very few ‘floor walkers’ about. I have complained in writing about the systematic reduction of products and services in the haberdashery department. And they’re no longer selling dress fabrics in my branch. There are no knowledgeable staff about and when I had a query about my sewing machine (A Janome model, especially made for JL) I was told the person who knows about sewing machines was ‘only in on a Thursday’. Last time I went half the floor space in that department was given over to sales clothing tat. 😔

A few recent (ish) experiences of mine:

My sister visited early November 2022 with my niece, on their last day we had a coffee in JL Oxford Street, nieces coat broke, wouldn't do up, so we bought a new one there and then.
Fast forward to April 2023, sister washes coat and the teeth of the zip come off. That was the third wash, in a high end washer on the right setting. Yet, when I contacted JL customer service, they made it out like it was my sister's fault. As the coat was bought in store, could I please bring it back to be assessed. Only after pointing out several times that the coat was in Germany did they finally give me a refund, but only at what it would be sold at this point which was £12.50.

Was in the market for a new suitcase, wanted something with good warranty and had intended to spend serious money on it, if needed.
Went to JL Oxoford Street, no help at all, went back a few days later, one guy from Briggs & Riley who was very helpful, but clearly working for his company. He told me that for most part of the day, there wasn't any JL staff in the luggage section, only people working for the various manufacturers. Bought a suitcase (B&R) elsewhere where the sales staff could talk me through the various brands and their pros and cons.

Again Oxford Street, needed a pair of black trousers for an interview as I've shrunken out of my good pair.
Chose a few went to the changing room, none fit quite right, so I gave up, came out of my cubicle and made to leave the changing area the way I came in when a voice behind me shouted "Ma'am, ma'am, OUT this way ONLY" from the other end of the changing room. My response was simply "Okay, but no need to be rude".

Good experience at Peter Jones, though. Still looking for black trousers I went there on Monday night. Staff very helpful and found me a really good pair. The changing room attendant had been working at JL for a long time and was close to retirement. She was honest with what looked good and what looked utterly rubbish on me.
JL need more people like her.

I shopped there a lot, both for myself and for my niece and nephew. There were times when half my suitcase would be full of children's clothes. Now, not so much anymore.

I always shopped there for white goods/ electronics etc cause of their impeccable customer service.
Now I buy the same fro Amazon or AO.com.
Dunno how AO do it but I had a washing machine delivered, installed and the old one carted off within 24 hrs. Thats the service I need.

@Zeugma I've had the same problem looking for jeans just the other week. They also seem to sell out of the most common sizes and don't restock, I came into the shop because I wanted to try things on not order online and send back!.
@teatime

The shop at Cribbs Causeway has managed to keep most of its good customer service. Really helpful team who go out of their way for customers. I’m not sure one good store can save the brand but it does demonstrate the ethos has not been lost entirely.

I think they are trying to appeal to a younger audience. Same as British Airways . Future customers.

I would welcome positive stories about JL, I really would (and good to hear Sinner's experience upthread). But I've been going to the Oxford St branch for decades and it’s a shadow of what it was.

It fell prey to the dreaded upmarketisation and the disease of branding - you can’t go to Womenswear, say, thinking 'I'm going to buy a coat'. Coats aren’t all in the same place.

If you ask an assistant, they say 'what BRAND are you looking for?' Well, how do I know what brand I want? I don’t care, as long as the coat is nice, warm, fits and is the right price! I then have to trawl round a dozen or more little concessions, trying to find the coats in each one. It’s exhausting and frustrating. But apparently this is how people shop now. Apply that to every JL department and it's just overwhelming and frustrating.

Selfridges did the same thing years ago and it stopped being a usable store, it’s just an aspirational warehouse of random, over-expensive stuff. That’s what JL feels like to me now.

My Waitrose gripes (I did JL above) are that I’ve had two products from the basic range that were just rubbish. Porridge oats that wouldn’t soften and English mustard as runny as single cream. The local smallish branch went self service at the tills which I hate. I just don’t have enough hands to unpack, pack, pay and hold all the bags I’m carrying. I actually also dislike the lack of human interaction. There’s a fresh bread counter still there but you have to lean over and serve yourself as it’s no longer staffed and the bread is overpriced for what it is.
I used to have a home delivery grocery shop but I stopped using them a couple of months ago because they just aren’t worth the money.