Shops you feel you " ought" to like but in reality never do.

[Enko]

First this is obviously lighthearted....

I went to local town today with dd2 (age 18) and we were wandering up from 1 area to the next passing a shop that recently had relocated (called the silver sheep) I remarked to dd2 that I always felt like I should like that shop but when I went in could never find anything. She said she was like that with Seasalt Loves the windows and walk in but always leaves feeling disappointed.

Made us talk of how this is that you look at a shop window. Clearly find it attractive and "you" but then when you are inside find it is very much not you..

Any of you have shops like that?

Pressed too soon!

I wish these shops would read these threads and take on board the comments. Then we might avert an even bigger high street crisis.

I love Joules and I'm young!

Granted not everything is brilliant (their shirts make me look like a broad shouldered man ) but I've recently picked up a few bits in the sales and it's all beautiful and great quality too.

Also love TKMaxx but never go in looking for anything in particular, more for a look around and I usually end up walking out with a great bargain (£5.99 for a set of 10 children's books like We're going on a bear hunt etc which are usually £7 a pop I'm looking at you) but I guess I like it as I love browsing. Also love their handbags.

I hate Next, find it really overpriced yet everyone I know seems to be wearing it. Same goes for TopShop.

I used to love Zara but it seems to have lost it's classy but fashionable workwear vibe. Last time I went in it was all ruffles, shapeless tunics, busy prints and unflattering cuts. What happened to flattering basics for those of us who are lanky?

New look has become quite rubbish in my opinion. Town centre ones near me are 75% sale rails full of tat and the out of town ones are nicer but it feels more like it's a more expensive version of Primark rather than the affordable but nice shop it used to be. Far too many neon colours, crop tops and unflattering trend items that won't suit most of its clientele.

Fat face do lovely accessories and some of their winterwear is lovely but their summer stuff often feels quite mumsy and frumpy to me.

Tkmaxx is like a jumble sale

Boden seem to have gone down the shapeless, boxy, too short, ruffles and bell sleeves route after browsing their site. Some of the materials look a bit cheap as well.

Cos. Looks great on the rack but not on me. I think it doesn't suit my body shape.

“I wish shops would have proper colours, though. I'm a winter and those dusty pinks, teals, beige colours do me no favours.”

I have this problem as well. White Stuff, Seasalt, Fat Face and Mantaray in Debenhams are guilty of this.

prettygreywalls our local Morrisons has had a refit and rejig in the store, and it is suddenly better than Tesco and Sainsburys. I can find loads more harder to find ingredients now.

LoniceraJaponica
Or a range of colours.

I hate going into shops where it's like this is the dark red, white and black area... this is the silver and pale mint green area... this is the brights area... and that's it.

All it takes is for a weird colour to be 'in' and suddenly every shop is stocking the same 3 colours and nothing else.

How has no-one mentioned Phase Eight? Oh my GOD I always get drawn in by their nice bright dresses and then slink out after the shock of my life in the changing rooms - I'm a slim size 12 and should look ok but the way they are cut makes me look AWFUL.

Also agree with all the frumpy, country-style stuff eg Joules, White Stuff, Boden (dreadful frumpy cut on everything), plus Cos (mental), TK Maxx (nightmare experience), Hobbs and Jigsaw (so frumpy, particularly Hobbs), Zara (rude staff, weird tiny sizing, cheap clothes), and Primark (horror).

For me it's Victoria's Secret bras. Love the look of them but the underwires are positioned oddly and always dig in and rub under the arms.

M&S bras never fitted very well even when M&S was good - now the quality has gone drastically downhill and I wouldn't buy so much as a hanky from them.

Love the look of Russell and Bromley shoes. Then I see the price and they suddenly don't seem so great.

My DD says Primark are tatty and weirdly cut. There's nothing there for size 6-8 with waist and hips.

H&M. Everything seems to just be tat and any item I've had from there, normally a t shirt of some kind, has been really bad quality. Also lots of its stuff has weird slogans ruining it!

*confusedandemployed Sun 12-Aug-18 15:10:36

Boden, Cos, Joules, Fat Face, Seasalt. I'm mid 40s, their target market but all I see on offer is Frumpsville Arizona.

Hey, Arizona's not that bad! Some lovely people there.

Agree about the rest though. I'm almost 50, but seriously I get ads for some right frumpy stuff. I just ignore it most of the time and stick to jeans and leather jackets, heavy metal style.

I have worked out how to get served at MAC. You put on ALL THE MAKEUP YOU OWN and then go in there. They'll help you then. If you go in with a bare face they ignore you, favouring over-contoured 18yos with bad false eyelashes which always strikes me as ridiculous as I definitely have more disposable income than them. Ho hum.

I quite like the idea of White Stuff but never find anything. And weirdly I quite like a lot of Boden clothes but not the way they try and sell it to me in the magazine. I often see things I like on second hand pages, hanging up where people have photographed them, which seems faintly ridiculous.

Oh, except for the tiny MAC shop at Clapham Junction where they're all lovely.

Urban Outfitters. Always looks welcoming, but clothes are crap and wierd.

Dh reckons that because most clothes are made in China - particularly the cheaper end clothing - that the dimensions are out because people there tend to be smaller and slimmer. I don’t know if that’s true. I’m only 5’4” though and I’m finding tops are too short. Everything is very shapeless too and sort of square.

Have had some lovely stuff from tkmaxx though. Cynthia Rowley, Paul Costelloe, and Birkenstock to name a few. Just means searching through the tat to find it.
Have to go alone, as son gets really cross in there as it takes too long and always disorganized. He hates that!

@CaveyLass No, they're designed for Western people. It's just that they favour a straight-up-and-down shape rather than curves/hourglasses. The manufacturers may be in the China but the designers aren't. And I'm 5ft 1 and everything's far too long. Boden are a life saver with their petite range. I only buy the dresses made of jersey fabric though as they fit better.

Anthropologie. I don't get it. In my head only people from Made in Chelsea shop there.

Mint Velvet - drab & overpriced but I feel I ought to like their stuff

Hollister. Don't get it. Just....why?
Superdry. As above.

M&S. I should be buying quality basics stuff from there. I'm not. And don't start on the weird sized bras.

Monsoon. I'm totally the wrong shape, I know. I'm short and mega hourglass therefore nothing fits me, even if I did like it.

Body shop. Expensive. Not sure how it's still going.

Pandora shops. Everywhere. Charging a fortune for very 'meh' jewellery.

Agree on Liberty. Went in, all excited and remember thinking "is this it?!"

IKEA. I've been once, thought it was the most dreadful place I'd ever been and hope never to have to go to one again.

Being forced through some sort of one-way system really irritated me, it was full of people leisure shopping rather than picking up what they needed and getting on with their day, and had unintelligent staff.

Also, I don't really like their stuff anyway, it's all so generic and bland.

@Pinkvoid that's interesting about next sizing, it's about the only place that I can get clothes cut for DS2's shape. He fits his age clothes there. Most other places they are far too loose but if I go younger to rein in the waist/volume they are too short.
I've always thought Zara was overpriced tat, primark style shopping and quality but very expensive for what you get. I have never ended up buying anything there.

I’ve only been in TJMaxx in the USA, have found some great bargains, but you really have to be in a shopping mood. Which strikes me about once a year.

I loathe Lidl. Grubby, off brands, rude staff.

Anthropologie is horrible. Fussy, fiddly and overpriced. As someone who likes clean, Scandinavian-style, fuss-free lines, that ethnic-y stuff is anathema to me