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

221 replies

Enko · 12/08/2018 15:06

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?

OP posts:
politicalcorrectnessisgreat · 16/08/2018 08:53

Next is awful, I think it's for people with boobs. I always think I'll find something in Zara but too much polyester and it's messy layout is annoying.

AlbertaSimmons · 16/08/2018 09:57

Growingboys -me! I mentioned Phase 8 and I thought loads of others would too, but can only assume that they haven't because either they love it or shudder so much at the windows that they don't even cross the threshold Grin.

MrsJayy · 16/08/2018 10:01

Tk maxx smells weird i hate going in. I have a bag from there but only because I got a voucher the christmas the Tkmaxx opened in our town

theunsure · 16/08/2018 10:02

Zara
Am too short and fat to wear anything.
H&M
Never see anything I like apart from cheap bikinis

tectonicplates · 16/08/2018 10:04

I WILL MANAGE TO BUY SOMETHING FROM ZARA ONE DAY DAMMIT

MrsJayy · 16/08/2018 10:04

H&Ms sizes are all to pot

SugarandVinegar · 16/08/2018 10:06

John Lewis, it feels like walking in to a shiny bright clinic - same with their website.

alltoomuchrightnow · 16/08/2018 16:27

Beauty Base... in theory I would love the shop and spend hours but in my local one, the staff are so incredibly rude, unwelcoming and follow you around.
I was a shop manager for most of my working career and never treated customers like that. It's like everyone that walks in is automatically assumed to be a perfume stealer. You are not allowed to just browse, you have to ask for help, if you refuse their offer to help then you get your head bitten off. Been the same every visit I've had.
Also Fat Face, Joules, White Stuff, Seasalt for the reasons others have said. Can be some great prints but all just so frumpy and shapeless.

Glitteryfrog · 16/08/2018 16:36

My local Zara.
Other Zaras I buy stuff... but my local one is a jumble sale.

Gap - used to be brilliant. Now it's shite. I wanted cotton sun dresses and couldn't find one.

Oasis - floral nonsense

bottleofbeer · 16/08/2018 16:39

Zara. I'm between an 8 and 10 so bought 10 to be on the safe side. Not only were they miles too big, they're just oddly cut. Imagine a pair of well fitting jeans on the bottom but the waist being upturned funnel shape. They just gape and look really weird.

Glitteryfrog · 16/08/2018 16:40

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

I love drab, grey and khaki.
I think it's not drab enough... the grey is too pale. There is too much cream.

Madmarchpear · 16/08/2018 16:43

Zara is terrible quality and a bit naff euro fashion imo.

blondeemily · 16/08/2018 16:50

Next. Can hardly ever find anything I like, and then when I do it never fits nicely.
I do like some of their homeware though.

Butteredparsn1ps · 16/08/2018 16:54

The problem with Joules, Fat Face and Sea Salt is the frumpy, boxy cut.

^ This. I’m too curvy for Joules T shirt Dresses, and Fat-face tops manage to make me look Mumsy & boring ro the core.

Bluntness100 · 16/08/2018 17:03

I really prefer on line shopping as more choice.

But agree on body shop, lush, next, it's all just shite. I. Like tk maxx in the home wares bit.

But the one I think I should like is ted baker. I love the clothes on line, buy from them, then see a shop when I'm out say ooh, and go in and come out disappointed, it's all their most obnoxious clothes in tiny sizes. With staff who either follow you about like you're going to nick something, or are so achingly hip they can't be arsed to do anything other than talk to each other. I've no idea why I still go in.

I was in one a couple of weeks ago and they had nothing on display over a size one or two, which is like a small eight or ten. The stuff out was all their most unwearable ad the pretty stuff with all the flowers etc you see on line, not to be seen, Just bonkers.

Nettletheelf · 16/08/2018 17:20

I feel that I SHOULD like Baukjen but when I see the clothes I just think, yawn. And some of the dresses are very Nonnatus House. Sister Monica Joan, not Trixie.

I can’t bloody stand the ‘slightly apologetic middle class mum trying to look as if she fits in at upmarket UK seaside destinations but not attracting attention’ shops. By which I mean:

White Stuff
Crew clothing
Joules
Fat Face
Seasalt

I had the misfortune to forget to pack t shirts when visiting such a place last month. I thought I’d pick some up from the array of shops listed above. I just couldn’t. Boring colours designed not to cause offence or look ‘common’. Frumpy patterns and cuts. Nervous looking designs for people who want to look as if they go surfing with their kids every summer and hence belong. Every shop looked like Kate bloody Middleton’s wardrobe. I can see why those shops are in those resorts though! They were packed with people trying to buy the cookie cutter look. Tragic.

groundcontroltomontydon · 16/08/2018 17:26

M&S - whichever store I'm in, whichever door I enter by, I always seem to be in the wide-legged, half-mast, flame-retardent trouser department

alltoomuchrightnow · 16/08/2018 17:26

Karen Millen..how on earth has it managed to keep going? So expensive despite being non designer. Sizing is tiny.
I managed charity shops for years and actually had some KM items donated where the labels state that the garments could not be washed OR dry cleaned!

alltoomuchrightnow · 16/08/2018 17:28

Just had a quick peek at KM's site and there's a mini dress on there for £225. But it's polyester!!

Growingboys · 16/08/2018 17:31

Sorry to miss your post alberta and glad it's not just me.

Just walking past makes me CROSS

Growingboys · 16/08/2018 17:34

Also, TOAST.

It's awful. Drab, depressing, and inexplicably expensive.

SheWoreBlueVelvet · 16/08/2018 17:35

Heresy but Waitrose.
I think it's shop for people that don't really like eating. Cooking or buying ingredients maybe but not actual food. So sterile and bright.

plominoagain · 16/08/2018 18:08

TK Maxx does my head in . I quite like their home section but for clothes shopping , it drives me spare . As I’m one of those people who goes in , gets what they need and gets the hell out , it’s like the seventh circle of hell . I just don’t want to fuck about wading through shitloads of frills and frou frou ness to try and find something decent to wear for work that doesn’t mak me look like a croupier or a prison warder

themagicamulet · 16/08/2018 18:15

I don’t get Seasalt at all, looks like the sort of thing you can buy in the clothes concessions at the garden centre

This! Just made me laugh out loud. I have the sandals, which are great, but everything else I've ever bought there has been frumpy or fallen apart or both...

smudgedlipstick · 16/08/2018 18:17

Mine are Zara and TK Max, Zara is my sort of colour pallets and the odd thing I see on a mannequin I really like, when I walk in I immediately feel uncomfortable and like I don't belong in there, and I can never find the item I like and everything it frilly 🤨 and tkmaxx is designer on a Budget which is right up my street! Then I walk in and get hot sweats at the chaos and can't work out where I am supposed to start 😂 I don't go in ether anymore