Is John Lewis the next Department store to face problems?

[Ifailed]

profits down by 99% for the past 6 months & that includes Waitrose, so presumably the Dept Store side of things made a loss.

Are we seeing the final demise of Department Stores in the UK?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45506322

Simplest trick is to walk in or through a store and ask yourself "what is this for" (I call it the Woolworths test).

If you can't answer in less than 4 words , it's not a good sign.

One of the most fitting descriptions I've read of Debenhams (on MN ) was it was like walking through a jumble sale.

Selfridges used to be seen as the pinnacle of department stores, and of course Harrods.

Has anyone else been in either recently and find them mindboggling in terms of actually getting around the place? Harrods toy department requires its own sat nav to find and if you take the wrong turn, end up walking through the antique glass and vase department where its £££ with wriggly toddlers. I basically spend my time riding the escalators and looping in circles until I accidentally find myself either in the right place or outside again given up.

Last time (around a year ago), i tried selfridges again to get a pair of jeans i had seen advertised at a reasonable price, and I basically got lost in some kind of neon punk room, and then found an actual queue of people with bodyguard type security in front of a certain bag.

I have no idea how either of them still exist

If it does go my MIL will be the first to riot.

I love John Lewis, so I have decided to do all my christmas shopping there this year.

It is by far the best and I hope they will soon be back with good profit margins.

I'm not much of a consumer

I'm obviously aware of the shift to online but something else I wondered about - is the "shopping as a hobby" thing on the decline maybe?

as I don't really go to shops, I have no way of judging whether they are as busy as they were five years ago etc.

They've just completely spent a fortune updating and changing their branding which is one reason why there's been no profit. It's John Lewis &Partners now and they have a whole new clothing range

Strawberry

Both Selfridges and Harrods do phenomenally well out of affluent Chinese tourists. They accept Chinese credit cards and have Mandarin-speaking staff. I still go to Selfridges for the beauty hall but I don’t think I’ve set foot in Harrods in twenty years.

I've never understood how the John Lewis price match thing is seen as a plus. In my eyes all it says is they've overpriced their products but if you are savvy enough to find it cheaper we'll match it.

And the legendary customer service was shite when I had to return some baby products a few years ago.

I've never understood how the John Lewis price match thing is seen as a plus. In my eyes all it says is they've overpriced their products but if you are savvy enough to find it cheaper we'll match it.

They are quite good with it, but they are also quite savvy so it has to be in another bricks and mortar store etc, offer the same warranty, also they slightly tweak there laptops specifications (not necessarily for the better) etc so that you cannot price match.

Even though profits are down, they still had a rise in overall sales with a total of £5.5bn, so with the £10m rebrand, min wage increase etc they are not going anywhere yet, but the highstreet is changing no matter what in the next decade.

The problem with JL and M&S is that in trying to stay relevant and chase new demographics they've binned everything they did well. JL's customer service is now appalling (I'd never buy furniture/white goods from them again) and M&S have given up on established customers in favour of chasing customers who'll never shop there - there's no quality or editing, just rails and rails of poor quality stuff.

JL has a very good online presence, so I could see them shutting some dept stores but staying alive. Surely they are in a much better position than M&S? I would be surprised if Waitrose is affected (touchwood). Certainly my local branches are always busy.

They should kill the undersold promise. I very much doubt it helps at all

With the rebrand they are trying to turn the stores into experiences which is what they need to do to survive.

If people would rather shop online than actually go to a shop then it makes sense that a bricks and mortor store would need more to attract people to it - music, food, demonstrations, glitz etc

I would be upset if it went and I think they’ve expanded a little bit too much a bit like Allders did with their home stores before they went bust in the 2000’s. They spend too much on their xmas ads and that Bohemian Rhapsody ad.

However it is a shame that there aren’t more big UK companies that are owned by all their staff. I hope the partners can hang on in there and keep their jobs.

I use selfridges online a fair bit as there are a few things that they stock that I can’t find easily locally. So slow though, it’s always a good 5/6 days before anything turns up.
JL home has lost its way I think and the staff are not as helpful or focused on customer care as in years ago.
I despair in their bluewater shop, I go a lot and the staff seem to resent customers bothering them.

The problem is the online stores like amazon. I have some JL vouchers. I want to spend them. The product I want is stocked by JL. But JL are charging £100 for it and amazon are charging £70.

I don’t think it’s going anywhere yet.

They’re opening a new store in Cheltenham soon.

They need more staff in stores though. I went to buy some fabric for blinds, found what I wanted, but could I find anyone free to serve me? No. I ended up leaving empty handed.

I know people who work in JL who are frustrated they can’t do their jobs properly in their depts due to lack of staff.

I used to spend £20k a year plus in John Lewis and waitrose, I now spend less than £5K.

They refitted our Waitrose and so as a 5 foot 7 woman I cant reach the top shelves. I have to ask for help, if I can find anyone or drag a stool from the inshore cafe area (why!) . That makes me feel disenfranchised

The customer service at John lewis has declined. Lost orders, wrong orders, lost returns. The main reason was that they invited me to an event-lovely hard card gilt invitation in the post . I replied immediately when in the invitation arrived. I cant remember the exact number but something like they sent out 10,000 for 100 places. They were so rude when I complained that it was misleading.

I use selfridges online a fair bit as there are a few things that they stock that I can’t find easily locally. So slow though, it’s always a good 5/6 days before anything turns up.

often 10 airmails or virgin miles per £1 as well. I buy all our phones and apple stuff from there.

I don't trust the price promise. When I was looking at electrical goods, seemingly identical products had different model numbers, presumably to make the price promise impossible to use.

Very poor customer service from a company where customer service is supposed to be a reason why people would go there rather than other shops that sell the same stuff.

I'm not sure their customer service is that great anyway. Our dishwasher broke, so I looked at John Lewis. I wanted the cheapest one from a decent make but wasn't fussy about the exact model.

The one I picked from JL was a Bosch for £300, but it would have taken a week to be delivered. Currys could do another Bosch for £250 and next day delivery. The Currys offering had the same features but a different model number, so if I had been insistent on buying from JL for some unfathomable reason, they probably wouldn't have price matched either.

And they charge for click and collect, which no-one else does, so I'm sure that puts a lot of people off.

I do like all the £8 off £40 spend they send me for Waitrose though. Keep them coming please.

Yes we had lots of £18 off £90 vouchers, I will take some more of those please.

I get £26 off £130 spend. I use some of thumbnut not all- I get 2 lots as I have 2 my waitrose cards.

I hope that Debenhams survives, I like a department store, lots to see etc, where I live we have a small store but it's nice to visit the beauty counters such as Clarins and Chanel, there is nowhere else local where you can get these brands, but they need to get rid of all the tacky gift ideas at Christmas, BHS used to do a large array of this type of tat, then reducing it massively in the sales, such as Marmite and Coca Cola mugs,, Bayliss and Harding, nothing that you would ever want to receive as a gift? I do buy on line butI also like to try clothing on and see things before I buy so I hope shops do survive, I've lost count of the amount of stuff my kids buy online, it comes, is crap or doesn't fit and they end up keeping it because they can't be bothered to return it

Surely Debs have been in a death spiral for years?

Their ‘designers at’ concept is good but they have made a mess of it. The clothes (the women’s clothes, at least) are so cheap and crap.

I can’t see how the designers can put their names to them unless they value the licence fee more than their reputation. Most of them don’t show a main line any more in any case. The store has that same strange chemical smell you get in Primark from racks stuffed with the cheapest synthetic fabrics.

Also, the stores look 10 years out of date. Go in and you are faced with racks of bloody fascinators and sequinned handbags and scarves, all aimed at older women who don’t care about fashion.

The service in the beauty hall is usually terrible: the counter staff often don’t even acknowledge you if they are with another customer. “Hi, I’ll be with you in two minutes” isn’t hard, is it? Last time I thought, stuff you, I’ll buy my Dior lippy in Boots instead. The perfume staff don’t even know their own products. I went in once asking for a new Lancôme scent that had been heavily advertised and that I could see on a shelf. The perfume assistant swore blind that there was no such product until I went behind the counter and picked it up. After that I didn’t want to give them my money and went elsewhere.

Also, to anyone complaining about JL and M&S trying to modernise, I say this: BHS. No retailer wants to be the place that only pleases old people. They tend to buy a lot less, for a start, and are often extremely value conscious. My mother needs oxygen when I tell her that I’ve spent £350 on a coat.