Fuming with M&S and high street clothes shops in general

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I've just found out that M&S petite clothing is now online only. You can't even get it at the big M&S in Oxford Street any more.

As a petite woman, I'm sick of being treated like a second class customer. I'm sick of everything being moved online when I specifically went to the shop to try things on. I'm sick of places like Next who'll make knitwear in ten colours in the regular length, but only black, white and grey in the petite length.

But I'm also losing patience with this whole "decline of the high street" thing in general. Every time I try to go clothes shopping, the shops are full of crap, bad quality clothes that don't fit. And then they complain that nobody is buying anything. I don't really know why I'm supposed to feel sorry for shops when they don't sell anything we want.

I hate shopping for clothes these days. I seem to have gone from a size 14 in 1992, to 10, or even an 8 in some shops, despite gaining a few pounds on the scales and everything is such poor quality.

Shops like M&S, Debenhams and Next that used to be reliable for reasonable quality, the reasonably priced (if not exciting!) things have moved right down market and even the very expensive shops are hit and miss on quality, despite the high price tags.

Well, yes. I am only 5ft tall so even in petite section some things are too big. I need to try clothes on to see if they fit before buying them so don't like to buy clothes online. I know you can try them on at home and send them back if they don't fit, but that is more hassle and no good if you need to wear it soon.

I'm short as well. I buy mainly petite ranges and do most of my shopping online now.

I know with Next you can order it into the store for the next day. The staff at my local store let me try orders to store on in their changing rooms and then I can return it there in store as well. So no less faff than traipsing around the shops for a whole day and finding nothing.

I guess it all depends on where you live etc but I do find buying online, having it delivered to try on at home and then either returning to store or via my local garage a hell of a lot easier than having to drive to my local shops and drag my two small kids around. Just to find nothing!

Okay - take deep breaths. I’m short too, I get how tricky it is. But logically it must just come down to supply and demand, they must not sell enough petite clothing in store 🤷‍♀️

Also, it looks like Precis have either gone out of business or are about to, so there's now nowhere to buy good quality petite knitwear.

Even Boden, who've opened a few shops in London and some concessions at John Lewis, have kept their petites online only. Obviously some customers are more important than others

Try being tall.
At least there are petite options in shops. All tall ranges are online except TopShop which usually has about half a dozen size 6 items swinging in the breeze.

But logically it must just come down to supply and demand, they must not sell enough petite clothing in store

Except that this isn't true. The average height of UK women is 5ft 4 and I see plenty of short people around all the time wherever I go.

I'm not actually particularly petite at 5'5" but I have a long body and very short legs so have to get petite size jeans. I gave up shopping in real life a long time ago, as a teen in a small town the selection was appalling, online you are spoilt for choice and most places have free returns. It is very very rare I buy something for myself in a shop, unless it's vintage which tends to be made for shorter people. Although that's much easier to get online now too, and sellers tend to do measurements well in comparison to the usual vague size 10/12 or whatever.

But I'm also losing patience with this whole "decline of the high street" thing in general. Every time I try to go clothes shopping, the shops are full of crap, bad quality clothes that don't fit. And then they complain that nobody is buying anything. I don't really know why I'm supposed to feel sorry for shops when they don't sell anything we want.

I have to agree. Plenty of High Street chains are doing OK and even expanding. The "traditional" stores like Next, M&S, Debenhams, etc are just driving customers away by not having stock in the shops and not having the faintest idea what their customers want. Blaming the internet and business rates is just a convenient excuse. Clarks shoes will be the next - they're the same, I've not been able to buy "from the shop" for about 3 years now for myself nor my son - it's always the same - order online and collect in store. No thanks, if I order online, I'll have it delivered to home and won't waste the time, petrol and parking to go to their store.

Just to find nothing!

But that's the point. It wasn't like that up to a few years ago. The High Street actually had shops which had plenty of stock in store. I remember going into town for a new outfit for a party or whatever and it never crossed my mind that I wouldn't be able to get anything. Nowadays, it's a pleasant surprise if a shop actually has something you like in your size. They've brought it on themselves.

I agree with you OP, shops seem to be going backwards. I used to be a size 8 but in many shops I now need a size 6 or 4!!! I still fit into my old size 8 clothes but new 8s are massive and so many places do not stock sizes 6 let alone a size 4! what is going on?

I do also need to occasionally shop in petite range, I have a short body and a tiny waist and can never bloomin find anything!

Totally agree regarding decline in quality. The new Holly Willoughby range, currently being promoted, looks good in press photos, but the fabric used for the coat and skirt, in particular, is way below what you'd expect from M&S. The coat sleeves are creased, just from hanging on the rack, and the material feels thin and scratchy. If I'd ordered it on line, even if the fit was OK, I'd be v cross about having to send it back.

But logically it must just come down to supply and demand, they must not sell enough petite clothing in store

My OH is on the large side, yet, M&S don't sell shirts anything bigger than 17.5" collar and trousers no bigger than 42" waist. He's been big all his adult life, and tells me 30 years ago, it was exactly the same. So, over those 30 years, everyone says we're all getting fatter, obesity is a major problem, etc., but M&S hasn't increased the size of clothes in most of their stores at all. (Yes I know "some" stores go a size higher, but I'm talking about their normal/average stores - some stores even 30 years ago did a size bigger, so my point remains that they've not actually changed despite people getting fatter). My OH has no choice but to buy larger sizes from the internet, which is counter-intuitive when the High St stores are whinging about it - they're the ones who are driving it!

Hear hear! I find shopping such a depressing experience I just order online in bulk - multiple sizes etc and send it all back.

Yep, I’m with pp, there are no tall clothes in the shops, they are all online now and don’t stick them in their shops any longer. I wonder why the high street is dying?
On another note, why do retailers think everyone is average sized? It really gets on my nerves

Sometimes I wonder if it's being done deliberately to drive people online. Like a kind of constructive dismissal thing.

Obviously some customers are more important than others

Don't be daft, shops aren't set up to be a fair-to-all public convenience, they're businesses trying to make money. If they're not sticking petite ranges in-store it's because it doesn't make commercial sense to do so. Being offended/outraged is stupid.

Try being tall. Next only do their Tall Range online.

I'm 5'7", just over 10 stone, and so far from small or skinny. I often feel like a lumbering giant around petite friends and generally buy a size 10.

I often wonder where on earth small people shop.

When a few chains have such a monopoly, a its not about supply and demand though because although we might buy less there are times when we must buy "something" so end up making do with the best we can find.

Of course the root of the problem is our thirst for quantity. Go back to the days where most people had one set of work clothes and some Sunday best, handmade to measure and this problem goes away completely.

Havelock is right. If there was a demand the stores would sell it. Why wouldn't they. I work at home a lot and whilst Iike LK Bennett (in the sale) and Jigsaw I do like Marks for its casual stuff, it washs well and I have 100's of black polo necks that you can wash and wear without ironing. The biggest issue I have is that they never seem to have my size (10). Lots of much bigger sizes but not 10's. I conclude that its because I am not really their target market so as I know the fit well I order online.

What is it with their boxy t-shirts though. They make you look like a box! Make them a bit longer and they will make us all look thinner. I have big boobs and Armani black v neck t s-hirts in ex small are great. Only issue is that they are £45 each!

I'm tall and hate high street shopping...never anything in my size....not everyone who is tall is a supermodel size 8
I tend to order a heap of stuff online and then send most of it back

The average height of UK women is 5ft 4 and I see plenty of short people around all the time wherever I go.

That doesn't make them petite.

I'm 5ft 3 and 8st, yet most petite clothes are too short on the leg and too tight across the back/under arms.

Bestseller makes an interesting point. I have probably 10 black polo necks from Marks. I have approximately 30 pairs of pants and the same in socks yet the same few come out every day. I turn around washing quickly so why have I got so many?

Same with DH. I often go and move them around in the drawers otherwise we just end up using the same few pairs every time!

I'm not petite, I'm tall and have exactly the same problem as the 'petites'. Few clothes fit. In my case, trousers and sleeves are too short, waists too small, hips and thighs too big. Also, fabrics are poor quality and thin, and everything seems to be cheapo synthetic rather than the good wool mixes you used to be able to get. On my trips to other countries, especially Netherlands and Scandinavia, I find many more clothes in a variety of sizes and in good fabric. But I don't really want to go to Amsterdam or Copenhagen just to shop for basics! Sometimes I wonder if a market will grow for reasonably priced but made to measure clothes in fabrics of your choice. This is how I bought a lot of clothes in the 1980s-1990s and as a result everything fitted beautifully and I had colours and fabrics that suit me.

It’s the quality of clothing that depresses me. The shops are crammed with hideous tat - I want well cut clothing made from good quality natural fibres and will cheerfully pay a fair price for an item that I will get good wear out of. Plus, I’m fat and apparently once you get to a size 20 or above all you want to wear is cheap, smelly polyester.