Do you feel uncomfortable in some shops?

[chomalungma]

Killing time yesterday with DS and we were wandering through some car dealerships. Ford, Volkswagen, briefly in the BMW garage (they were all next to each other).

But we didn't go in the Jaguar one. It seemed off putting and not the kind of place to casually stroll through looking at the cars and making comments...about the price. I think we would have been really out of place.

I was thinking about that scene from Pretty Women.."All that commission".

Do you ever feel out of place or uncomfortable in some shops and just don't go in?

I thought this was going to be about lighting! Some stores have awful lighting that makes me feel sick.

I wandered into the high end designer bit of Selfridges last summer. My friend was looking for an evening dress and the staff were wonderful.
I'm confident that we didn't look like 5K frock punters but no one made us feel intimidated, they were chatty, friendly and totally understanding.

I was in a Body Shop yesterday for the first time in years. I immediately felt "watched". I was asked if I needed help no less than 3 times in 5 minutes. Very off-putting. It will be years before I go back.

I have been known to tell a sales person in a furniture store that if they don't stop following me there is no chance I will buy anything. They still kept following me, but from more distance. I left. Sadly for them I really was interested in a chair.

Follow me at your own risk! I embarrass DH all the time in shops with followers.

I’m sure it was called something like bembridge or pembridge York
Was really looking forward to going in to see something a bit different

Even if I never bought a dress there, there might have been some nice accessories

Hobbs in Harrogate, awful stuck up staff who virtually sneered at me when, at my fattest, I asked for a size 16 in a particular dress.

I probably spend £1200 a year in Hobbs but I would wear rags rather than shop in that one which is my nearest store.

Bloody rude, I can’t remember the exact words, something along the lines of ‘we don’t stock much or have much demand for bigger sizes!

Can anyone tell me the name of the men’s shop in Florida
It looks like a high end beach shop, lots of Hawaiian shirts as well as nice quality clothes
But so dark and foreboding in there with hardly anyone in

Another for Lush. No, I don't mind any others.

Lush. Piss off and let me decide what I want to buy in peace.

@Dowser Fat Willy's?

Last time I was in Lush the guy who pounced on me waffled on for ages about how he was showing me the best products for dyed hair, how they would really maintain my colour etc etc. I don’t colour my hair not a great sales pitch, all told...

Sports direct. I’m not posh by any means, but I still feel out of place in such a downmarket environment.

The perfume department in Selfridges - I love perfume, but do not dress well. I think I seriously alarmed quite a few extremely well groomed sales assistants when I went in last time. I had a lot of fun sniffing perfume samples though!

There’s a catch kidson near me and every assistant pounces on you as soon as you walk through the door. It’s actually very offputting (especially when you pop in to have a look at a bag and see the ££££pricetag for a plastic shopper!)

Yes. I never feel sufficiently worthy or well to do to enter the hallowed portals of Jo Malone or Penhaligon.

I know which shop Dowser means. It is an American chain. My DH bought some shorts at a branch in California. Tommy something? Not Hilfiger. I will rack my brains.

The shop I feel uncomfortable in is...wait for it...Poundland! I love their stock, I am always at home for a bargain. However at the shop near me one member of staff stands by the tills asking everyone to buy an extra thing (biscuits, chocolate) for £1 . The stuff gets donated to a local hospital. I usually say yes, it’s just £1, but I dislike being shamed into it. The staff obviously don’t like doing it either: they have to stand there like a fairground barker or whatever. I am sorry to say that I often avoid Poundland for that reason and take my bargain shopping to other value retailers!

The only posh shop I ever felt annoyed in was Matches in (I think) Richmond, where I was staying with work. I often buy stuff from their website and I looked smart. However as soon as the assistant caught my northern accent she shadowed me around the store asking what I was looking for etc. Put me right off!

Boots. The over-zealous sales staff seem to pounce on me the minute I start to browse.

If I need help, I’ll ask for it, but even when I do I’m fobbed off, such as recently I asked for a product at the No. 7 counter, only to be told it had been discontinued. I got it no problem at another branch

Noisy ones, busy ones, and ones where you get pounced on right away 😬

@Dowser

Tommy Bahamas?

Superdry too old.shit stuff

When I was a lot skinnier, I sued to go into Evans (outsize shop - don't think that they're around now) as they used to carry lots of shoes in my size. The looks I'd get as I sauntered in.... and carried on to the back of the shop where the shoe rack was. I had the cheek to apply for a job in there once, all 7.5st of me. Unsurprisingly, I wasn't successful .

Ironically I loathed being so skinny partly due to the "skinny cow" (and worse) jibes but at the time, I struggled to keep weight on. Now its gone the other way.

Anywhere that makes a comment about my purchase at the till or gives a empty compliment your paid to like the stuff

Just for the fun of it in an idle lunch hour, I did manage a super fast power-walk around a large DFS furniture store, I was the only customer, I could see staff approaching me in earnest from all sides, but outfoxed them all and was back in the carpark before they even reached me 😂

Frequently browse boutiques.....for the scarves - the only item that would fit me there though!