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?

Another vote for Body Shop & Lush, I won't even go in now. Came very close to having a word with one sales assistant in Lush, downright rude!
Topshop can be an ordeal too, I only feel ok with one of my teens. Last time, dd wandered off while I was browsing the sale stuff & I got a really patronising "Are you ok?" from the sales assistant!

Someone below mentioned Gucci Shop. I was in Florence. My DH and I (not the most stylishly dresses, clad in comfy stuff suitable for walking all day) were desperate for a wee but could not find a good toilet. We figured the Gucci museum would have good loos so we paid an entrance fee just to use the loos. They were good loos! But as we paid we decided to look around. Not that many visitors and those that were in their were stylish. The security guard followed us from floor to floor! (Some of the items were not behind glass, they obviously thought we were wrong uns.) Not a shop but same principle.

Hollister!

Staff are very young and hip, makes me feel ancient. I can’t actually see a bloody thing in there, am tempted to ask them to put the big light on 😂😂.
I suspect you have to be pre pubescent to find anything that actually fits you.

My teenage daughter shops in Hollister. The first time I went in with her, like others have mentioned, I couldn't see a bloody thing. DD kept picking up clothes and asking my opinion on them, I could barely see them! Subsequent visits I started sitting on the lovely leather sofa or one of the armchairs located at the entrance (Kingston upon Thames branch) and told my daughter to go in by herself. They've recently removed the leather sofa and chairs and I'm too old to stand outside the store waiting for her for 40 minutes so she doesn't really go there any more.

Restaurants and cafes where they can't give you a couple of minutes to look at the menu!

Shops where the music is so loud you can't even think!

Hobbs in Bath. I walked in wearing outdoor gear and the assistant looked me up and down with a sneer. So I walked out again. A shame, because I had money to spend but I sure as hell wasn't giving her the commission.

Lush: the place winds me up. Also lingerie shops or the lingerie sections of department stores.

Dowser I bought a headdress from a bridal shop in York. I was in my work uniform (waitress at a cafe whilst at uni). They were really snooty and basically said I wouldn't be able to afford it. I could and I did but always thought I should've walked out. I bet it was the same place!

Was that bridal shop called Andrea Bambridge and was it in a single storey white building opposite Bon Marche on Goodramgate? (I worked in York for a few months, years ago).

When I was getting married I went into a wedding dress shop (nowt flash, BTW) in the middle of a big city, just to see whether I liked what they had, and the owner came running towards me with a horrified expression on her face and her arms outstretched, as if attempting to mark me at netball. She said, “have you got an appointment?” (Shop deserted). No, I said, and before I make one I just want to take a look to see whether I like the dresses first. Did not wish to make a hard sell appointment for dresses I didn’t like! She followed me around the shop, man-marking me. Very weird. I did not make an appointment.

In another bride shop, the owner refused to order in a particular style for me ‘because you won’t like it’ (it was in an unusual, although pale, colour). Her loss!

Iam My wedding was 10 years ago so can't remember but I'll have a google and see if it rings a bell. I'm hoping we've all been to the same one. You know one of those things that bug you years later. Be good to know it wasn't just me looking like a Les Mis extra or something.

Iam and Dowser Yes, we went to the same one! What a relief. It's been taken over now apparently. Hopefully the new people are much more welcoming.

Boots the perfume part the rest is fine but id say any perfume or department in a store they try so hard to make u buy its puts me off so buy online.

That reminds me, the Easter Lauder counters in big shops don’t display prices so you have to show the assistant each item and ask, ‘how much is this?’.

It is ‘policy’ apparently. No doubt so they can do the hard sell and shame you into buying stuff so as not to look poor.

Stuff that! I just buy online instead. And shops whinge about bricks and mortar retail suffering.

Easter Lauder??? ESTEE Lauder!

Hollister,its just so dark.I went in with my son,he was buying tee shirts.I think i would need a flash light the next time i venture in.

Hollister is scary! It is too dark for my eyes to function properly.

Make up counters are terrifying I went to one i was buying presents for dds and the girl woman started talking to me about maturer skin and what i had might not be suit, cheeky moo got no sale on her palletes

I work in retail, most of us don't like having to greet customers as soon as you walk through the door but unfortunately we don't have a choice, we can get some pretty rude responses from people. I get that it can be annoying if it happens numerous times but at the end of the day we are just doing our job, a simple smile and hello will suffice no need to bite our heads off!!!
By the way, I'm not aiming this at anyone in particular it's just a general comment

Sparkly, I've always been polite and even more so after a family member got a summer job handing out leaflets, said it was horrific

Sparkly I used to work in a dept store and prided myself on my good customer service skills. (Customers wrote in to the manager to thank me and compliment the customer service so not just my own high opinion of myself ) Anyway I think it's made me more aware of poor customer service as well as trying to be a good customer. I think everyone should work at least a year in either a shop or a cafe/restaurant. It's far far harder than it looks and shitty unreasonable customers are far far more common than people think. I've had some really poor experiences as a customer in some shops.

All saints. All I wanted to do was quickly poke, sniff and examine the layout of a particular handbag. I was pounced on and talked at at length and almost ended up missing my bus because I couldn't get out in the 8 second timeframe I'd given myself! I didn't even manage to get it open to see if it would be suitable.

There’s a couple of boutique clothes shops in a rather pretentious town not far from where I live. Now, I know I don’t present as conventionally feminine, and I’m probably quite urban art gallery/architect in style, but I’m not a total scruff. In both shops, I got the up-and-down look of disdain - I gave one of the shops the benefit of doubt and tried again another time. Same thing. Their loss, I can afford to buy things if I like them, I’ll not be spending anything in their premises.