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When's the last time you went in an actual Debenham's store?

259 replies

1stDecember · 01/12/2020 18:07

It was half a decade ago for me. I don't buy from them online either.

They don't seem to have moved with the times?

OP posts:
AuntieMarys · 01/12/2020 18:10

15 years ago. Our local store ( Wimbledon) was horrific. Scruffy, untidy, unloved.

DrDreReturns · 01/12/2020 18:13

A few years back. I remember it being really untidy and disorganised.

Anycrispsleft · 01/12/2020 18:13

I bought some maternity jeans in there. My kids are 8 now! The very, very last time I was in it was to go to the cafe and I saw a mouse running across the floor Shock

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BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 01/12/2020 18:14

As a customer- a decade? Minimum. As a handy cut through from the big carpark to the rest of the shops? Maybe last year.

NotExactlyHappyToHelp · 01/12/2020 18:14

Not very long ago actually. I went for a sniff round the perfume department and was resoundingly ignored by every staff member and then spoken to rudely. I went to the Chanel concession instead and they were lovely.

Our closest store is badly laid out and gloomy. The clothing department looks like a jumble sale.

Desperately sad for all the staff involved.

Clickncollect · 01/12/2020 18:14

Oh I still quite like a bit of Debenhams. I like the kids clothes and I enjoy the ladies fashion concessions!

HilaryBriss · 01/12/2020 18:15

It is (was?) one of thise shops that I walk though and browse around quite often but never actually buy anything from...

DinkyDaisy · 01/12/2020 18:16

Recently! Great toilets. Also, buy clothes when on sale and love their baby clothes. I will miss them.

formerbabe · 01/12/2020 18:17

Had to walk through one recently to get to the car park...walked through menswear. It's like a 90s timewarp and the stuff was bloody expensive...I kept saying to dh, why would you spend £90 on a jumper in Debenhams?!

AgeLikeWine · 01/12/2020 18:17

Last year. I ventured into the Nottingham store, on the Old Market Square. It was a tatty, run-down dump. The place looked like it hadn’t had a penny spent on maintenance or decor, never mind refurbishment, since the 90s. The layout was a mess, the stock was poor. It was just depressing and hopeless.

I’m not in the least surprised that Debenhams has reached the end of the road. I sympathise with the staff, obviously, but businesses need to move with the times. They didn’t, and they deserved to fail.

formerbabe · 01/12/2020 18:17

They had some nice Christmas bits for kids though

Watto1 · 01/12/2020 18:18

This morning oddly enough. Didn’t buy anything on this occasion. The quickest way from the shopping centre car park to the shops is to go through Debenhams. I have bought a few things there in the past though. I tend to buy bras there and they have some nice Christmas stuff in at the moment.

Porgy · 01/12/2020 18:18

I used to walk through quite a lot because our local one was a good cut through between shops.

I vaguely remember buying something from the Cheshire Oaks one at Christmas time a few years ago.

DinkyDaisy · 01/12/2020 18:19

I also miss BHS and C&A!

NeutralJanet · 01/12/2020 18:19

In the summer, to look for school uniform. Their school clothes selection was shite. Ended up going to Asda instead.

tectonicplates · 01/12/2020 18:20

I used to pop into the Oxford Street one quite a lot as it was really good. I know of other, more local branches that were looking very dated though.

weebarra · 01/12/2020 18:20

Recently, to pick up some click and collect stuff. I also got some Christmas bits there last year. Ours in Edinburgh is pretty nice.

Scarby9 · 01/12/2020 18:21

Pre-pandemic, but quite frequently then. We have an M&S but Debenhams is the other big store in our local town so it gives access to a range of clothes we wouldn't otherwisr have - Manteray, John Rochas, Principles etc.

MsHedgehog · 01/12/2020 18:22

I've popped in occasionally over the past few years to pick up make up, and it's usually it's make up items that I already use and have run out so just need to pick up suppliers rather than browse in store.

gamerchick · 01/12/2020 18:23

A few years I think. The last time I went in, they did the hard sell for the card. O had to keep refusing, then went all stroppy on me and rude, while taking off the bonus bits of my total I hadn't asked for. I left feeling quite freaked by the experience.

Scary place.

StillDumDeDumming · 01/12/2020 18:23

It is our only major store. We have no m and a and no John Lewis. Debenhams had great bras and that alone is going to be a bloody nightmare!

StCharlotte · 01/12/2020 18:24

Last Christmas but I quite often order(ed) stuff online. Our local branch was in the first round of closures. It was next to a House of Fraser which also looked like it was on borrowed time.

Huge shame.

ShedFace · 01/12/2020 18:24

I loved Debenhams and used to buy a lot of school uniform and children’s clothes online from them, and always called into store during Christmas shopping trips to buy pyjamas / bras for my mum and gran or when I wanted a dress or shoes for a wedding (they used to do Coast and Quiz and that type of thing!). It wasn’t until I heard on the radio that they’d gone through that I realised I haven’t actually been in one for about two years. Sad

Tamingofthehamster · 01/12/2020 18:24

I had vouchers for Christmas 2 years ago so eventually spent them last November. Just got some T-shirt’s and underwear. I could have done with crockery and bedding but both seemed really expensive relative to elsewhere.

NameChange84 · 01/12/2020 18:25

In person...February. I used to go in every weekend. It’s a flagship store in my local mall and the same in the shopping centre in the other nearest town.

Online? Had a delivery arrive today.

I often shopped from them. I liked Principles, Oasis, Warehouse etc. Good for cosmetics, fragrance, home wares. Liked the Ted Baker lingerie and loungewear. 9 by Savannah Miller stuff was nice. I’d also buy my Levi’s there and Fred Perry for the men in my family.

I like/liked Debenhams. Same for HOF, John Lewis etc. Even think M&S is ok for a lot of things.

Hate all the Hush/Monki/Lucy and Yak stuff lauded on here and see online shopping as a joyless necessary evil rather than a pleasurable experience. Much prefer shopping in person. Gutted so many outlets have gone in one fell swoop. I still shopped at Topshop/Outfit etc.

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