Does anyone miss Debenhams/BHS?

[Hairbrush123]

I had a catch up with a friend earlier who said she misses Debenhams a lot and misses the staples she’d buy from BHS. I forgot until just today that they ever existed . My local town centre never had a Debenhams or BHS so maybe that’s why!

Does anyone else miss them?

I miss Debs for the brand Gorgeous DD - great pj’s with hidden support, and perfect (for me) Ponte stretch trousers and brilliant changing rooms for wheelchair bound so you could still try everything on. Now relegated to catalogues and having to return stuff as local city now has no M&S or Debs, or House of Fraser, or JL or BHS .

I miss Debenhams and House of Fraser, they were our main high street shops. I'd always buy my clothes from one or the other. BHS on the other hand was full of tat, I think I bought a pair of shoes there once but that's about it. There's only JL now, I hope that one stays open.

Nope to both but I loathe department stores in general and since lockdown ended, actually despise shopping in person.

Nothing to do with Covid, not scared of that, it's just the whole pandemic has made me realise how much mindless crap we buy that we don't really need.

The last few times I have been out and seen people with trolleys full of plastic glittery tat all in the name of "Christmas" is just depressing

I miss Debenhams, their closing down sale was bittersweet, I got great bargains but would rather have kept the store.

Yes miss them more at Christmas than any other time

Miss Debenhams this Xmas. Miss BHS for school uniform and cotton nightwear

Not those two no, but I really miss my local House of Fraser - as it was about 5 years ago. I got most of my Christmas clothes and shopping there.

We're a small town and are really missing HoF and Debenhams for footfall.

I miss Debenhams. I don’t like buying clothes online as I like to try them on first.

I miss the really old BHS from when they had a food hall, I can remember going with my mum to meet my Nan on a Saturday morning in time for the shops to open, as soon as the doors open everyone ran to get in the queue at the cheese & bacon counter.

My closest Debenhams (Redditch) was so depressing. I hadn’t seen it busy in about five years and wondered how it stayed afloat for so long! I can remember when the Blue Cross sale used to be a biannual event but towards the end - it was every other week !

I do miss the café but not enough to want it to come back. I think it has had a knock on effect for trade in the town centres across the country though.

I miss the BHS in Manchester. You could knock 10-15 minutes off your journey by cutting through it to other stores in the Arndale. Now you have to walk all the way round.

It’s nice to see how many fond memories people have of BHS/Debenhams. I have personally never been a fan of either.

I do love John Lewis and still am annoyed that they closed down their Birmingham branch as it was a wonderful store! Fortunately my town centre has a JL which I cherish, so I can understand the frustration to those who miss Debenhams/BHS.

I fell out of love with Debenhams because a lady at the makeup forever counter was really rude to me, implying I couldn't afford to buy their makeup. But they has lovely dresses.

I did think from that experience that some retail staff can be very rude and while I understand that their job isn't an easy one and I don't expect them to be super lovely all the time, it's incidents like this that make me think that I am better off ordering from cultbeauty. It's not just Debenhams though, I was asking a guerlain staff member in Selfridges whether they had larger bottles of foundation, he kinda sneered at me and said 'no brand does larger than 30 ml' when I left, he was still muttering derisively under his breath '30ml!' I mean, experiences like this don't make me want to buy in store right?

I have had lovely beauty counter ladies who patiently colour matched me/did makeup and I would always want to be colour matched when buying expensive foundation but I don't mind buying everything else online due to these less than pleasant experiences.

I don't miss cheap nasty BHS. I used to look at their clothes and wonder what that was all about. No, I don't buy designer clothes.

Their lighting department was ok.

I don't miss Debenhams. To me it looked ok but that's where it lost me.

I also really really miss the debenhams Maine jeggins. They had proper pockets. I lived in them. I've never found jeggins with pockets anywhere else.

I miss Debenhams. We don't have John Lewis, Harrods or Selfridges.

I miss the cafe at bhs. Also they did bikinis with proper bra sizing, nothing fancy nice enough.

I miss Debenhams. I had my ears pierced at the Bristol one as a kid. I'm in my 50's now.

Nope. Rarely shopped there

I do miss Woolworths though

I really miss Debenhams

I miss Debenhams but not BHS.

I'm out off buying from Debenhams online because you have to return items to the specific concession, following their returns process. Sounds like a right PITA

I loved BHS. They had lovely soft knitwear in a whole range of colours and a good range of sizes. I also liked their sleepwear and bedding. I have a lovely patchwork eiderdown which I bought in their final sale.
I liked Mantaray in Debenhams.

I miss BHS, it was a really big shop in our town, a bit old fashioned but I liked the lighing department as others have said, the cafe and children's clothes. Our Debenhams was small and a bit rubbish so I don't miss it but it's sad that the option is gone.

I miss Debenhams so much, and also Dorothy Perkins