Matalan… what’s that all about?

[Itsokay2020]

Following on from the WHSmith thread, it got me thinking about my recent experience of Matalan. Not a shop I visit often, but I wasn’t expecting to literally walk in, find my items, go to the till, scan the labels, remove the security tags, fold the items and place in my carrier bag. It felt really weird, behind the tills were a wall of storage boxes and the whole place seemed like a hybrid warehouse that allowed the public in, but only if they didn’t need any assistance from staff!

I saw one or two staff members, and it really struck me how lonely it must be to work in retail where shops are run on skeleton staff. I worked in retail back in the mid-90’s whilst at uni and loved it! We always had lots of staff on shift and I loved the interaction with customers (tbf I mostly worked in shoe shops!).

If you work in retail, do you prefer these new business models?

@honeybeesknees

Missing the point completely, but I love Matalan. Their baby and kids clothes are great, and our local one, although massive, doesn’t feel warehouse-y at all.

I've had Primark clothes for my girls that have lasted better than Matalan - at half the price

Missing the point slightly, but I hate Matalan. Every one I gave visited presents itself as a highly stressful experience because you have to do a lot of rummaging and it's a crowded space and the queue to pay just zaps my energy.

As for self-service, I prefer it because I hate speaking to strangers even though a large part of my job is speaking to strangers and it is a way to cope with my social awkwardness. I used one in Uniqlo that was so easy to manage I could see it being the future. There was a big space to fold your clothes, it was easy to remove the tags, the customer screen was clear and customer friendly, everything was a breeze.

They used to send out a catalogue to members in the 90s

We used to call it the Matalogue

That just made me giggle!

I've noticed an awful lot of people call it MatalanD - as if it were a small country or something. Was it originally started by two blokes called Matthew and Alan? Good thing they weren't called Philip and Theo

@Laiste

I'm damn sure the last time i went in Matalan they asked for a card.

It was xmas before last i think. Northampton.

I'm amazed it's still 'alive'. To me it's one of those shops which looks great at first glance and then has nothing i need/want when i get into the nitty gritty.

Yeah they still ask for a card when you buy something, like they ask for your club card or nectar card but you don't need a card to get on, or to make a purchase like you used to back in the 90s.