Shops you are surprised are still going

[fajitaaaa]

WHSMITHS - who is buying from them? Anything other than a emergency magazine for the train and maybe a bottle of water? But some of their stores are HUGE!

FAT FACE - always a massive sale on!

Exactly, whilst it is true that more expensive shoes are more economical in the long run, you actually have to have that money in the first place.

Personally, I do spend more money on a few key types of shoes that I need to last a long time, but in an emergency, or if you need a pair of shoes for one particular purpose that aren't going to get that much wear, and you're not a rich Mumsnetter then Shoezone is perfect. For example from there I have a pair of flip flops, a pair of smart-ish shoes to match a dress for a wedding, and a pair of trainers for very occasional jogging. I could not justify spending more than £12 on any of those purchases because frankly I don't earn enough, and I don't need any of them to be particularly hardwearing anyway. They'll still last a few years.

Children's shoes are another one where Shoezone comes into its own. Things like sandals or wellies or nice shoes to match a wedding outfit, where they won't be worn every day and the child will have grown out of it by next year anyway... some people simply can't afford to spend £40 per child on a pair of shoes that will see 30 wears or less, and frankly there's no need to either.

🤣 I was in HMV the other day, it was like going back 40 years. If it hadn’t been for the massive manga department and Japanese sweet shop it could have been 1983. So much vinyl, and lots of people in there.

I live in the country so I don’t go into town often (especially now we’ve lost our JL) and honestly thought they must have closed down years ago.

Argos. They never have stock and when you order it in it takes far too long. I now go to Amazon before Argos. Ruined themselves putting themselves in sainsburys stores.

I loved the Argos catalogue as a kid, the Laminated Book of Dreams as Bill Bailey called it. Why the laminate pages? To catch the tears of joy!

I'm the opposite, I use Argos a lot more now that you don't have waste an hour crawling round the town centre one way system and then having to pay to park. Far prefer a quick drive to Sainsbury and free parking - handy to pick up a few groceries at the same time. Win Win.

Amazon prices have shot up a lot and delivery times are longer these days. With Prime, you used to get most things next day, but most things are now on 2/3 days delivery, and even then, a few things end up delayed further (but they don't tell you, the delivery estimate just gets put back another day or two with them hoping you don't notice!).

I've definitely rediscovered Argos recently.

Why is WHSmith always so dark inside? Do they economise on electric light?

I quite like Whittards, very useful if you needed a wee thing that holds enough loose tea for a cup before you could buy them in Sainsburys but they left my town pre-covid. Waterstones I love as they are the last physical bookshop in town - when I came here there was a Dillons, Ottakars and a Blackwells. Their cafe is ok too and you can get points on your card though it is not as good as their original scheme. I still don't know why WH Smith never made the most of being the only bookshop open open in covid - I worked near one and popped in but the stock never changed. Lakeland I went in to for 2 things I previously found - a silver bath thing for cleaning and a spider catcher but they no longer stocked any.

I loved the Argos catalogue as a kid, the Laminated Book of Dreams as Bill Bailey called it. Why the laminate pages? To catch the tears of joy!

I also like the running theme on Fake Showbiz News, where Vernon Kay is supposedly passionately campaigning to 'Stuart Argos' (the boss of Argos) to bring back paper catalogues!

twitter.com/fakeshowbiznews/status/1446000994932953091?lang=en-GB

I agree with Currys!
Back in May, me and DP had a bad run of luck with damaged washing machines being delivered; John Lewis delivered me one which looked as though it had been dropped at some point during delivery and then failed to deliver the replacement and couldn't give me a timescale of when they'd be able to deliver the replacement (we were due to visit family and had very little in the means of clean washing) so I ordered a machine from Currys to be delivered next day. We were the first people on their route, great I thought, I'd have it delivered before 9, fitted and I'd be able to crack on and get all our laundry done plus all of DP's work uniforms sorted so I wouldn't have to ask my neighbour if I could pop a wash on in her machine. Well, they brought in the new one and pretty much ran off as soon as they'd photographed it as proof of delivery, I had a closer look at it and all the top polystyrine was damaged and the whole top of the machine was smashed in!!

Their phone line is bloody useless as was their web chat facility, I ended up pressing random combinations to get through to a human at Currys so I could arrange a collection, which in all fairness they did the next day and the lads that collected it were genuinely apologetic, but it was such a faff and made what was already stressful even more unnecessesarily stressful. Shopped local and got a Siemens machine delivered in one piece just before we were due to leave! lesson learnt.

Totally agree RE comments about WH Smith and actually I also did wonder about Shaws The Drapers (but I'm not sure if they're more of a thing at home in Wales and around here in Wiltshire), stores always looked empty aside from a few people inc. DM who used to buy wool and sewing bits from there on the odd occasion. HoF ditto, the large store in Cardiff looks like a wasteland these days, very grim and dark and usually very very quiet, Flannels is another one, the Swindon store always looks empty and half the stuff they sell I'm sure you could find elsewhere for less although I'm not a lover of the posh chav look

Can’t agree regarding JJM: their clothes are really high quality. Bought PJs from them recently and they don’t shrink in the wash, the colours don’t run, the designs are great and they’re SO soft.

Edinburgh Woollen Mill is one I don't understand still having shops. Who shops there? They don't actually sell the clothes they were supposed to specialise in any more, hardly anything is wool it's all just cheap acrylic shite.

Ann summers
we thought we’d spice things up in the bedroom so found our nearest store and went
badly made,shoddy,cheap knickers and uncomfortable looking bras
Crappy looking toys and for some reason-pasta
we walked out and went online to lovehoney

m&s
my mil still thinks they are quality clothing-I get pjs from her every birthday and Christmas
I’m lucky if they last a year-tu at sainsburys are so much better quality

argos
never have any stock-ours is shoved in the back of sainsburys-blink and miss it
they just say to go online-that’s not much use if you need it now-and it’s shoddy quality

whsmith
i can get the books I want,much cheaper at tesco

oxfam
soooooo expensive for second hand stuff and one year we thought we’d buy my dad a mango tree,a toilet and a goat for a family in a third word country,for his birthday (if you knew my dad,you’d get it)
they hounded him-5/6 calls a day to try and get him to buy more stuff
it must have cost them a fortune in phone calls-far more than what we spent,and it took about 6 months of this to get them to stop

boots
dirty,no stock and rude staff
ive just spent my points and won’t be back

I used to buy going out clothes from Ann Summers in my goth years. Sparkly push up bra under a fishnet top and bondage tape as a skirt.

Re the 'plastic shoes' at Shoezone. Isn't plastic now touted as vegan by other brands now?

Clarks shoes. Just what is the point of their shops?

We keep trying to buy shoes, but they've nothing in stock. It's just a showroom, and the staff glibly tell you to go online to get them ordered into store, or will order them in for you.

May as well just order home delivery, try them in the comfort of your own home and then take them back to store for refund. Pointless going to town twice, firstly to order/collect and then to return, when you can get home delivery.

Of course, it would be better if they actually had some stock in their stores!

I agree, Clarks never have any shoes anymore and when I wanted them to order some in my child's size they wanted me to pay beforehand. The whole point of going to a shop is so they can try them on and see what fits, if I've got to order something I just as well do that from the comfort of my home.

We do. Classical music sounds way better when played on a CD through a proper sound system as opposed to being tinnily streamed through Spotify et al. We also don’t want our 4yo to have a tablet or access to YouTube so yes, he has a lot of DVDs. Ironically, we don’t often buy these things from HMV! (Though we did buy a Paw Patrol DVD from them in the summer.) But we do buy them.

Our Timpsons is like this - no need to hassle about what kind of battery you need for car key or whatever. The two guys in there just KNOW instantly and their key cutting and shoe repair are first class. It's always busy.

@howaboutchocolate They may be a good company but they are very expensive. When I got my front door replaced Timpson wanted £12 for 2 keys, I went to a local place and got 3 keys for £10. My favourite key cutter/shoe repairer just retired but luckily there's another one locally.

argos
never have any stock-ours is shoved in the back of sainsburys-blink and miss it
they just say to go online-that’s not much use if you need it now-and it’s shoddy quality

That's defying the single advantage that they have: being able to pay for stuff and then walk away with it instantly. If they're not going to bother keeping good stock levels (and that's probably inevitable when they exchange a massive separate store for a bit at the back of Sainsbury's), they may as well not bother at all. Once they've sent you to order something online and wait for delivery, there are any number of other shops that you could choose instead of them.

It's like the equivalent of Deliveroo or Uber only working on Tuesdays and Fridays and making you wait until their next slot before you can use them at their convenience!

I hope all of these shops that mumsnetters seem to hate stay in business. I rarely do a "shopping trip", but when I want to buy clothes, toiletries, skincare etc I want to go into an actual shop and see and feel the product and buy something that I know is right rather than rely on something to be delivered that might fit or might be suitable then spend ages queueing in the post office to return it.

I don't hate them. Just wondering how they are still going! I think i have a weird affection for WHSmiths even though I never use it. Used to go and buy a pencil case there when I was at school.

Totally agree! I'm 60 and hardly ever buy clothes in M&S.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll I find Argos really good. Most branches are based in Sainsbury's now so they don't have much physical stock in store but I go online (just like looking in the catalogue), find the product, if my nearest store doesn't have it in stock they can order it in and can be available for me to pick up in store sometimes later the same day, sometimes 24 hours, sometimes 48 if it has to come from a further away warehouse. I pay online. Pop in to collect (they send you a text when it's there so no wasted trip) and it's done.
They are always really efficient.

I am a big fan or Argos too, but I do find SOMEtimes that I buy stuff that has clearly been returned. It's sometimes faulty too. The amount of times it's OK outweighs the times it's not though.

Also agree about Clarks shoes. Overpriced and pointless. Not shopped there since the late 1990s! Who wants to pay megabucks for a pair of shoes for a child, that they will grow out of in 4-5 months?! We used to go to Tesco (F ^ F) and Asda George. Just as good, and about a third of the price!