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!

This. ^ Timpsons are good at what they do, but their prices are high. We got a new-ish car in 2019 (15 reg,) but it only had one key. We always feel more comfortable with 2, so we went to Timpsons to get a second key. They wanted £225 for it. For a fucking KEY. Needless to say, we never got it. No way in hell is there a single reason to charge that. 'It's because it has central locking Mrs Wings...' Fuck right off. Virtually every car made post mid 1990s has fucking central locking.

Agree about Marks & Spencer. I am in my mid 50's, and have not spent more than £100 in there this century. (On underpants - and a handful of bras.) Overpriced and overrated. Shocked it hasn't closed down a decade ago. I personally don't know anyone who shops there.

Harvey Nichols in Dublin. It never seems to have more than 3 customers in it.
I do know how it is still there.

Have you managed to get it done somewhere else? Car keys are astonishingly expensive. DS put his Fiesta key through the washing machine. He got one cut locally for £185 but the dealer wanted a lot more.

Cheaper to get a second car key without central locking. That is what we did.

You're missing a trick. You need to rein in your prejudices and have a browse round a large M and S. You might be surprised at what you find.

Also agree about Clarks shoes. Overpriced and pointless.

Not if you have a child with narrow feet @PurpleButterflyWings. When DD was little I couldn't buy shoes from the supermarket because they didn't fit her. I ahd to buy from Clarks or Clinkards.

My nearest M&S is a pretty big one but I find most of the fabrics feel horrible. I'm not prejudiced and usually have a look round when I go into town but never see anything that takes my eye.

No, I'm nearly 60 and my MIL is 80. We've been round several "large" M&S stores and no, nothing to buy for us. They're certainly not catering for the older shopper. It's a shame because both MIL and myself have had a lifetime of buying M&S stuff, but havn't bought anything for a few years now. We keep looking, but no.

M&S knickers are still the best and their shoes throw up some real gems. Oh and their beauty department is good. The rest … 🤷‍♀️

M and S jeans are pretty good.

So many shops are very expensive now because they have such regular sales. So the prices are hiked by 20% so they can entice people to buy by 'cutting' prices for a limited time.

Claire's is the same. Because they do the buy 3, get 3 free, the price of an individual thing is out of proportion. You have to buy 6 bloody things to get a reasonable price per item.

M&S just don't seem to understand what customers want.

I wear nighties. Pure cotton ones. M&S have been doing the same one in white or navy for about 10 years. I don't want another one the same. Therefore I have just bought a JL.one for £35 instead of £18 because I wanted a change.

About 10 years ago I bought a Velvety, velour Autograph dressing gown. Beautiful quality; beautifully made. There is nothing available in M&S now to match it. They are all fluffy, thin fleece.

My mum had to get me start rite school shoes as I had narrow feet, even Clark’s didn’t go narrow enough.
My girls were the same. They never got any choice in shoes. Only 1 style would fit them, same ones every year just a different size. About £80 minimum a pair each time.

Wish I could have paid Clark’s prices never mind a supermarket.

So much M&S criticism. I think they are great. Their boots and leather handbags are great. So is the Autograph stuff. And the jeans. I got two pairs of wide legged jeans there last autumn, which I’ve worn to death and in which people have stopped me to ask where I got them from.

I buy my underwear from m & s. Good quality. Washes and wears well. I struggle to find good fitting bras without spending £££££ and quite frankly my weight goes up and down so I need to buy a new bra when it does.
I have their knickers in nude, black and white.

I've just bought DD a pair of leather upper trainers from Clarks for £15.... I can't complain at that price.

Claire's - our local one is so crammed with tat you can hardly move. Always packed with kids being ripped off by their high prices !

Clarks Outlet Stores are pretty good though.

It’s packed with kids buying highly priced gear and yet you don’t understand why the shop is still in business? What evidence would convince you?

I'm not saying that Argos is a bad shop in any way - they have a very decent range of all sorts of things to choose from, more than a lot of other individual shops, and mostly reasonable prices.

It's just that their whole USP was always having a far bigger range of stuff available than shops that properly displayed and presented the goods on shelves and stands where customers could saunter through, as they could stack things up much higher and more efficiently in their big warehouse in the back.

Once they just become a catalogue shop with goods that you often have to order and wait for (I don't mean five minutes!) before you can have them.... well, the internet as a whole is an infinitely bigger 'catalogue' than they can ever offer.

We always feel more comfortable with 2, so we went to Timpsons to get a second key. They wanted £225 for it. For a fucking KEY. Needless to say, we never got it. No way in hell is there a single reason to charge that. 'It's because it has central locking Mrs Wings...' Fuck right off. Virtually every car made post mid 1990s has fucking central locking.

That's the problem with modern cars, though: many of the parts have to be got through the dealers (no third-party compatibles available) and they're so full of electronics and computer wizardry. My new (12yo) car that I bought recently is stuffed with it and, whilst it's hugely enjoyable and makes for a lovely ride, I dread the cost when any of it starts to fail.

I remember getting copies of 'old-school' car keys cut, back in the days when they were just manual lumps of metal and could be cut just like a house key, and they were just a few quid each. That's the price we pay for progress, I suppose.

I agree. We recently needed one key cutting, just one standard basic back door key, and all that was open was Timpson which is just outside Asda. It took a minute at most to cut the key and it cost £8.

dont know if anyone has said this but Clintons

very expensive i dont know anyone who shops there ours is always empty

triple the price of card factory and more

I agree. We recently needed one key cutting, just one standard basic back door key, and all that was open was Timpson which is just outside Asda. It took a minute at most to cut the key and it cost £8.

But you aren't just paying for their time - there's the cost of the metal, the investment cost in the machine and training, all the shop overheads, VAT and profits....

Just like, if you buy a cup of tea in a cafe, probably the smallest of all the elements that the price has to cover is the cost of the actual teabag!

....plus the not-insignificant cost they will have to pay to Asda for the privilege of having a unit on their premises and benefiting from their large customer base walking on by!