To find Trago Mills one of the weirdest shopping experiences I've ever had...

[Nancery]

On holiday last week we ended up in Trago Mills as we wanted to buy DS (22m) a tractor as we'd gone on holiday with no toys. I'd heard vaguely about it via my former partner who used to bicker with his mother about it (he refused to set foot in the place due to it's bizarre political messages and umpteen other reasons, his mum thought he was being ridiculous as it's cheap!) but didn't know loads. Well... From the signs around the building informing you you will be prosecuted for stealing the plants around the moat, the signs about shoplifting and the consequences almost everywhere you look, the having to queue to to have your receipt and bags checked, the extraordinary statues of the 'money grabbing tax man' or anti Europe posters - I am
Bonkers. All of it! And more than a little bit sinister.
And the place was bloody packed!!

I've clearly not lived have I?!

Yes dd has some mini Boden from trago! Have also seen Birkenstocks. Kitchen stuff is good too - Kilner jars etc.

Been there once with dh since moving to Devon, never again! Most depressing place on earth, MIL keeps wanting to go together, not happening!

It is the only place I can buy that touch of silver haircare stuff for blonde hair as well.

They get a lot of their stock from places going out of business.

SorrelForbes - "I bought all the terracotta floor tiles for the kitchen in my first house at Trago [nostalgic]"

OMG so did we!! This was about 20 years ago and we had them delivered to where we were living - despite living 180 miles away from Trago the tiles plus delivery were still a bargain!

Other good buys over the years have included Fat Face and White Stuff clothing (labels cut out but still recognisable), DIY stuff, kitchen stuff

it's the weirdest place for sure. you don't say you are going to trago mills though, you say 'gown traygow'. Not just shopping in Newton Abbot one, there is a little miniature steam railway, model railway, rides for the children, places to eat (not really that good though), it's a strange eclectic Centre of Stuff where you can buy a £1 egg whisk and a £1000 rug. It's mostly all tat with a little marvellous stuff mixed in.

I personally cannot bear it, but the children adore it. DH likes it, but last time we went, he recognised it for it's weirdness, especially all the new stuff since it burnt down which absolutely was not an insurance job despite the rumours, absolutely not and I think we probably have done our once in a blue moon visit for now.

I stop at trago in Cornwall to use their loos. Don't eat there, you will get very bad indigestion.

It's the cutting out of labels that intrigues me.

And you wouldn't think Whitestuff,Boden,Birkenstock etc were having problems.

Real Crocs are also cheap(often hideous colours though).

It's very, very weird.
Went to Newton Abbott one a couple of times before the fire and once since to find it's identical. All times on holiday.

I found the UKIP banners quite disturbing. When severely autistic DS2 stood on a mound in the playground and pissed like a cherub fountain I was worried we'd end up in a gulag!

Don't remember Trago, but I do recall a very wet week in Devon as a small kid in the late 70's early 80's and my parents taking me to a weird department store.
I have in my head it was called 'Dingles' maybe? Anyway, it rained all week and I knew every department backwards by the time we came home.

They also sell Melissa and Doug wooden toys cheaper.

There was a Dingles in Bristol.

Don't think the Playmobil,Lego or SF are necessarily cheaper though,you'd need to check beforehand.

LokiDokey you remember correctly, the Dingles is still there in the centre of Exeter but it is not called Dingles I don't think, it's a House of Fraser department store and the women's wear section on the first floor is like something out of 'Are you Being Served?' (I go there for the loos, very nice).

In St Austell there is a giant indoor play HELL on a retail park. I escaped the hell and had wander around the rest of the retail park- I wished I hadnt bothered- the remainder of the retail park consisted of an indoor market (that was closed) and a giant store called BUYology that made me feel so depressed on leaving that I convinced myself it was set up as a social experiment.

The most weirdest day I have ever had on holiday.

When I was at uni there was a reality show following the staff at Trago Mills - I loved the show and always wanted to visit!

Retro - the Boden dress I bought for dd looked straight out of the 90s - all floaty cheese cloth (nice though) so the Boden stuff was probably stuff they found in an old cupboard somewhere (or got pinched by a dodgy member of staff - I bet even jonnie Boden has them)

Johnnie only employs his pretty friends . They don't knock stuff fgs!

No the MB stuff my friend got was from the previous catalogue,'twas quite recent.

But how does Trago get hold of the stuff?

Maybe companies sell on unwanted stock with the proviso that it isn't sold as the company brand?

My dad was a carpet fitter and used to fit a lot of Trago carpets.

eBay sites do the same stuff minus label . The fit is never quite right though, think its seconds or some thing akin .
Art supplies at trago are amazing, seriously good paints , brushes, canvasses at great prices .
But boy is that place totally depressing and downright weird . Op you got it right !

I can just imagine the convo between johnnie's dodgy pretty warehouse worker and the "buying" dept of trago...

"What's this ere?"

"It's Boden"

"What's that then?"

"Terribly naice middle class types wear it"

"Never 'eard of it"

"Oh FFs just give me a tenner"

My parents live in new-un arrrr-but and I know ds would love the little rides and animals at trago mills but dp is foreign and ds and dp speak a foreign language together, I'm a bit worried that we would be escorted from the premises or worse

Dingles is indeed fairly odd and yes, the loos are very nice!