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AIBU?

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Original poster

To not give two hoots about the demise of BHS?

272 replies

LunaLoveg00d · 25/04/2016 09:16

(Disclaimer: obviously very sad for anyone employed there who is now facing losing their jobs).

Couldn't really care less if BHS ceases to exist. They're not a patch on Debenhams or John Lewis, and are beaten by places like M&S in the market for knickers and school uniform. Haven't bought anything in there for about three years - and even then it was in a Wallis concession rather than in BHS itself.

All this harping on about 88 years of tradition on the UK high street is ridiculous - it's a company which has failed to move with the times, has no defined core shopper and which sells tat.

OP posts:
Floisme · 26/04/2016 07:06

Please let's not fall for the myth that BHS failed because it was a Dickensian relic run by dinosaurs. Look at Top Shop: Philip Green knows exactly how to run a modern, retail clothing company. If punters like us could see that BHS was neglected and desperately in need of investment, then I think it's reasonable to assume that he would have noticed too.

The business doesn't appear to have been unsuccessful for Green personally. According to the latest figures, he and other shareholders took over £580m in dividends, rents and loan interest. And how very modern to register the group in your wife's name, especially when she happens to live in a tax haven. And then to walk away just before the shit hits the fan, leaving your ex employers in a pensions hole which I assume the tax payer will now have to plug...

What an absolutely Top Man. Very well played Sir, enjoy your new yacht.

tilliebob · 26/04/2016 07:23

Well said Flo.

Vaara · 26/04/2016 09:01

Bit hypocritical to be upset when a store you barely used goes under...

laflaca · 26/04/2016 10:05

Yes, well said Flo.

tevion · 26/04/2016 10:15

never shop in there but it is sad to see the high street disappearing and cheap £99 stores taking over lol.
I wont miss BHS thought some of the clothes were very old fashioned.
I was miss woolworths though.

BoboChic · 26/04/2016 10:16

I feel very sorry indeed for the employees of BHS and very angry with Philip Green.

MarshaMallow84 · 26/04/2016 10:24

Our local BHS must be one of the worst. The cafe toilets are a well known hang out for local drug users Sad On one of the rare occasions I went in the clothes rails were too tightly packed together to push a pram through. It is an embarrassment to the high street, although I do agree that the lighting section was excellent.
Flo that's interesting and I can well believe it. A good friend of mine used to work on the celebrity column of a broadsheet paper, I asked him if he'd ever come across any celebrity horrors and he said the only person he'd truly ever disliked was Philip Green.

mellicauli · 26/04/2016 10:40

Robbed again - the Super Rich are completely impervious to any basic rules of decency/morality.

As The Independent says - this is a plane wreck but miracle of miracles - some people have stepped out of the wreckage intact. The government appears either powerless or unwilling to act. Who do they represent exactly? And how can this be allowed to go unchecked?

shillwheeler · 26/04/2016 11:16

YABU, a bit. Said it all in your disclaimer really.
Yes, lots of things wrong with their business model. But bottom line is all those people are now out of a job, and there is another gapping gap on a lot of our High Streets. Agree, failure to move with the times was probably a big factor in their problems, but publicly rubbishing it and trivialising the impact of its failure isn't going to help anyone. It's actually a kick in the face for those affected (and that's before they've worked out what's gone on with the pension fund).

Catmuffin · 26/04/2016 11:17

I sometimes found nice t shirts in there and liked their thick Ultimate towels. I liked some of their homewares and their restaurant

gillys · 26/04/2016 11:40

God knows where I'll buy all my mum's presents from now. She loves the place.

Roversandrhodes · 26/04/2016 11:47

I can sympathise with those who have lost their jobs and it does worry me as I work in retail.However I haven't been in a bhs store since my nanna took me in for a new school coat in 1995.I am not shocked at all and don't know how it's kept going so long really

seafoodeatit · 26/04/2016 11:48

Our local one shut a few years back, I didn't realise they were still going! I do feel terrible for the staff though, hopefully some of the branches will bought over by other chains and the staff can retain their jobs.

Akire · 26/04/2016 11:52

Funnily enough just had email advertising their summer stuff! Not quite sure where you stand buying online. If you pay for an order and they go under before it ships I think you are at very long line of people to get paid back.

Seems bizzzare to be actively seeking more business when in all likely hood they odds are you may not make everyone's order.

Eveninties · 26/04/2016 11:59

Was the only place I could buy reasonably priced towelling dressing gowns, other than that I won't miss it.

myusernamewastaken · 26/04/2016 14:05

My local Bhs is in Norwich...i bought a duvet set a couple of years ago and had a cooked breakfast in the Edinburgh store in 2009...on the whole i will be quite sad to see it go x

libra101 · 26/04/2016 14:45

BHS used to be a great place to shop, they had reasonably priced clothing and a lovely 'petite' range.

However, through the years there became fewer pay assistants, one pay desk in a massive store, and the shop assistant nowhere to be seen! When she turned up, she was more interested in badgering you to take out their store card than taking your payment.

The shops became a conglomeration of Wallis and Dorothy Perkins concessions and were dull and uninteresting, they were even selling hose reels and DVDs along with their clothing.

Not surprised that BHS is to close, but feel sorry for the staff.

NewLife4Me · 26/04/2016 15:08

I went in today and bought school uniform for the next few years.
I looked at the homeware but even with 50% off it was still expensive.
It's always so dark in there too, like somebody forgot to put money in the meter.
I feel sorry for the staff too.

WindPowerRanger · 26/04/2016 16:03

BHS is not great overall, but is good at certain things. It could well have survived by reducing its number of shops and its product range. But being dated and bloated are not the company's only issues. As others have said, it has had a very large amount of cash taken out of it by its last two owners.

Venture capitalists don't grow or improve businesses by and large, they just bleed them of money before selling them on or closing them down.

Lilyargin · 26/04/2016 16:29

Their lighting is good. That's about all though.

Gingefringe · 26/04/2016 16:57

Will be sad to see it go. The lighting department is excellent, as are their towels. I'm going to have to stock up.

Vaara · 26/04/2016 17:57

A thread full of people who don't really shop there - and PG is getting the blame?

NicknameUsed · 26/04/2016 18:20

"Bit hypocritical to be upset when a store you barely used goes under.."
"A thread full of people who don't really shop there - and PG is getting the blame?"

This ^^.

I do go into BHS. I have shopped there over the years because it reminds me of shopping in M and S and TK Maxx in that you have to wade through a load of dross to find a treasure. And I have found a few treasures over the years. I don't write off a whole store because I don't like what is in the shop window.

I'm not rich, but I have never thought of BHS as being expensive either. The Meadowhall store is clean, well laid out and light and airy. I will be sorry that the staff have been let down, not just by Philip Green , but by the hypocrites who have never set foot in the store for the last few years and are now mourning its demise.

Postchildrenpregranny · 26/04/2016 19:57

They should have stuck to homeware Their lighting and towels excellent Did buy some oven glove and tea towels for DD there before Christmas and a turquoise bathroom bin for me Otherwise can't remember when I last shopped there though our local store is actually more appealing than our M and S which is a mess

IFinishedTheBiscuits · 26/04/2016 21:11

I will be sad to see BHS go. We're currently building a house and I just bought £300 of lovely lights, best range on the high street.

Sadly I think the writing was on the wall years ago. I worked there for several years and the target customer was 'today's woman and her family' but that covers such a broad range of people you can't possibly meet all their needs, you'll end up meeting none. Even 20 years ago the menswear, lingerie and homewear would all have appealed to completely different age ranges, for example.

I do think there's room for a mid-range department store, between Primark and Debenhams. But BHS needed to have a better defined target customer and understand, and meet, their needs.

They were also woefully slow with e-commerce and selling online. Which probably gives an insight into Philip Green's approach - withdrawing cash rather than investing for the future.

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