AIBU to want to shop at John Lewis for buttons, not a Brazilian?

[Quandry]

OMG. Never mind Brexit. If anything is likely to drive me out of the UK it's this:
John Lewis to swap haberdashery for bikini waxes and prosecco bars under new boss

The last bastion of Middle England is to be RUINED by some new upstart boss who thinks we care more about our minge than our muslin!

I'm warning her - there will be rioting in the streets...

[LemonRedwood]

My local JL stopped selling fabric by the metre a few years ago. It's a huge pain in the backside because I have to get it from the market now (only open 2 days a week) and it's more flipping expensive.

JL hasn't been good for a number of years

[Quandry]

Hopefully the BBC will announce a new national competitive sewing programme with Mel &Sue (and Mary popping in, when she's not away at a stately home doing her other programme).
It will be called the Great British Stitch Up and sales of thread, material and button will soar massively.
JL will then look soooooo stupid, and we will all point at them from this thread and say, "hahahahahah, we TOLD you so...."

[KnittingPearl]

Maud my mother still waxes lyrical on what the haberdashery department was like when she first moved to London (almost 50 years ago) - it wasn't tucked away in a corner of the fourth or fifth floor, it was pretty much the whole of the ground floor. Unfortunately, people don't make clothing/curtains/upholster furniture in the way they used to.

Market forces may be closing down the haberdashery, but I think JL are going in the wrong direction with this as a replacement.

[KnittingPearl]

Quandry, there was the Great British Sewing Bee this year? Last year? Which was excellent. If we had more series of that, then it might work.

[herethereandeverywhere]

I'm from the George Henry Lees of Liverpool generation. The haberdashery is a thing of immense importance!

JL Kingston couldn't even provide a proper shaped glass for my lunch time champagne (emphatically not prosecco) and the next time I went in they didn't even sell it in the cafe.

It's the last place on the high street to actually touch and see haberdashery items before buying.

Stupid waxing and fizz if you must JL but leave the haberdashery! I feel like chaining myself to the embroidery threads rack in protest...

[BadKnee]

No, no , no

Horrified.

I spend a lot of money with JL - get all my food from Waitrose, all my household stuff, appliances, clothes, presents,computing and electrical stuff from them. Was in haberdashery on Friday. Bought new buttons for my cardigan, elastic for a stationery project and two storage boxes.

I think haberdashery should be revived anyway and would like to see a return to a more creative, less wasteful way of living where you might alter or update clothes rather than chuck out after three months. However - I imagine that time is lost for ever.!!

[Quandry]

KnittingPearl - yes, 'waxing lyrical' is the only sort of waxing I want going on in JL...

[hmcAsWas]

Sorry to be picky, but the article linked doesn't say anywhere that she plans to do away with the haberdashery department does it? (I've read it twice, perhaps I missed it), and a bikini wax is not the same as a Brazilian.

However - can't say I am a big fan of the idea either way.

I noticed that the Waitrose in Salisbury has gone all swanky too - with a wine / prosecco bar in store. Every time I have been I haven't seen a single customer using it

[hmcAsWas]

Ah, have spotted the 'downgraded' bit

[Quandry]

Well, if inflation soars, imports become more expensive etc, then we may all need to 'make do and mend' more, and then, where, I ask you, am I going to get yarn to mend school socks?!

[SailingThroughTime]

Yes. They need to use the floorspace to widen into crafts/decor. A stand of Annie Sloan paint with pieces showing some of the many different finishes you can get. There are several aspirational design/upcycling shops in my city doing a thriving trade. They need to be able to be a bit flexible and move with this stuff. GBSB and Kirsty Allsop with half day courses laid on for a fee. If they want customer loyalty that's a better way to go about it. More Stich n Bitch group than wine, whinge and waxing areas which are already 10 a penny in most towns anyway.

[Floggingmolly]

The dozy cow . The whole charm of a John Lewis is that it looks like it hasn't changed since your grandmother's time.

[SailingThroughTime]

I go in there most weeks wanting and failing to give them my money.

[Sohardtochooseausername]

YANBU

I have bought a hat and fabric from JL... But wouldn't get waxed there. What do they want to be? Harvey Nicks?

[Quandry]

feel like chaining myself to the embroidery threads rack in protest...
Could have a MN flash mob demo..... (then pop into The Place to Eat for a coffee and a gossip afterwards...)

[Isitjustmeorisiteveryoneelse]

Noooo Johnny Lou Lou, just nooooo!!!!
sailing what was it about your haberdashery related complaint that led them to believe you wanted a landing strip and hangover instead, do you think?

[BadKnee]

Oh, and I bought new needles. And I don't really sew - no time, very little space, but I do replace buttons, stitch hems etc. And I am re-learning to knit.

I remember as a kid going to JL with my mother, (who did sew), and marvelling over the rows and rows of fabric bolts and the mannikins cleverly wrapped in lengths of material to make "dresses", and racks of things with curious names that I had no idea what they could possibly be for.

Please, please don't spoil JL.

[magimedi]

Anyone remember Tyrrell & Green?

I wanted to call my cats that but DH & DC wouldn't have it!!

John Lewis used to be really special as there was nowhere else you could get stuff like that. Now they have to compete with Dunelm, The Range etc etc

[SailingThroughTime]

Well I didn't actually mention it but tbh if they'd looked me up on Faceache they'd probably have been able to draw their own conclusions about the state of my personal grooming.
Maybe they were hoping to fill a need rather than a want

[Quandry]

Slight tangent, but DS2 as a toddler was hypersensitive to noises/light/smells. If he was at risk of meltdown on a shopping trip, JL was the place we'd go to, because it "smelt better" and we'd let him stroke some of velvets and fur fabrics to help calm him down

[2kids2dogsnosense]

Do you remember when JL Newcastle was Bainbridges, Gatekeeper?

I do, Fair.

Those were the days . . . . ()

[2kids2dogsnosense]

I give up. I'm going to live in a cave. On an island.

Er - aren't we on one?

[giraffesCantReachTheirToes]

what will they do with the buttons they are no longer selling? Offer special vajazzles with buttons?

[Quandry]

I'm finding this thread very comforting...

[2kids2dogsnosense]

Sorry to be picky, but the article linked doesn't say anywhere that she plans to do away with the haberdashery department does it? (I've read it twice, perhaps I missed it), and a bikini wax is not the same as a Brazilian.

Please.

We are grieving . . .

Don't deny us the comforts of hyperbole . . . . .