Aibu to wonder how marks and spencer has not closed down yet??!

[Olaf4fuxache]

Last time I bought an item of clothing in there was 2005.I go in there regularly just to have a laugh at their clothes now! EVERYTHING is covered in lace,sequins,buttons,applique or some such shitty garnish.Nothing whatsoever one would want to buy.Cheap crap you could buy in primark for a quarter of the price,flimsy fabrics.Who the hell are their fashion buyers? Are they blind?Even my mother and grandmother think their clothes are frumpy and do not shop there anymore.How much longer do they think they can get away with the garbage they stock?The shops look like ghost towns,staff are unmotivated.They have no idea who they are targeting.Sainsburys Tu,or Tesco F&F have better clothing than they do.They understand their target buyers may not have rake thin toned upper arms,may have big tummys and crepey chests and have clothes to suit. FFS M&S!!!!Get your act together or you will go the same way as BHS,Woolies etc....And you know what?We wouldnt even care!!!

chestervase. Why, everyone, of course!

saucy. Proper laughed at that!

Agree re the PP who said every nice piece of clothing has a hideous 'garnish'. Perfectly put.

And the food's DEFINITELY gone downhill, too.

Disappointing and sad.

I seem to recall every few years they launch their new 'lead designer' with fanfare. Someone nobody has heard of and as out of touch with the UK woman as you can get.

Food wise we love their chicken kiev's but got sick of the store moving them from isle to isle, presumably to get their customer looking at other products whilst hunting down a box. We buy them in Tesco now as they are in the same place every week.

Another current must have... perfect capsule collection wardrobe if rotated with jumpsuit.

I bought a nice pair of trousers there the other day. Autograph.

Chocolatewombat we want to spend our money there. It is beside the point that if you go in you may pick up an item, they cannot survive on that one item there is too much competition. I wear dresses, casual ones for daytime, I can't find anything I like. They did a good midi length stretch black jersey t shirt dress with mid length sleeves. Everyone I know bought several. They haven't repeated it. You could dress it up or down and even wear it with trainers. This is what we want not the pink horror.

PerUna jeans are fantastic selected m&s does me well for work x

Philosophical question though... Why do was care so much? Why do we want them to start selling the items described and stop with the frump or try hard awkward frilly stuff? I totally agree with all of this and feel as the OP and loads of us do. But... Why not just shop elsewhere?

Is it that we WANT it to succeed as we have some affection for it? Nostalgia? What is it?

Their baby clothes are cute
Underwear ok
Food lovely but wouldn't be able to do a full weekly shop there. More for snacks bits. Meats good quality.
Don't really bother with the rest. Can't see it closing down tbh.

DP went into a big M&S out of town store last weekend to buy a pair of swim shorts. He couldn't find any, so he asked one of the assistants. "It's out of season, sir", he was told. WTF? It's September, not January. He walked over to Asda and bought some there...

I've thought for years that M&S is overpriced, It seems to forget it's a high street store, not high a high end store, I saw a plain black jumper for sale, it was nothing special at all, not cashmere or anything but it cost nearly £40!! I must be so out of touch..I do like ASDA George clothes though!

For those of you in the U.K who think M&S is overpriced... In Ireland, they are marking up their Sterling prices by approximately 50% when the difference between Sterling and Euro is c. 12%! And they are so lazy that they just leave the Sterling price sticker under the Euro one so it's obvious to see how much you're being ripped off. Guy interviewed on the radio today on this topic paid €148 for goods priced at £98. Other UK chains such as Next are nowhere near as greedy. I think shoppers in Ireland will soon start to vote with their feet.

And don't get me started on their useless website. Spend ages shopping online, go to checkout to be told that most of the items in your basket are out of stock. Yet still showing in stock online the next day. I've cancelled myself off their mailing list. Waste of time.

I actually really hate the way that MN has a sort of meme to try and destroy a long-standing British brand. I know it gets things wrong but I could find about 200 shitty crap dresses on ASOS for every one on M&S.

The British public are bloody awful.

Not many over 60s are buying leather leggings, leather pencil skirts, green leather wrap skirts, Belstaff-style jackets, fuchsia silk camisole tops, suede or leather over the knee boots, red leather stiletto ankle boots, red stiletto sandals with a red tassel that could be mistaken for Jimmy Choo, cashmere tank tops or burgundy lace underwear sets, are they?

That is just a sample of some of the lovely things I've had from M&S, mostly Autograph.

I buy more clothes from M&S than from anywhere else, and I'm constantly asked where I bought things from. I will not hear a word against them!

SilentlyScreamingAgain

"What we want:plain,good quality basics made of good fabric.

No, really you don't or at the very best you're (we're) not willing to pay for them."

Yes. I agree with this. I pretty much only buy natural fabrics now, but I buy fewer items of clothing because it's more expensive. I'm not going to keep a High Street store afloat.

I can think of a number of threads in Style and Beauty that have moaned about how much clothing is made of non-natural fabrics and also how expensive clothing is. The obvious thing there is that if most people are finding clothing expensive when it's made in non-natural fabrics, there's even less of a market for more expensive clothing.

And even though I do like natural fabrics, I don't have the sort of income that means I can buy lots of clothing in good quality fabrics. So, for example, I'm not buying any cashmere cardigans this year, and I only own one cardigan from Brora (lovely company though that is). I just can't afford to do that.

So, if you asked me what I want, I'd probably come out with the 'classic items in good quality fabrics' but ... as SilentlyScreamingAgain says, that's not completely true.

JigglyTuff I bought a swimsuit from M and S a few weeks ago and it's the first swimsuit I've ever felt actually comfortable and happy wearing.

And it was so cheap!

Their food is good, though apparently they don't make much profit from it .

I'm actually planning to go to M and S tomorrow to buy shoes - they won't be the most exciting pair of shoes i've ever owned but I just need a pair of shoes that will go with my work clothes and they have plenty that fit that category.

Yes, they have some frumpy stuff, but I think they have some really high-end and fashionable pieces - almost all Limited Collection and Autograph clothing is fantastic. The fashion bloggers are all currently raving about a navy dress, check out Erica Davies etc. There's loads more great stuff at the moment and their knitwear is great quality, even the stuff that's not cashmere.

I love their homeware, tights, socks, nightwear and underwear too, but the reason I keep shopping there is their fantastic beauty collection. Last week, we had 20% off Emma Hardie, Glamglow, Dr Haushka, Filorga, REN, Nuxe etc etc - need I say more?

i'm very nostalgic towards M&S - it's where my DF buys his shirts

Bought a lush pair of boots there today, and a top, and some tights (all other tights are shit).

I'd be pretty sad if they closed! YABU. PS. I'm early 30s, and I'd like to thing fairly stylish!

Is it that we WANT it to succeed as we have some affection for it? Nostalgia? What is it?

I really want it to succeed. I like the fact they sell their own cloths and don't have concessions and I like the size, location and the layout of their stores. I like being able to do some food shopping and some clothes shopping at the same time. I don't much like clothes shopping and I imagine if Mark's clothes weren't so ugly I would like to get lots of my basics there.

I also don't won't to feel that I have to use their Sparks card. I want my occasional vouchers but I resent the fact I have to agree to being bombarded with their spammy marketing emails. I know I could chose not to have a sparks card but then I'd be annoyed at having to pay full price - both options leave me annoyed 😡😡😡. I only have this problem with Sparks , others store cards such as Boots, Tesco or John Lewis don't annoy me at all.

I also buy swimsuits and shoes there....

I love the food (Percy pigs, the bakery and cheese). The meal deals are boring, though.

The clothes.. who is their target audience?! Bloody awful. Also, they have gotten rid of their Fat Facey type range called Indigo which has pissed me off. I WANTED A CARDIGAN.

I adore the underwear though, some items are a bit over priced but I love my M&S underwear.

I never look at the shoes or handbags/accessories.

I like the jeans, they fit me well. And the shoes are pretty good. I'm mid 30s. Their no alcohol Czech lager is also the best I've tried!