To think store designer shouldn't get paid.,

[RecallRecall]

Ok.name changed.
This is really annoying me. My local department store ( House of Fraser) Chichester had a resign a year or two ago, Obviously someone was paid a fortune to redesign it because that the rate for people that do design. Lots of shop disruption.
So shop windows reflect ground floor layout. Used to be ; Men's, Jewellery, Paperchase, Shoes., There used to be a lovely window display of shoes ( always tempting but great at sale time ) and I often would run into Paperchade to buy cards and wrap being right by the door .

Now new store design is " Mens , Make Up and Jo Malone where shoes used to be.

Its shite. No one looks in a store window and thinks "ah I must look through all those plastic lipstick samples to find a red" And Jo Malone is lovely but it's not " god, I must have those boots in the sale "

Chichester town is heaving. The department store is dead. It never used to be. And they will blame Brexit or something when clearly someone in store design has been a tool.

@PolkadotsAndMoonbeams carpets are a nightmare in shops. Apart from the fact that where I worked if you knelt on the floor too long you'd get bites on your legs, they need constant vacuuming, they're hard to keep clean and if you have tiled walkways the join is going to get damaged and then you have a trip hazard.

Hard floors have less risk of trip hazards, easy to sweep and if someone has a piss on the fitting room floor it's easier to clean. And yes, the latter did happen.

I feel the same way about a charity shop near me.

The woman who ran it really knew the locals.

It's near three schools, and she always had a display of brilliant toys in the window, a good toy selection inside and a 10p box of happy-meal type toys, as well as a treasure trove of clothes and other stuff.

We all used to call it "the toy shop" and I've had some great stuff from there. Not just toys - the 10p box was a genius stoke of marketing. I used to end up spending a fortune by accident on clothes etc as the kids would happily go through the 10p box for ages, allowing me to actually browse the treasure trove of random stuff.

But management had different ideas. The beginning of the end was when they made her put shoes in the window, not toys and stop selling toys for 10p. No one was tempted in by smelly old shoes! We were tempted in by 1970s fisher price narrow boat toys, wooden easels, ride on toys, footballs etc and the 10p toys to keep our DC happy while we shopped.

Eventually they store-designed the shop, got rid of the treasure trove of stuff, reduced the toys to one poxy shelf and made it all clean lines in keeping with their "brand". It's a shame as it was a real resource to local families. We've had loads of great toys from there. Not any more. Idiots.

I feel really bad for the manager of the shop as she did such a good job of turning it a shop that served the local community - not just another boring old charity shop. But she was rewarded by having it all ripped out. She left, I hope I bump into her one day and get the chance to let her know she's missed.

YABU to say ‘Obviously someone was paid a fortune to redesign it because that the rate for people that do design.’ I work in design and we don’t get paid that much, designers have huge overheads just like any other business, it takes time and skill to design, draw and specify. You don’t just scribble something on a napkin. Really gets on my tits when people resent paying designers / architects for expertise, usually the same people who get a cheap builder to throw up a house extension and then complain months later when it leaks / falls apart / doesn’t look as good as the ones in the magazines.

Maybe the store is empty because people are able to locate what they want quicker, pay for it and leave? Maybe customers are better dispersed through the shop rather than all being bunched up together in one area while the other floors are empty?

I haven't read all the comments but maybe paperchase used to pay a premium to be near the front of the store, but now don't, and Jo Malone do.

H of F is dreadful. Not as bad as Debenhams but getting there.
I'm sure you could die in one and no one would notice.

My local frasers has a huge makeup and perfume section covering most of its ground floor and it does very well. Always busy.

Apart from John Lewis all department stores are dead.

YABU to think that House of Fraser being quiet is the fault of a 'store designer'

And the Chi branch has always been shit.

I forget it is even there to be honest.

Chichester is horrific for shopping, too full of pensioners people and every expensive shop you can think of but nothing more down to earth. Can you find reasonably priced kids pjs though? Absolutely not! Even H&M didn't have the right size. I ended up ordering from la redoute which now say they won't deliver before Christmas. I'm going to Worthing and Brighton next year.

This is a weird thread. I’m not sure it needed a name change.

Why did you nc for this OP?

I think op probably nc because she's said what town she lives in?

OP have you ever been in any other departments store? Make up is always on the ground floor of any I have ever been to.

You’re nuts and BU to suggest someone shouldn’t get paid for the work. Just because it’s quiet doesn’t mean it’s due to the refurb, likely to be much more complicated and a mix of factors. You sound bonkers to be honest!

I went to my local Lidl that had a store redesign. I think it actually looked worse than before which is an achievement. 👿😂

Isn't it more because House Of Fraser is jist full of overpriced wankery products?
And then the stores within stores, which wind me up a bit. So you buy something from a House of Fraser version of a shop but then can only return it to a HoF version and not your local one.
Perfume and makeup has always been at the doors hasn't it in most department stores so you end up smelling something rotten whilst lots of groomed women try and convince you to try their anti aging serum/brow growth product/lipsticj that will change your outlook on life.

If the shop shuts that might have more to do with the increase in rents that HoF now has to pay since that site was sold after the refurbishment.

House of Frasers are soulless places and the customer service is relatively poor. It doesn't matter how much they refurb, they're going downhill anyway.

In the OP’s defence, I am not a fan of the new layout. I didn’t really think about it in detail but I was annoyed that the homeware/ fancy China for christenings etc was moved to the top floor I think. It is an awkward store in terms of stairs and lifts and by the time I got up there they said hey don’t stock it anymore. Annoying.

Designers do get it wrong, and it's worth saying so to the management. My local supermarket had to change its layout again about six weeks after a major refurbishment because so many customers complained that it was illogical and annoying.

So some twatty designer has been paid to kill off a store

The store isn't failing because it no longer has a display of shoes in the window

The designers and bosses probably know a bit more about it than you? They research trends and human behaviour and build the design around their findings, it’s all meticulously thought out and mapped and the staff build it around those plans from head office. It’s not a lone designer who gets free reign..

Can I just add, you do all realise that it won't be a "designer" as such who did this? The HoF management would have simply hired a refurbishment/interiors contractor, probably some large building firm with an interiors arm, to do this. HoF have a formula and would have instructed them to come up with this, a run-of-the-mill design team either in house or in the building firm would have adapted the formula and then implemented it.

They can only adapt according to what HoF told them to do in the first place. HoF is crumbling.

“everyone needs any jumpers , shoes and cards.”

This thread is so weird.

Plenty of people get through life without buying cards.

OP you are one of those people who can’t imagine a life different to their own.

Makeup on the ground floor is a department store staple.

I do sympathise though. I often see choices that have presumably been made by people who know what they are doing and think why did they do it like that?

Spend more time worrying about your grammer and spelling and less time worrying about shit that doesn’t actually affect you.

Try proof reading your shitty posts before you post them.

There is no 'e' in grammar.

Hi. Had a bottle of wine last night hence appalling posting.

I realise it's an odd thing to get worked up about but the contrast between before and after the refit is massive. It's obviously not just me as the store is a ghost town whereas it was pretty busy before.

I also understand the make up near the front is like vegetables in supermarkets. It was in all fairness near the doors before but leading into the shop. Now it's three counters deep before you can get to anything else.

I'm just annoyed because you can plainly seeit not working. It's just such a waste of money.

I understand why you're sad, OP. Our own House of Fraser is dying on its feet, and when a new John Lewis massive store opens (and I love John Lewis, so I will be as bad as anyone else) they will go under. Really clearly. And the staff are wonderful, many there for decades, so it is sad. It's the passing of something that was once central to the town, somehow. Feeling sad about that is normal I think. Not sure why people piled on in the way they did, tbh.