To be worried about House of Fraser

[Viviennemary]

Seems this is the next chain to be in trouble. And Debenhams hasn't been doing to well either lately according to the news tonight. I don't buy a great deal in either of these but would be really sad to see them go. Woolworths gone and then BHS. at the thought they might disappear

Alex Williamson was probably not a great hire with his lack of retail experience, and their customer service has always been appalling in my experience. I wouldn't spend money with a company that values its customers so little.

I like our local HoF, it has lovely brands and is not tired looking at all. It is quite expensive, but stocks some things here that are not anywhere else, their Cafe is great too, spacious and busy enough to be nice but you can always get a seat.

Another one surprised Debenhams is still going as our local one looks so tatty and jumbled. WHSmith too, appalling service, just on the front till, it's really gone downhill. Our JL has had a revamp and is certainly giving HoF a run for its money.

I'm contemplating closing my Amazon account; we get our books, music, tv and other supplies from them and I rarely shop elsewhere. That's appalling.

It's not appalling. We as customers are not obliged to keep retailers in business, its the retailers job to draw us in and if they're not doing that then they've only got themselves to blame.

Agree to some point on Smith's delete but they have cornered the airport and service station market which I think props up the high street branches. I do wonder how much ours sells apart from newspapers. Everything else in there is hideously overpriced

That's true I never thought of that. All the stores near me are incredibly run down and very overpriced (especially that bloody chocolate they try and sell to you at the till). It looks like they've just given up and are waiting for the inevitable.

I think my local House of Fraser store is suffering from the fact a big John Lewis opened nearby a few years ago. I do go to the HOF sometimes but I don’t really like the shop, it’s always too hot in there.

I use both occasionally online, HOF is very good but I do find their local stores are both horrid - tired, dated and very shabby so it puts you off going in. There is a Mulberry concession in HOF and the carpet is so old and shabby it's held together with bright yellow gaffer tape . Hardly inspirational.

I am abroad and Debenhams, HoF, Marks, JL all have very good postage tbf, free if you spend over about £30. I order a lot (as my lovely neighbour will testify!) and never have a problem. Both M&S and JL will deliver within about 3 days. Compare this to Gap and when I used to fall for their relentless % off codes (before realising the quality of everything except sweatshirts is dire) delivery could take up to 3 weeks.

I buy loads of books and I use Amazon (or the supermarkets for some of the more popular big sellers) because the difference in price is so marked that I'd be stupid not to. But I spend a lot of time in Waterstones as well and I always make a point of buying at least one thing there because I really don't want them to go out of business. I like to look at book before I buy and it's harder to do that without proper bookshops and having to return them to Amazon is a faff.

Well Debenhams certainly dont do themselves any favours - We wanted to buy a kitchen item after Christmas, saw it on the Debenhams website in the sale for £30 X% off.

As I do try to support the high street shops, I went into town, found the item in store but they wanted £40 for it - still in the sale, but less of a reduction. I showed the saleswoman the Internet price on my phone and she admitted that buying from Debenhams online is usually cheaper!

So home I came and ordered it with free delivery to store!!

It's small independent shops or specialist shops such as Waterstones we should all be supporting, the likes of Debenhams can fend for themselves.

It’s interesting isn’t it ... how shopping on the high street needs to be a real experience and not all the retailers have cottoned on ... while I am so far from their demographic it’s laughable you can see what hollister do to create that experience which pulls young people in.

By contrast one busy Saturday in the autumn my local Debenhams were only accepting cash. These things happen but I am not sure customers are that tolerant... especially when there was no eta for the problem to be resolved.

I also wonder about the impact of the reduction of public space. In my town all the significant retail is now in a private complex. When times are good the upkeep is trendy and it’s a good experience but if they have a few bad years it will lose its shine and who will be mandated to keep it going?

Personally, judging by the number of sales they have held in the past year, I think Laura Ashley will go before House of Fraser. Whilst we can all lament their passing, as other readers have said, unless we personally shop with them, they cannot keep going.

I don't feel sorry for Waterstones as they didn't give a crap 30 yrs ago when all the small independent book shops closed in every British high street due to Waterstones opening up everywhere.

We have 2 Debenhams quite close to us they are both really scruffy, I stick to JL always seems much more organised. Shame I used to work in Debenhams about 15 years ago and it was like a completely different shop back then needs a revamp and to rethink some of the brands it sells which makes it more downmarket.

My entire work wardrobe comes from Debenhams and lots of it gets complements - but everyone is always surprised to find out where it's from. When you go in, the shop is often a mess as well.

I think they've made some poor decisions with their own brands as well as I always used to be spoilt for choice in there and it's now more of a struggle. They used to have their more fashiony Edition selection of designers and that's gone, the Designers at Debenhams has gone from the website and I'm pretty much down to Phase Eight in the sale.

I have closed my Amazon account - if at all possible I just use them as a search engine and buy elsewhere. I realised that 95% of my shopping (outside of food and clothes) was coming via them and I felt I was being sucked in to a monster.

WH Smith is good in train stations and airports, it’s usually busy so might be enough

I used to love both but haven't been in for years now. I'm in London so I'd have to visit their Oxford Street stores and I'd rather not! They just don't have them on other high streets around the city. I either shop online or in smaller branches of other stores now. At least John Lewis has a branch in Stratford that's open late.

I think online shopping is the thing that's really killed the department store though. They used to appeal to me because I could easily compare ten pairs of the same item from different brands without trekking round different shops. Now I can do the same online and places like asos will deliver it all for me to try on in my own home.

I do the same with Waterstones AstridWhite! I find the stores lovely though. Our nearest has a beautiful atmosphere, kids seating and colouring table always stocked with paper and decent crayons, lovely gifts and wrapping paper and good service. It is a real pleasure to be in.

Availability is still random when it comes to clothes, and choice limited. Good luck finding a bra with wide straps and no lace, smart trousers with pockets or smart shoes without teetering heels.

Laura Ashley is an intriguing example ... they have looked on the brink of collapse multiple times in the last 20 years and yet I noticed a huge one at an out of town retail park the other day. I wonder how they keep surviving are they consistently just clinging on or is it famine and feast?

We don’t have a House of Fraser near us and it’s not the sort of shop I’d travel to go to. We do have a Debenhams but I’m not bothered by it apart from some of the Designers range. A lot of the staff aren’t particularly helpful and I get fed up with them pushing their bloody card on me. I was even asked if I wanted one last time I returned something!

I love Debenhams and the young children's clothes. Used to work for them when I was early 20s and would spend my wages back in on clothes. I certainly wasn't a middle-aged dresser!

I find House of Fraser too expensive, but often shop in Debenhams.

A plea to those of you who hate shopping/don't have time to shop/are too lazy to shop - please use our shops as soon there will be nowhere to shop for those of us who aren't standard sizes and who prefer to try clothes and shoes on in an actual shop and buy them from an actual shop. What will happen to all the shopping malls?

I don't want to spend my life spending £££ buying multiple sizes online, trying them on at home then returning them all. I would spend half my life in the post office, and faff around with refunds.

I window shop online, go into specific stores, try the clothes on - sometimes taking three sizes of the same item into a changing room, and buy there and then if it fits.

And as for shoes, I have such awkward feet that I often have to try on upwards of 20 pairs before I find any that are comfortable. I simply cannot do this if I can only buy online.

I don't think Waterstones will go, I hope not as the staff are genuinely passionate about what they do. They aren't shop assistants, they are booksellers.
That independent booksellers closed is an argument we could use for butchers, bakers and candlestick makers tbh.
I was in the Trafalgar Sq Waterstones last week and the staff are just lovely. While dd rummaged I had a chat with an assistant on the first floor, then another one found exactly the book dd was looking for, while another was called over to start hunting on the computer for a children's book involving a "creepy duck" It was a lovely hour spent in there, and although I could no doubt have got everything cheaper on Amazon, it was worth it.

I bought several things from Debenhams before Christmas in the sales.I like the restaurant in my local one, the staff are always pleasant and the seating is nice.

Our local market town has a Spa, Co-op and Tesco, and three independent butchers. All the butchers are doing well, probably because we are rural and all the meat is locally sourced and free range. We eat very little meat, but when we do eat meat we prefer to eat something that we know the provenance of rather than something mass produced in a country with lower animal welfare standards.

Obviously a lot of people round here must think like we do to keep the butchers in business.