M&s closures

[Raver84]

Feel sorry for the staff who will loose their jobs but does anyone shop regularly in there? The fashion is dire, the shoes mostly hiddious. I'm in my 30s so prob not the target but as a parent i think their children stuff is quite old fashioned and over priced for basics like t shirts and pjs.
The toys section is stuff that older people think children 'should' like such as patchwork knitted dolls and wooden tat. Lots of 'sensible' toys. Albeit would look nice in a show home, no children play with this do they or would love it as a gift?

If it were to leave the high street would you miss it? I like the food and the tights, but that's all. The hand bags are also ok ish.

Mid 30s would never wear the clothes, food overpriced and not that good really (Colin excluded) . Uniform for kids is OK but supermarkets are just as good.

Not surprised but thought the older shoppers would keep it going.

I agree with other posters food great, clothing is poor, I can’t remember the last time I brought clothing from there. It was getting so old fashioned and frumpy, I forget to even look at their clothing now.

I used to but quite a bit for work there one time in the autograph section and basic knitwear but haven't bought anything in years.

I do buy the odd bits and bobs in the food hall as treats the odd time but not very often.

My mother is a M&S customer and lives in dread of our local branch closing.

I buy their underwear for dh and I (and for ds sometimes). Socks come from there, dh's work suits, my jeans, (now that Lands End have got too expensive), shoes, linen trousers for me, jeans for ds and dh (neither of whom are remotely bothered about designer anything), moleskins for dh. I loove their opaque tights as well. The basic long sleeve cotton T shirts are fab; the cashmere is good.

I still hvae a reefer jacket I bought pre ds in 93, and wear it every winter.

I like their underwear and I do have two pairs of trousers for work from there which are boring but exactly what I needed.

My DH likes their stuff though. He gets all this shirts, undies, and suits from there. I don't know where he will shop now.

The last lot of knickers I bought from M&S were really shoddy quality as were the t shirts, out of shape and bobbly after only limited washes. Not impressed at all.

I wish M&S senior management could come on here for a web chat and we could explain what we want M&S to do and they could explain why that's not possible. Because it beats me why they put expensive frills and lacy bits on a perfectly nice pair of jeans and are then surprised that no-pne wants to wear them 

Yes agree. I just don't get half of their design decisions. My mum likes about three items a year and she is in her 70's. I like a few, plain, classic bits, but the price puts me off. I'm in my 30s. Why keep designing and producing absolute crap? I just don't get it.

I shop there for food, and clothes. Some clothes are nice. Some aren't. It's just the same as every shop. The food is great.

I'm early fifties, have three children, middle class, live in an area with few shops. We have a m and s in our nearest town and I think I've shopped there roughly once a year. I've never ever bought clothes from there.

When I went in yesterday it was geriatric city. Says it all I guess.

But you'd think I'd be bang on for m and s. The clothes are rank

It used to be my go to place for good quality cotton anything and children's clothes. I hadn't shopped there in years and started again after the birth of my GC. The stuff doesn't wash as well as Next, or some of Tesco's, but is twice the price.

I agree that they should have had public consultations, as should BHS.

It's catastrophic for the North West. We are losing so many employers and Universal Credit is forcing people to use food banks. I feel sorry for people with three children, who are willing to work, but the jobs aren't there. They will only get Tax Credits for two children.

M&S has just totally lost it's way. They want to be all things to everyone and have turned in to a shop for nobody.

This.

I used to be a big fan, and when the Per Una range came out it was really good quality and I bought a number of things, including a coat that is still going strong many years later.

The clothes they sell these days is no better quality than George or Tu yet are two or three times the price. In fact, the supermarket ranges are a lot more fashionable and pretty.

My 85 year old mum has abandoned M&S because they have nothing for her anymore.

Leaving aside the design choices, for me they’re just too expensive for the quality. I can’t justify spending £15 - £25 on a basic plain tshirt - not when I can get one on the high street for anywhere from £2 - £7 which will last just as long.

Everyone’s wages are being squeezed and fewer people are buying higher-priced good quality stuff because they can’t afford it (see Sam Vimes theory of boots ). I wish I could afford to spend £60 on a quality jumper that will last years or £50 on jeans that will last more than 12 months but frankly I don’t have the disposable cash.

I think a lot of these old-guard, British-institution stores mostly thrived because they used to have very little competition. I can’t speak for what M&S’ quality used to be like in their golden period as I’m under 30 and can’t remember! As global markets have opened up, people have more choice (both design- and budget-wise) and I think they’re realising places like M&S have comparatively little to offer.

I wish I could afford to spend £60 on a quality jumper that will last years or £50 on jeans that will last more than 12 months but frankly I don’t have the disposable cash.

You won't find quality at M & S any more!

Our town’s M&S is going. I’m not at all surprised. It is a depressing mess.

The underwear is overpriced and badly fitting, although I’ll still snap up any 30E high impact sports bras in the sale online because they do work.

Clothes are just weird and heavy and too much fabric.

Food is over-packaged and over-priced. M&S brought us the ready meal so they have a lot to answer for in terms of the nation’s health and weight problems. They stopped half my generation from learning to prepare a lasagne or a curry for themselves.

“Sportswear”? - for the love of god!!!!! Half of it isn’t wicked fabric and it’s way too heavy/thick to do any sport in.

Children’s clothes - no idea - they were too expensive when my children were children.

Needs a proper rethink.

I go there all the time.

I like occasional bits from the food hall but it’s too expensive. I’m also cross that the small food hall in my daily commute train station stuff is even more overpriced from the already expensive stuff. So pomegranate seeds rather than being £3 in the big foodhall are £3.75 in the train station. I could understand them being a bit more but not nearly 25%. Tesco they’re £2.50 for a bigger tub, Morrison’s are £2.25,

I would miss knickers and sports bras. That’s it.

I don’t trust their clothing reviews anymore. I tried to leave a perfectly polite and factual review on a top I returned saying the quality was poor, material was thin and I was disappointed. They refused to publish it....said it didn’t meet their guidelines! Well the bloody top didn’t meet my guidelines!

I used to love their clothes, shoes and bags. They used to be great quality and lasted forever. Now their bags and shoes are made of sweaty plastic, the jumpers go bobbly and their jeans fade around the seams. They also seem to be saving material, with really short tops and everything sleeveless. They've lost their way in that their clothes are much more expensive than Primark but of a similar quality. To me, they have to either reduce their prices and keep their low quality and compete against Primark, or get back the quality that they used to have.

I was in an M&S store a couple of weeks ago buying something for tea and took a quick look at the clothing on the off chance I’d find a light summer cardigan.

No bloody chance even I was shocked at the hideousness of the clothing and I’m a self confessed frump. They looked like something a poor old person in a care home would be made to wear and the materials - nylon and polyester like those awful 70s fitted bedsheets.

I didn’t think the place could get more frumpier. I felt embarrassed looking at them.

I’m in my 40s. I love to have a look around in there, every now and then. However, I don’t buy their clothes anymore. They don’t wash and wear very well. And now, everything just seems to be too frumpy/ old lady. Their limited range of homewares are meh. I go in there for a peppermint tea and biscuits ( not fond of their cakes) in the cafe and to vist their food hall which I love. As long as they keep their food stores open, I’m happy.

I agree with a PP that they're good for petite trousers. I get my skinny jeans from there. Leggings too, but but they're really not lasting anywhere near as well as they used to. I've got some nice clothes for toddler dd there, but it includes things from the boys' range as the girls' stuff is very, very pink and flowery. It's rare I find anything suitable for my teen/preteen sons. They're useful for me as I'm not in the UK (get it all online) and there isn't really a mid-market here, but I reckon if I had the kind of choice I had in the UK I might not use them.

Oh, they're great for dh as he needs short legs in trousers, which are impossible to find here.

DP went into one of the biggest out of town M&S stores looking for swim shorts. They were completely out of stock.

In September.

If it was January, you might be able to understand them not stocking swim shorts, but in late summer?

M&S have completely lost the plot, and the rot isn’t just confined to women’s clothing.