To think that highstreet shops are becoming totally pointless?

[KnightlyMyMan]

Until this summer I generally preferred shopping in shops to online. I liked the experience and being able to try things on/see them without having to faff around posting them back to return. I quite enjoyed the ‘shopping day’ getting to wander around and pop for a coffe/ cake with friends.

The last few months I’ve started to get really frustrated with shops in my (usually well provisioned) city centre. They never have popular items in stock?!?!? It seems they’re just doing a terrible job of keeping up on demand!

EVERY shopping trip I’ve been on recently ended in me being told ‘We don’t have it / don’t have that size/that colour here but you can order it online’.

Maybe I would understand if it were unusual or obscure items I was looking for but it’s not.
The most popular jumpers from MnS - an entire stand of then (hundreds of jumpers) all in either size 8 or 22 🤔😒 somebody clearly messed up ordering! (I used to work in retail and 12-16 are always the biggest order as most popular sizes- how you end up with a hundred size 22’s is beyond me!

No basic tights in a medium anywhere.

Bags they literally have in the window but ‘don’t have any for sale in store’!!!

I mean these are examples but it just leaves me rolling my eyes at the thought of shopping in town!

I’ve taken to ordering online - which is fine but from a business point of view if shops keep going this way I understand why they won’t survive and think of the job reprocusssions.

Sure smaller boutique shops will be fine but Debenhams,MnS, HnM, New Look, Next....I don’t see those being around soon.

I Rember 10 years ago when my mum used to take us shopping and 99% of the time the shops had what you were looking for!

Is it just me experiencing this?

I get that online shopping creates warehouse/delivery jobs - but I grew up in a home where my mums part time shop jobs (at the local stores) kept us going. A warehouse/delivery job would have been pretty useless to her!

Completely agree.

An large M&S near me (on a retail park) shut down earlier this year. It was always rammed whenever I went in there, and there was always a huge queue for the tills.

I’m always left disappointed when going to the shops now. I can rarely find what I want, whether I’m looking for clothes, beauty or whatever else. Plus I get to pay extortionate parking charges for the pleasure of walking around all of the poorly stocked shops.

I don’t want the high street to disappear, but why would I go around the houses and spend £££ on parking to buy something that I could order online in a matter of seconds (usually cheaper too).

Same here.
I wanted some maternity tights from M&S for last weekend. Went to order online and saw they were out of stock in my size. So I went into town, as you say I used to love making a day out of shopping and that's what we did. We had brunch and stopped for coffee too. Popped into M&S. The one I went in is a massive one too, with huge food court and lingerie sections. Couldn't find maternity tights anywhere. Asked the lady who was in thy section, who simply told me to order online! Well what's the point of the shop then!
There's a huge, brand new primark near us that had some nice bits that don't seem to be in every other primark, but they only ever have size 4/6 or 20 in stock. And I can't even shop online with them anyway!

I should think we'll be seeing a change in high street environments, yep. I hear rumblings of new 'concepts' like pop-up stores and showrooms rather than traditional shops. High streets will be mainly catering, entertainment and whatever the chains can come up with to keep up with changing demand.

I bloody hate shopping and do as much as I possibly can online, so it suits me.

Several years ago, someone mentioned to me that they had be in a Sony or Samsung (can't remember which) "store." Except that you literally could not buy anything in the store. They did not have stock, did not take orders and obviously had no ability or reason to take payments.

The store was a goods display for people who might want to see something in the flesh before ordering online. I can see how this works for technology, but I doubt for most people it would work to buy clothes that way.

Totally agree OP and I find it very depressing.

Last week I spent an entire day walking round a very large city centre looking for an outfit to wear to my Christmas party night and was shocked by the poor size availability (John Lewis was the worst offender). I came home empty handed despite trying all the big stores. I much prefer to try clothes on in the shops than order online but they are making it impossible if they only have two or three sizes available in each style.

Probably the retail managers in your area are just really stupid. I don’t think most shops are that hopeless.

The problem is that retail employs thousands of low skilled women - what would happen to them, if we all bought everything online. They would be made redundant, and then have to rely on benefits - which would have to come out of our taxes.

People want to buy online because its cheaper, but don't think that probably their own employer relies on their customers to pay their wages - well the customers have to have enough money to buy their goods or services; and if half the population ends up redundant, they won't be able to afford the goods and services, beyond the absolute basics! It hits all of us in the long run!

People want to buy online because its cheaper

Not always. If something costs the same I would still choose online because it's more convenient. Sometimes you even get better 'protection' online. For example if you buy something in a sale in a physical shop in places like Debenhams and you want to return it I have seen on receipts that they only have to offer you a voucher. Whereas if I bought the same sales item online I am covered by the online terms which means I can return it for a monetary refund.

Shop clothes stock really annoys me!

Shoes start in 7 in most places (need a 6, they are all made in 6 just hardly anywhere does them)

Trousers start in 30 but often you struggle to find anything smaller than 32 (I need a 26-28)

Shirts on the other hand that are for small people then don't fit across my back or chest

Often find myself pondering the large waisted, small torsoed customers they must have in mind when stocking up, it doesn't create a pretty image

I am really small, but I'm not strangely proportioned.

Also you go in m&s ladies dept in Croydon and instead of having all the stuff laid out by type they have gone for the decathlon style of grouping everything together by collection. So it took about an hour for us to find all the variant colours of a jacket we were looking for for my mum

YANBU
The last couple of times I've gone into central London to the huge flagship Topshop, Miss Selfridge & H&Ms which was a real treat for me, only about a quarter of the clothes that I wanted to try on were available in my size. I used to really enjoy going shopping, but it's really frustrating when I might as well order it online. How hard can it be to just make sure there's always at least one of every size on the rack.

People want to buy online because its cheaper

I couldn't care less if it's more expensive. Bricks and mortar shops are mostly horrible: nasty music, unhelpful staff, expensive parking, awkward returns policies, limited stock. Most of the times recently that I've forgotten how dispiriting it is and gone to the store, I've failed to buy anything and eventually bought it online anyway.

Shops are worthwhile if they have knowledgeable staff, decent stock and reasonable surroundings. If it's staffed by sullen staff who don't want to be there, the floor is dirty and the stock is either not there or mis-shelved, why bother? I'll pay for a positive shopping experience, and I don't mind if it's a bit more expensive than online. But if it's a nasty experience, I don't care even if it's cheaper.

And turn the fucking music off.

I went shopping yesterday and took a photos of the things I wanted to buy then ordered them when I got home. I like seeing the product in real life but it's much easier to 'buy' online.

I agree. It's not even really the price that makes me shop online, it's the range of choice, the convenience and the online reviews.
What I find baffling is that people who prefer to shop online still express sadness at the demise of high-street shops. If you don't like using them, why would you care if they disappear? The demise of actual physical shops is totally inevitable imo. They are no longer fit for purpose.

Talking about turning the music off, if anyone has the pleasure of shopping in Liverpool any time soon, pls take a trip to the new American sweet shop at the start of Liverpool One. Oh my days.

Dd and I went shopping last weekend for her Christmas clothes, she is nearly 8 and obsessed with everything American ( thanks to YouTube ) so we went in to get her some treats and I have never heard such noise in my life, it was deafening.

I complained nicely to one of the staff members who was around my age (40) and she totally agreed and said there had been loads of complaints and the shop has only been open for a couple of weeks, she said that management were told to have it on like that. Dd and I were having to shout at each other to speak and when I went to pay there was a manager there who ignored me ( but heard me! ) when I asked why on earth it was so bloody loud. Prices were shocking too, really shocking and we've bought much cheaper from Amazon.

They will be out of business within a year.

I'm glad its not just me wondering exactly who shops are stocking 12 tops only in a size 6/8 for? Oh, and the one in size 22 for balance.

I always feel like there are roving gangs of identically-dressed super-thin 15yr olds who are due to descend and ravage the place at any second.

I do all my clothes shopping online now, I find more clothes I actually like and I don't have to go trudging round shops in disappointment either.

I don’t struggle to find my size in shops, well Zara can be a struggle cause stuff flies out. Although I’ve never bought clothing from M&S which seems to be a repeat offender.

People want to buy online because its cheaper

If I could get it from a shop on my high street I'd happilly pay a couple of quid more.

But I only go into town for haircuts and to buy maggots for fishing now - about the only things I can't get online...

Dd and I were having to shout at each other to speak

There was a shoe shop I used to actually buy shoes in. Over the course of a couple of years it decided that it needed to be hipper and younger (although the shoes were Not Cheap, and the target audience Not Young). The music got louder and more repetitiv. For clarity, I am a regular attender of noisy gigs, including young people's dance music, but there's a time and a place for all things. The music drove the regular patrons away, to which they responded by turning it up. A few months later it closed, an empty space filled with deafening music.

I'm not going to shout to be heard in a shop. If I can't talk to the staff at a normal volume, why would I want to be there?