To be so angry with the British high street?

[peoniesarejustperfect]

Went sales shopping yesterday with my elderly Mother yesterday. We went to an 'affluent' city in the south east. We always go shopping after Christmas and it's a bit of a tradition and we normally really enjoy it. Yesterday was just so depressing - it made me fizz with anger. I hardly know where to start!!

The shops were just horrible - full of badly merchandised sales stuff which looked totally uninviting.

In several of the shops we went into there were no staff on the shop floor - we wanted to ask where different departments were (to save Mum walking too much), but no one to ask and poor signage.

In House of Fraser (one of the stores which is remaining open) we waited for 25 mins in the luggage department for a member of staff - there was no one there to help - no tape measure, no useful signs about cabin luggage allowances and no one to take any cash. We hung around for ages with two other families - no chairs to sit on, we just stood around. After a while we all gave up. The same in lingerie - no staff on duty. We had lunch there, which was really nice, but the restaurant loos were closed for cleaning when we went in at 12:15. What restaurant shuts its loos at lunchtime??? They suggested we left the restaurant and 'popped down' two floors to use another loo.

The British high street keep moaning but really, why on earth would anyone want to shop there? Why do they deserve our hard earned cash? It's incredibly expensive to park and the retailers don't seem very keen on keeping customers happy - let alone delighting them! There's not enough staff and with some notable exceptions, many of them are poorly trained - it all seems a bit of an effort for them.

Last Christmas we went to the US. I know it's different in America, but every morning in Macy's, when the doors open, a group of staff clap the shoppers in. We couldn't get over this and asked a sales assistant about it - she told us it's an honour to be picked - to welcome customers, look them in the eye and say thanks for coming. US retail is facing similar challenges, but what a different response. Helpful staff directing you to places, gorgeous merchandising, seats everywhere and staff trained to sell.

Anyone else fed up with the high street?

Retail is badly paid so you can't really blame the staff. Personally I don't tend to really shop high street, I'm personally into vintage and online(I shop at a French store as I find I can't buy affordable jeans for my height in this country! You can have every fit but the same length!), and as much as it's the fault of the consumer,people won't buy if you don't have anything to offer worth buying that beats anything online.
I really can't understand the Next sale though. People queuing up for mostly bland clothing and our local one was practically empty the other day. Power of marketing I guess.

Retail is badly paid so you can't really blame the staff.

Rubbish. Regardless of pay, staff are there to do the job. If they don't want to do the job properly, they should beggar off and get a different job. The vast majority of retail staff do the job properly and give great customer service, and yet there'll just paid the same. What we need are decent managers who have the balls to get rid of the crap staff and spend a little more time & effort weeding out applicants to get the best they can.

I used to work for Boots. When I worked in the pharmacy most patients were polite. However when working on shop floor OMG there were some very rude customers even when you spend time helping them with products they’re wishing to purchase. I felt sometimes that I was made to feel like trash or second class citizens. At Christmas the staff in the pharmacy were given mountains of boxes or chocolates and biscuits however this is not the case on the shop floor. Even when you serve the same customers each week. I’m was not expecting gifts but politeness goes a long way.

Over Christmas the two most helpful stores were Hugo Boss and Lush.

I was in tkmaxx and thought I was going to faint at the checkout, told the checkout girl who just said "Oh, that's £15.00 please" I then passed out 

Oh and waterstones were lovely too

That's a shame. We live in NZ now and I often fantasize about shops in the UK as there isn't much selection here. The best customer service I've encountered was in Japan. The staff in all shops and restaurants shout 'irashai masei' (welcome) when you walk in. The thing that annoys me about UK shopping is the lack of stock. They will tell you to go online when they haven't got something which is pointless because you can't try stuff on.

You want to be “delighted” and “clapped in”? Bloody hell, high maintenance and entitled IMO

I would laugh if I was clapped into a store! So fake, it would put me off tbh.

John Lewis and Waitrose still appear to train their staff in customer service skills. M&S too. Otherwise it seems to have been abandoned. Boots is awful. WH Smith ditto. I feel sorry for the staff, low wages, poor to non existent training and knowledge of stock. It's depressing.

Go to the shops and pubs or they will die! Amazon is a beast that we need to stop feeding.

There’s no one but tourists waiting outside Macy’s in Manhattan to get clapped in and I’m sure it’s all part of the experience.

(In my experience, if you go in that Macy’s willingly then you deserve a round of applause)

I work in retail and had to work Christmas Eve and will work New Years Eve when I would have loved to have been with my family for Christmas. Shops are employing fewer and fewer staff and those that are left are trying to do more and more work. The list of jobs is endless and at this time of year we also have to do a stock take, so we are working our socks off. We try our absolute best to keep the customers happy but a lot of them are very rude and staff are often in tears over the way they are spoken to. Currently in my shop, the customer is king and they pretty much get everything they want, but that does not stop them complaining. I suggest you try working in a shop for a day or two and you might end up admiring what those staff achieve on a daily basis - and for minimum wage as well.

I think we get that lily.
But being a bit busy and having lots to do doesn't mean it's ok to sit having a gossip with the person on the next till rather than serving customers, nor does it make it ok to stand in pairs chatting and then acting like a customer asking a question or needing something bringing out is a massive inconvenience to their day.

Sure some people can be rude and obnoxious but they are rude and obnoxious to everyone they meet. Most people are fairly reasonable and can appreciate staff being busy, but find it hard to see how being rude, unhelpful and generally acting like the job is an inconvenience is an ok part of taking a job in retail.

It shouldn’t take training to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ during a transaction though and this is becoming so rare. I’m not expecting fawning or profuse gratititude or even eye contact, just for the people on the till to use the same basic social niceties and conventions that I do during a transaction.

The future of retail is going to be independents and online .

There is no space for chain stores selling things you can buy online easier and cheaper.

I think city centres are dead for shopping My city, once the 4th biggest in the country, is just a building site with cheap discount stores, overun by beggars and 'chuggers' hassling you at every other step.

Staff have been reduced because whilst we all visit the high street, once we work out what we want we order it online! Sales in shops are seriously down and we all want to pay a pittance for stuff - basic clothes cost less now than when I was a child in the 80's! As for the toilets, perhaps there was a "problem" in one of them, just wait until they finish.

In the US chains have also been closing - you were obviously in the flagship store in New York, Macy's was a bit dishevelled in the branch I visited and you need to compare to central London branches which also are better staffed. I was shocked at the difference in the USA based stores compared to when we lived there (I hadn't been for 15 years) stores shut or downsized to a fraction of their capacity, discount shops in between the higher end stores and the out of town mall was 1/3 closed shops. The staff are still friendly but no one to help you find your size etc and you could see the stress they were under

John Lewis does seem to be the only big retailer that invests in its staff.

It's the only decent big name on my city centre as well, almost like last man standing.

If you want interesting, well stocked shops with knowledgeable staff, I would say smaller market towns are your best bet.

I reccommend a weekend away in Ilkley, North Yorkshire for lovely shops and restaurants .

I went into Birmingham on the 27th, and I ended up buying one top, not from the sales (Oasis), and some Body Shop mini shower gels for an upcoming trip.

The general feel of the centre was very.....grabby....I don't know his to describe it otherwise. Clothes on rails all mixed up together, with huge sale sections consisting of last season's poor sellers. Clothing on the floors which looked dirty (picked up a promising looking white button down shirt that had a footprint on it!). Accessories with bits missing (a missing earring, a bag with no clasp etc), shoes in mismatched sizes....

It's all a bit overwhelming I find. I'm perfectly able to accept that it's me, and I'm too fussy....but sales shopping in real life sucks. On-line is way easier. For example I picked up 7 new tops for my daughter, and for me, a pair of knee length boots, a pair of trainer, a pair of ballerinas , a pair of jeans and a Wizard of Oz t-shirt....all from New Look website for just over £80. With no hassle at all.

One problem seems to be not only does it seem all shops seem to stock the same stuff, but it's the run of the mill stuff. Even the specialist shops don't carry anything that hasn't been seen on bake off (trying 3 independent cookware shops for grapefruit knife was probably our nadir).

So these days it's "Amazon first". Looking over my past 5 years purchases, there's about 20 items that should have been available in a specialist shop, but - for whatever reason - wasn't. And once you hit the "we can order it in" moment, the question is "well, yes, but then I may as well do it online and get it delivered".

Last time I bought (or rather tried to buy) shoes in a shoe shop, it was Clarks. Found shoes. Went to counter and asked for a spare set of laces (because I've been stung that way before). Not only did they not have any, they didn't stock them. Shoes remained unpurchased ...

(The last used to be a bugbear of mine ... loads of places selling "stuff" but when you look for the refills/consumables, you find they don't sell them. Liners for bins being another example ....)

I like to think that the chain i work for is very customer focused

Our shop certainly is and other shops are supposed to follow the same rules

Greet, ask if they need anything...as necessary!!! Take items to changing room, gather similar items from floor and stockroom, riing local stores to check stock, be on hand for any help with zips, styling, or comments etc

Another positive vote for Waterstones. Why would anyone set foot in grubby WH Smith when a Waterstones across the road? Although Amazon giving both a beating, it's still pleasant to take small child to choose a book from selection they can see and touch.

A grapefruit knife? Who knew?

Love waterstones...

A grapefruit knife? Who knew?

Well, not the staff in the swanky independent cookshop in Brum

Don't get me started on my quest for a decent rotary egg whisk - I'm still balking at paying £16+ for the GoodGrips one (online, of course). But there's nothing else at all ....

The Macy’s think kind of reminds me of the Disney Store opening ceremony (look it up on YouTube). I’ve contemplated booking my daughter in for it a few times but I think she would get a bit shy and embarrassed. I know a few of the big stores in the U.K. do it and it’s mostly an unknown thing.