to ask if there's any shop you avoid for a particular reason?

[OhDeari]

For me, it's Tescos.

Simple reason - I was on my way home from work last winter (office job, so well dressed) and popped into local large Tesco to pick up something. Was innocently wandering around when I got a tap on the shoulder - it appeared to be a staff member (so having my headphones in) didn't hear what he said, so just replied, 'No, I'm fine thanks'. He taps again and I took headphones out and he said 'We have a NO HOODS POLICY in the store'. I took my hood down but was secretly seething - FFS, it was sub zero outside and I'd just come inside.

So I'll do everything I can to avoid Tescos.

Any others?

Lush. It stinks.
Plus their anti Police campaign

re: Iceland
I am not sure I would even trust a shop selling portions for 16 people for £1 or £2/

KFC
I can't bring myself to the idea of eating from a "bucket".

KFC sells full fat Pepsi, they just don't advertise it and charge you 20-30p extra on your meal price

Nope, not any near me. They actually had a sign on the counter to say they sold it at extra cost, but they actually don't anymore.
I tried all 3 local branches.

Starbucks for tax reasons
Smiggle as it gives me headaches.
Tesco as it’s always grubby and often just doesn’t stock what I need. I used to work for a Tesco supplier, and yes they squeeze and squeeze, we lost money on every unit we sold them. We only carried on as it was considered a boost to be able to say we supplied them... it wasn’t.
In recent years I believe they’ve been dropped by a number of suppliers on the basis it’s not fair or worth it anymore.

Superdry. I have no actual concrete reasons for this but I think it is the only shop on our small high street I have never entered. I look at what is in the window and think 'nope' and walk on. Even my DDs as teens refused to enter it. We seem to be an entire family of Superdry refusers.

Anything owned by Philip Green, that tax avoiding, pension scamming sleazeball isn't getting any of my money.

Interesting to read the comments about Lush. I have a chemical sensitivity and I can't even walk past the entrance without suffering, let alone go in there!

A local coffee shop. I live in a tiny tourist town. It's a long winter so we actively support our local High Street. New coffee shop opened ( plenty of others). Let's give them a go. I order a cappuccino and a decaf tea. "Oh. We don't do that". No problem, I'll have an ordinary tea. "No, we don't serve tea. This is a coffee shop, nobody wants tea in a coffee shop, there is simply no demand for it."
I swear it was surreal. As far as I can work out she sells coffee to her friends. Interesting to how long that lasts. I hope she has signed a short lease.

Tesco. Their stores always looked a bit grubby and I can’t get over the notion that they still are.

I've copied and pasted this from the Lush site

This is not an anti-state/anti-police campaign. We are aware that the police forces of the UK are doing an increasingly difficult and dangerous job whilst having their funding slashed. We fully support them in having proper police numbers, correctly funded to fight crime, violence and to be there to serve the public at our times of need.

This campaign is not about the real police work done by those front line officers who support the public every day - it is about a controversial branch of political undercover policing that ran for many years before being exposed.

I have a bit of a 'delve' about this and it doesn't appear to be anti-police at all, though that was how it was depicted in the media - what a surprise.

Yes agree re Wetherspoons' owner. My husband and I agreed a fair while ago never to give him one cent of business.

A local department store. They just put huge brown of random stuff in the centre of the floor. No logic and if you eventually find something you want to buy your very unlikely to find someone who will serve you.

JD SPORTS uninterested and rude staff

Morrison’s and Asda- I simply hate the horrid green logo colours.
I also dislike the layout of the shops

My local underwear shop! It’s a little local business. Which I normally support.
Haven’t stepped foot in there for 12 years, after my oldest was born she nearly died of strep so we were in hospital for about a month. Resulted in me not being able to breast feed. After she came out I went in there to get fitted for some new bras, as the old hag was measuring me she said “I assume your breast feeding?” Which I replied no, before I could explain any further she went into a rant about how ‘young mothers’ shouldn’t have babies if they can’t do it properly and how I was “naughty” for not even trying!
Queue me bursting into tears and her telling me to grow up as I’m a mother now!!!
Absolute vile experience and I couldn’t care a shit if they shut down, I know they are struggling but I have no sympathy! Still raging about it 12 years on!!!!

Also Amazon for many reasons, but in particular their shit customer service

Mountain Warehouse.

I've been in a few of their stores and never yet encountered a single member of staff who has any manners or enthusiasm. Their staff are like the Walking Dead - just slovenly leaning on things and just grunting when you ask a question or need serving. At first I thought I was just unlucky with the staff in our local store, but I've found exactly the same in other stores too.

I started to buy their stuff online to avoid the shops, but then I had the usual when I took something back for a refund, so I've stopped buying online now too. Luckily there are other shops selling the same.

@YouTheCat the Lush statement was too little too late. The images they had already put out... the windows already dressed.. the press releases... had grossly misrepresented the points they claimed to want to achieve. They alienated the police, police staff, friends and family. Their responses to the complaints were pathetic.

It's a shame, as the cases they were referring to were appalling, and I say that as ex cop who worked alongside undercover work.

Primark - don't understand the love for this. I do plenty of other bargain shops but Primark seems to be full of throw away rubbish.
Anywhere that stinks of perfume.
A coffee shop that says no buggies ( fair enough) but then tried to say that ds's sn buggy wasn't allowed in either. Ds was about 9 at the time.

For a long time it was Asda because years ago DH worked on a project for them at their Head Office and the senior manager's were such arseholes he vowed never to use their shops. We don't have one anywhere near us as it happens so they are easy to avoid!

@jillandhersprite Tesco - the way they seem to swamp a small geographical location - so all the supermarkets in a 5 mile radius are either a tesco, tesco extra or tesco express.
I agree they tried to do that in our town. Actually I do use Tesco now and again but there is one Tesco Express I always avoid. There were lots of objections to it going ahead because of the impact it would have on the nearby local shops and also because it would be right beside a busy roundabout. Despite being denied permission several times Tesco kept badgering away until they got the go ahead. Sure enough the local shops and newsagents went out of business very quickly

Lidl and Aldi. Everything is grey, there's a lingering smell, floor feels sticky, there's just a light covering grime and dust. I feel like I'm in Bulgaria in the 1970s. Not for me.

TK Max feels like a second hand store, can't get out quick enough. Piles of bric-a-brac like an old lady's front room.

Amazon coz they're going to take over and make us all shop with them even if we don't want to.

TwattingDog, that is a bit shit then. It sounded like it was something that needed raising but that they went about it in a totally non-thinking manner.

Agree with a lot here e.g. Lush, Spoons etc.

I also try to avoid brands that give free things to Instagramers, why should I subsidise their lifestyles?