We should all boycott Next shops Boxing Day ( well too late for today as I was fast asleep at 6 am)

[Mammajay]

I just heard a husband on the radio. His wife had to work Christmas eve ( no problem IMO with that) and also had to work today Boxing Day.. She had to be in work for 5.30 a.m. for the 6am Next Boxing Day sale. No public transport and Christmas Day overshadowed with the worry of getting up early enough to get ready and get to work for 5.30am. No choice about whether to work either. Spirit of Ebenezer Scrooge IMO. Very poor Next. 0/10 for caring about your staff!

Next was the first shop to do this I’m almost sure.
In the 80’s and 90’s when it did decent clothes, there was always a huge drama about the Next sale as everything was reduced by 50% and you knew you’d get good stuff. But they never opened until the 27th in those days

They are sort of trying to get the same situation by drumming up interest, but as the clothes are now shite, they try and offer something else. Like 5:00 am opening. I swear they were the ones to start it.

Why anyone would queue up to buy their shite is beyond me. But other retailers started to follow them after that

I think boxing day working is here to stay (18years in retail) however next do not need to open so early. When boxing day falls on a su day, other shops open their 6 hours, next stay closed because they can't open 6-6....so they can adjust, they just don't want to.

Next clothes are vile so feel sorry for anyone who feels the need to queue up at 5am just to look like every other mum on the school run.

(support worker here, worked yesterday and today despite providing no hands on care so not essential service... It's just part and parcel of the job)

If Tesco Express wasn’t open Christmas Day people would do without.
If Next wasn’t open Boxing Day people would wait until the next day.
The Chinese takeaway closes on Chinese New Year despite it not being a festival Britian takes a day off for.

Do you want people to have a day off or do you think buying more stuff is important.
Let’s face it the environment is fucked if people think going to the cinema or shopping or a coffee in a delartment store is going to cheer them up on Christmas or Boxing Day.

The thing with Next is that it all hangs on the sales.

Back in the early 80s Terrance Conran noticed that the stores attracted much more attention when the windows were covered pending the start of the sale than at any other time.
He realised that people like the idea of a special secret bargain and this is why Next make such a big deal out of their sales. They are selling the same old tut that they couldn’t sell all year round but because they create a demand people are willing to queue for it.

Retail, theatres, restaurants are not. People can go a day or two without needing those.

All right Oliver Cromwell, calm down!

Yes, let’s shut Boxing Day and let online take over the world. That’ll save the high street!

If we’re saying “what about bus/train drivers, hospitality etc has no-one thought about them?.”, I think the point is that most of these continue along the same lines as retail because they have to support the shoppers i.e they provide transport to the shops, meals for the shoppers so if we start with retail a lot of this would filter down so there wouldn’t be the demand? I also worked years in retail and when I joined there wasn’t a requirement to work Boxing Day but it changed and I had to “adapt” I hated it! Over commercialism is the driving force.

Over commercialism is the driving force.

No, the driving force is that people want to go out shopping (and eating, and watching films and pantomimes) on Boxing Day. That is their prerogative.

Of course it's their prerogative but it's also the prerogative of the staff forced to facilitate it rather than spend valuable time with their families not to have to work or lose their jobs, it's changed and not for the better imo 🤷‍♀️

Bloody funny that everyone commenting hates next.

Be interested in the replies if it was everyone's favourite shop

I don't think people should have to work Boxing Day just do that people who've had a miserable Christmas can mooch around Debenhams. It's not the retail worker's fault that your life isn't happy - going shopping on BD just spreads the misery around.

Who are all these people so super keen to get a Next bargain?

I agree the queues would be the same the day after at 9am so what’s the hurry to open on Boxing Day. Next management are being arses.

Does everyone celebrate Boxing Day? It's associated with Christmas, right? So do Jewish people, Muslims, etc., observe it?

MN hates Next and M&S, there are always threads bashing these shops and telling posters to boycott them

Didn't even know this was a thing.
Next is rank.
Shopping the day after the biggest orgy of gratuitous consumerism is grotesque.
Manufacturing in general, and the clothing industry in particular, is massively problematic, in terms of unsustainable resource extraction, pollution and emissions resulting from the manufacturing process.
Show me the garment, acquired in a Next Boxing Day sale, the equivalent of which is not available in pre-loved condition.
So disappointing that, despite the writing being on the wall for the planet, people are still falling over themselves to stick their noses in the grimy trough of rampant materialism.

@Alexa What about restaurant/bar staff? Taxi drivers? Convenience store workers?

Why only retail staff???

I went to the next sale. I was there at 4:30! I spent around £350 and got clothes for my kids for the next three years! It’s an absolute bargain. It’s not horrible clothes. Leggings for a two year old... I’m not gonna be shopping in Jojo for that type of thing.

The staff seemed happy enough. Many were talking about how they got to look at the sale stuff early and put by bags and bags for themselves. A relative also works for next during the sale (at uni) so she can do exactly this... get an early peak at the clothes AND get paid pretty well which all helps her with cost of uni!

And I’ve been doing the next sale for years and years. It’s almost like a tradition for my family now. As it is for many others.

I would think people apply/accept retail jobs knowing there will be an expectation to work over Christmas. Just an idea, but if doesn’t suit maybe think about getting a different job.

Really, you think there are so many available jobs that people don't have to take jobs they don't want. I'm sure a lot of people in retail would much rather do something else, but don't have the choice because they need a job.

Shopping the day after the biggest orgy of gratuitous consumerism is grotesque.

I agree with this.

My nephew is a radio producer and worked xmas day. No one says we shouldn't have radio or tv workers in over xmas.

Those sort of things have always operated at holiday times, the shops being open is a more recent thing. Also, working in radio or TV is just doing normal work, working in retail at sales time is extremely busy, different from a normal day.

I’ve stopped shopping in any post-Christmas sales now. I’ve spent enough in the last two months and am enjoying not getting my card out every 30 minutes. Most stuff is on sale before Christmas now, and frankly, like many people I know, I don’t actually need many things anyway.

I also used to work in Next. We used to spend spare time in December writing the sale price for everything on the shop floor on the price tickets in a cunning code, to make it quicker to price them after closing on Christmas Eve. I don’t know if they still do it but if so you can find out in advance what the bargains will be if that’s your thing. Agree that Next sales have always been genuine sales of current stock first and foremost, so they are good sales if you like the stuff. But also agree that the early starts are a gimmick and punishing on staff.

The problem is that many high street stores are struggling financially. I imagine these long Christmas hours are part of a tactic to maximise sales over Christmas which have fallen off considerably since internet shopping took off. Whilst I have sympathy for the idea, boycotting a shop just adds to the lower sales issue and puts jobs at risk overall

I am not suggesting you shop anywhere if you hadn't planned to buy something specifically ( and I have never shopped on Boxing Day) but it is more complicated than saying that shops opening long hours over Christmas are just greedy. They are also trying to maintain a viable business in an increasingly difficult retail environment.

Next clothes are overpriced tat and they treat their employees terribly. My son worked for them briefly and they treated him and - everyone else - like absolute shit.

I wouldn't shop there if you paid me.

I worked for Next when the clothes were pretty good quality and the stores had an ethos of very good customer service. The sales were insane even back then with customers fighting over clothes but they were really nice stuff.