To wonder how clothing retail is ever going to recover....

[Loveden]

.... while the changing rooms are all closed?

So today I visited a large shopping mall with my teenage DD. While it wasn't the main purpose of the trip, neither of us have had any new clothes since lockdown so we also looked in a lot of the fashion stores, and saw loads of things we quite liked - BUT all the changing rooms were closed so we couldn't try anything on.
Given that the shopping mall is around an hour from home and we're unlikely to be back any time soon, returning any unwanted items would be a round trip of c.80miles - so despite money in our pockets to be spent, we didn't buy a thing.
(The only alternative would have been to buy the items, try them in on the mall's public toilets and then return them there and then if they were no good. But that wouldn't be very hygienic either!)

AIBU to think the policy of closed changing rooms is going to do more harm than good?

[PS Can anyone actually explain why they're still closed? If I wear a mask and gel my hands when I enter the store, what is going to happen if I try something on, that won't happen if it pick it off the rails, finger the fabric and hold it up against me? Is another just another one of these Covid "rules" which make no sense in the real world?]

@Doyoumind Anthropologie has their fitting room for 2 hours a day.

I don’t understand how they are that high risk?
I went out for food on Monday , I watched as a table was cleared . The only thing cleaned quickly was the table . Not the chair , people hold to pull out , or the salt and pepper on the table . I was quite shocked !

I did have a huge queueing plus yesterday. Only about one of twenty checkouts in a large store was open, so huge queue with people turning up, standing randomly and trying to insist that the queue was in a different direction. To be fair, I've never seen all the checkouts in operation, generally five or six.
Dumped my would be purchases on a counter and went to another shop. Went back about an hour later intending to just grab the main item I'd wanted from the shelf if the queue not too bad. My dumped shopping from earlier was still on a counter, two checkouts open and no queue - result

Charlie they are enclosed spaces that you could be in for more than just a couple of minutes. You need to touch the handles on the way in and out. The virus is more likely to be an issue on frequently touched hard surfaces like handles than on a chair. Some food places are being very careful about condiments. The restaurant you were at was at fault unless they had hand sanitiser on the table and then it was the customer's responsibility to use it after using the salt or pepper.

I hate shopping so only go a couple of times a year for clothes as does DH when we have our bi annual buying session to replace anything that’s worn out. It’s also the time to buy anything for an upcoming event such as a wedding. Reading these stories has put me off shopping even more.

Set up an extra free email account for shopping receipts only.

The only alternative would have been to buy the items, try them in on the mall's public toilets and then return them there and then if they were no good. But that wouldn't be very hygienic either!

This is exactly what DD and I did last weekend. She wanted a new outfit, wasn't sure if it would fit. No option to try on. So rather than risk it, and face a 20 mile round trip to return it, she tried it on in the loo.

The "have to quarantine stuff for 72 hours" is ridiculous and hopefully will be dropped as soon as science proves that you can't catch anything from trying on a jacket someone else tried on that morning, from returned goods, or donated goods in charity shops.

@Namechangr9000 try Amazon Wardrobe if you have prime. Many let you try before you buy, you still have to return but you're not out of pocket in advance. I had to do it over lockdown, saved me a fortune in terms of refunds.

All this moaning.

Someone upthread has stated what they think might be the reason and they're correct. Lots of stores have made redundancies or still have staff furloughed, they can't afford to bring more staff back if the money isn't coming in to pay their wages, so who's going to manage the fitting rooms?

People taking 10 items into a fitting room and only buying 1 means that's 9 items that will need to be quarantined. Now times that by 100 customers. That's going to require extra staff members to manage a changing room properly and an awful lot of stock off the floor.

When people buy say 4 items in store and return three, it's usually done on different days so you won't have as much stock off the shop floor. Don't forget that supply chains have been disrupted hence stores having Avery light amount of stock.

Saying "just open the fitting rooms" is not quite a simple as it seems.

But if they don't open changing rooms, fewer customers will buy in person and then the shop won't be able to bring back staff off furlough.

Well, the bricks-and-mortar stores may struggle but I'd have thought most clothing retailers have online stores. I haven't bought fewer clothes because I've been shopping online - at my usual retailers. I think it's more interesting to consider what will happen to the traditional Saturday job for young people - it's often a sales assistant role in a local shop.

I think it's more interesting to consider what will happen to the traditional Saturday job for young people - it's often a sales assistant role in a local shop.
When I was a teenager I had a saturday and sunday job (sunday opening had just become a thing) and we got paid time and a half on a sunday, and it was just junior staff in. My Dsis has worked in retail for years ft and saturday and sunday are just regular days as part of a rota, I'm not sure they have any extras in who just do Saturdays.

I am ordering my maternity clothes and baby stuff online. Why queue outside in the rain to be barked at?

I went to boundary mill, it is a massive shop selling different brands. You were allowed to use changing rooms to try on 3 things for your whole visit. I also put on a couple of jumpers over my head. I tried on shoes which were returned by staff to the shelf, the shoes were not quarentined. From a covid perspective I'm more worried about people breathing on me - if the shoes did have covid on, I'd have to touch the shoes then touch my mouth, and I'm wearing a mask.

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

But if they don't open changing rooms, fewer customers will buy in person and then the shop won't be able to bring back staff off furlough.

It's only temporary though, it's not like they're going to be shut forever. It's a small inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.

Because their Risk Assessment for staff will include encouraging customers to pay by contactless methods and accept an emailed receipt, to limit exposure for staff in the event of returns

I’m lol-ing at the thought of me taking a paper receipt home and managing to load it up with enough coronavirus to infect a member of staff if I bring it back for a return.

You’re talking absolutely nonsense. Emailed receipts came in well before lockdown and are used so the shop has your details for marketing purposes and spam.

YANBU. I had the same issue last weekend. I needed a new pair of jeans and wanted to try them on as jeans always come up in different sizes depending on style. Picked a few pairs up and the changing rooms were closed. Put them all back. We're also a good distance from the store and it would be a pain buying them and then having to take them back. Another local store I've been in put any returns or try-ons into a "quarantine" bin where they stay for 72 hours and they put them back out again. Surely this would be more acceptable.

I took my dd to a sports shop for a jacket and I asked the assistant If could she try it on. He said, you’re not supposed to but I will let you. Fortunately it fitted and we bought it.

Then went to M&S for two bras for her, she couldn’t try them on so tried them at home. They didn’t fit so now have to go back to return which is a pain and does put you off.

Also went into Next and my dd had to remind me to stop touching everything as I was wandering around. I didn’t realise how much I did that without thinking.

Not a great experience overall but I generally prefer online shopping for myself. I don’t know if they will recover tbh.

I just go to the shops that offer Klarna and order online, try on at home and return the items either through Royal Mail or to the store and I only have to pay for what I kept and I have 28 days before payment.

@Charliescar

Full disclosure: I’m WFH. But if shops make visiting them an unpleasant experience - having to make another visit back to return stuff including paying to park, being spoken to rudely because you don’t want to hand over your email address and end up on another sodding mailing list, one way systems and queues - it’s hardly surprising if people just stop going.

It’s all very well saying “this is why retail workers are stressed” but it will be a hell of a lot worse if they have no customers because they were treated like a germ-laden inconvenience and swapped to online shopping instead.

Shops are their own worst enemy.

BrightYellowDaffodil - totally agree with you. BTW the store wasn't M&S but another high street store which is closing branches as profits are down.

Too many people buy too many clothes, often to be worn only once or twice. It's a disgraceful waste and environmental harm.
I'm getting out clothes that I wore last autumn and previous years. If they are in good condition and still fit I refuse to go out and buy more.

@katemonster

It's not just clothes. I need a new pair of glasses but the opticians won't let me try on frames without a mask. How does that work? How do you see what your face looks like in £££ glasses if half of your face is covered? I do realise we need to keep safe blah blah but I can't see how I can give anyone Covid in five minutes without a mask in a largely empty store. They disinfect the frames after trial anyway. Didn't buy any, and I am not sure who these people are who cheerfully buy new glasses when they have little idea what they look like in them.

I have done this since lockdown and got equally frustrated - they were happy for me to pop outside and take an unmasked selfie each time, then come back in and sanitise hands and continue to browse.

It's a massive faff but I was desperate for my new glasses so I can see clearly :(

Our local M&S which is large has closed its returns desk and you have to go to a normal till to get a refund which seems bizarre in terms of quarantining the returned items.

Zara took the marvellous decision to put an employee who had never previously done any returns on their desk. I queued there for well over half an hour.

The high street is on its absolute knees.

It's quite odd here as only the international type stores have this rule iof changing rooms being closed (h&m, Cotton On, Factorie etc). In our local stores it's allowed. So guess where the most sales are being made... Dd and I went into h&m and as she couldnt try on, we went next door to a similar, but local store, tried on clothes and bought the goods there.

I recommend amazon prime wardrobe if you already pay for prime. Then you can try on the items for free.