To think retail stores will never survive if they don’t let customers try things on?!!

[TheNewLook]

How are we supposed to give them our money when we can’t try anything on? Nobody want to schelp into town, buy a tonne of clothes, trail them home only to return most of it?

Same with online shopping. I return far more than I keep. It’s an exhausting process. Ordering, opening, trying, parceling up and waiting at the post office!

Let us try things on!!

I don’t care if the person who tried it on before me was harbouing Covid. It’s highly unlikely to live long enough on fabric to be able to contaminate me afterwards.

Both phase eight and mint velvet had their changing rooms open in my local town, restricted to 4 items I think.

retail stores have reduced staffing with sickness, self isolation, shielding, etc, additional responsibilities to comply with regs ,random checks to ensure compliance. Fittings rooms unable to socially distance, clothes quarantined for 3 days . Busy Saturday would leave NO stock until Wednesday,. Massive volumes of unwanted returns cost business a fortune, they have paid for your free delivery and return with NO money in the till.
All this on top of the absolute shit way that many people treat shop staff, including loads on here judging by some of the responses.

I am frustrated not being able to try things on and I do think the high street will suffer longer term, but I can fully understand why the changing rooms remain closed. If clothes that have been tried on need to be quarantined, then the amount of space needed for quarantine and the extra stock needed to keep the rails stocked makes it untenable

@TheNewLook

How are we supposed to give them our money when we can’t try anything on? Nobody want to schelp into town, buy a tonne of clothes, trail them home only to return most of it?

Same with online shopping. I return far more than I keep. It’s an exhausting process. Ordering, opening, trying, parceling up and waiting at the post office!

Let us try things on!!

I don’t care if the person who tried it on before me was harbouing Covid. It’s highly unlikely to live long enough on fabric to be able to contaminate me afterwards.

would you be happy to sanitise the fitting room before and after or expect the staff to do so. Happy to wait in a queue while this happens?.No staff serving as they are too busy cleaning. There are many touchpoints that Covid survives on such as the metal and plastic that are used for hangers , clothing fixtures , handles.

Also loving that you dont see the impact of your shopping habits on retail "return far more than i keep"

Presumably she returns them because they don't fit/don't look good. That would be the same covid or no covid.

Smaller and specialist shops may well have the ability to open fitting rooms as their replenishment rate and customer footfall is far smaller than a large department store selling a range of clothes for all. There would just be no way it could be resourced and managed.

To the pp who said

“They shouldn't be quarantining clothes - it's stupid What are they worried about? Getting sued? It's not going to be traced back to trying on clothes in a shop confused”

It’s not actually our choice or idea, it was stipulated as part of the reopening guidelines when non essential retailers were allowed to reopen. During lockdown and since (essential retailer in part so never had to close just restrict the areas available to shop) we have had many visits from both the police and local officials to spot check that we are Covid secure and following the rules and regs (rightly so in my opinion) thing is in retail as in many other areas, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Personally I would never question a customer on wearing a mask as I’d assume they were exempt and wouldn’t want to make someone feel even more uncomfortable than they probably already are feeling. Yet when we don’t, we get abuse, and as you can imagine, if we did then we’d get abuse.
Someone feels the store is too busy, we get abuse, someone has to queue because we’re at capacity, guess what? We got told to ‘fuck off im not fucking queuing who the fuck do you think you are?!’ (Witnessed this one myself) you just can’t win either way so as long as they’re civil I just tell every customer I appreciate their feedback, that I’ll pass it on (and do) and thanks for still coming in, anything else is out of my control.

It is the shops choice

It's only guidance from the government- whole retail chains are making this suicidal choice

And it's daft

If you can try on in some shops, then it's clearly individual shops choice (even if they're a chain)

I’m usually a big “recreational shopper”, partly because my work is five minutes away from a shopping centre and I liked to wander round at lunchtime. Now I am WFH anyway, but I have been in a clothes shop twice since March - I don’t enjoy wearing a mask, and find it a pain not being able to try on.

So I buy online, return if necessary. Much easier now someone is always home during the day!

If a store can't manage a fitting room to follow the guidelines, then they can't be open, it's as simple as that

@MootingMirror

What's even worse are the many shops not letting you return clothes and get a refund. I bought hundreds in clothes on my credit card thinking I could return most of them when I could see what would fit and look nice - tried to return them and they'd only give me credit in three shops! Absolute scam.

How’s that a scam

Quarantining clothes really doesn't make sense, it's just not necessary. If people sanitise hands on the way in and out that really should be good.

It's not positive to make rules that aren't very effective, the more rules and disruption the more problems people have carrying on with any of the rules, and the less patience they have for it too.

@RuleOfCat

Here in Germany there have never been any restrictions on trying on clothes because the risk from touching textiles is comparatively low. Just disinfect your hands upon leaving the shop. There's something of a weird obsession in the UK with clothing being dangerous. If you were working on a covid ward and wanted to get out of your scrubs after a shift I could understand the sentiment - but in H&M it's well over the top.

It's absolutely ridiculous that you can't try on clothes in the UK & that they have to be quarantined for 3 days. Has anyone caught Covid from an item bought from a shop? People are getting Covid by not social distancing/breaking rules by having parties/get togethers etc.

If Germany allows stores to let you try on clothes then why can't the UK?

Retail is tougher than I’ve ever known it. Covid has pushed online shopping on by years if that makes sense. I get it, I shop online a lot. The stores I’f be v sad to see go, I use the bricks and mortar stores.
Customers shout about masks, sanitiser fatigue, not paying attention to max numbers in smaller boutiques, no testers. I understand the reasons for not trying on makeup and clothing that requires mask removal. Boots/shoes/costs are nonsensical. It is a lot to do with being Covid safe and not getting closed for trade. People review online and are scathing (and also lovely), having retail stores is expensive. Lots will go, particularly if there is a second full lockdown.
All returns are quarantined. The staffing rates are lower than usual with many extra things to do to keep the workplace safe. Fitting rooms are generally a step too far for most. Each one would need to be cleaned between use, perhaps usage of different ones staggered. There simply isn’t enough staff or stock to do it.

Any return has to be quarantined, not just clothes.

There are many touchpoints that Covid survives on such as the metal and plastic that are used for hangers , clothing fixtures , handles.

But if everyone is sanitising their hands before entering the shop, before and after trying on clothes, what’s the problem?

I've worked in retail and the customer's needs are generally secondary anyway.
Customer service is always put after profit, but in this case the twats at head office will destroy the shops.
I only physically go to clothes shops to try things on and then maybe buy. I don't go to buy then return. The current situation is no different to internet shopping, so I'll go online. I'll also buy far less.
The HO lot might see a few redundancies as things move online, but it will be the shop staff that suffer the most. As always.

When shops opened here after lockdown I went into a local boutique and saw a top I liked. The owner also produced the same top in a different colour from the stock room. I was allowed to try them on and I did buy them both. The only other thing I have bought is a blouse from M&S.

If we are to believe that even with hand sanitising, covid stays on touch points, like hangers, the fabric etc, why are we being allowed to touch the clothes at all? If I can riffle through a rail, touching several hangers to find my size, if I can pick up the sleeves to look at the length, touch the hem, look at the tag to see what its made of/if its dry clean only etc, then why is it suddenly not safe to try it on?

Debenhams, House of Fraser, Jack Wills, all now owned by Ashley. Full delivery fees, full return fees, no return in store. In store, no trying on, so a catch 22. I had a huge rant at staff, when you order a £150 coat you expect some decent service. Alas, no longer. Felt for the staff, they said they are getting a lot of grief.

@Redolent

There are many touchpoints that Covid survives on such as the metal and plastic that are used for hangers , clothing fixtures , handles.

But if everyone is sanitising their hands before entering the shop, before and after trying on clothes, what’s the problem?

In our shop we have han sanitiser at the door, we gave a person standing at the door asking people to use it. About 40% if people don't bother. So that argument is dead in the water.

I can’t tell you the last time I tried clothing on, years probably, the queues for the changing rooms put me off.

I went into home sense yesterday and they had a sanitising station by the trolley/basket park. I was able to wipe the handle of the basket before I used it and sanitise my hands. Later on I saw a member of staff cleaning the handles too. It was a v good system.

When did House of Fraser stop accepting refunds? I bought £400+ worth of summer dresses there in june and then refunded about £250 worth the next weekend. I made sure to check before they went through the till because I don't trust Mike Ashley. Is it branch dependent? I live near an ok town centre and recently lost weight so I've been trying and returning no problem and I've bought more clothes than I have in years but feel lucky to be in that position.

I can see both sides of this. As a consumer it's a huge outlay and can be a faff but having worked in retail, some stores will have a set up that allows you to try on. Others won't have this under the current system. If you've ever run a decently sized bank of fitting rooms for somewhere like H&M with the expected rapid turn around and huuuuuuge volume of customers, you will see exactly why this is impossible, even with some of the cubicles out of bounds and limits on items taken in. If you've never worked in that sort of environment I challenge you to go and do a standard pre-covid month flipping h&m rails and fitting rooms and then see why it has to be this way. The staffing required and the demands on staff time- when people are trading with reduced rotas due to turn over and staff off self isolating etc can be too much. It also cuts down on isolated stock and keeps money through the tills (my local high st seems to be doing pretty well) so it's how it should be, really.

Plus the public are dicks. Trusting people to quarantine stuff etc won't work- people lie. No matter how nice or lenient shops are, there are always these customers. Similarly letting one supposed "out of towner" use a fitting room and suddenly everyone will expect it and you're having to facilitate it. Blanket policies are for a reason at this time.

Overall YABU and I'm going to leave some for @OhLookIveNameChanged and everyone else on this thread at the till face.

But if everyone is sanitising their hands before entering the shop, before and after trying on clothes, what’s the problem?

Trying on clothes for many means taking off their own clothes. No one is sanitising their bodies beforehand, are they?

I work in retail and we have had very few complaints about it to us. Many people have been lovely and understanding that we the employees don’t make the rules and that we are doing what we are told to do to be compliant to the rules that we have been given and to keep our jobs that we are thankful to have.

@DisgruntledGuineaPig

If we are to believe that even with hand sanitising, covid stays on touch points, like hangers, the fabric etc, why are we being allowed to touch the clothes at all? If I can riffle through a rail, touching several hangers to find my size, if I can pick up the sleeves to look at the length, touch the hem, look at the tag to see what its made of/if its dry clean only etc, then why is it suddenly not safe to try it on?

Exactly this. It seems to be government guidelines, but these ones are mindblowingly thick.

The only thing I have bought recently is a pair of jeans as I had none that fit and weren't all holes. Bought two sizes so I could try at home. The ones to return then sat on the side, in my 'stuff I will get around to soon pile' for 10 days. There is no way they will be safer than ones tried on in store. Especially as during their processing for quarantine, they will then be handled by staff... They're being handled either way, they could be covid contaminated either way. It's handling by many people, not physically trying on, that contaminates them.

Retail staff have my every sympathy. I worked in retail for years and the customer abuse to staff at the best of times is incredible. So I don't complain to them, but nor will I be buying anything while these policies are in place. It's too much faff to return things constantly, whether online or in store.