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.

Ooops, pressed send. I don't enter and leave ships - just shops. I also disinfect my trolley and basket because I think they are high contact points. But part of that is good practice to reduce virus transmission generally. Clothes, nah, risk of transmission is really low - the instruction to quarantine for three days is bizarre by comparison with the comparatively loose rules for restaurants.

It’s ridiculous. Same as makeup and stuff. I was thinking about treating myself to new makeup but I am not spending the money on expensive foundation or lippy without even getting to see the shade on my hand. I can get why the testers can’t be out but surely the assistants could have them behind the counter and ensure everyone sanitises?

I used to shop at TK Maxx a fair bit but now the over zealous door bouncer in his hi vis jacket puts me off going.
Last week he said to DH "Sir, have you been here since ww implemented the new systems?

DH "Yes, I came yesterday (I'd dragged him in to look at furniture which we were back to maybe buy).

Bouncer; looking doubtful of DH: "really?"

I mean, FFS!

At H&M there was a queue in the rain. The door assistant was letting people in the one door. Problem waa, the wueue spannef across the front exit door next to the entrance door, so anybody exiting did not have s clear path and had to move through the queue to get out.
Madness!

Buying what I can on Amazon as no quibble returns.

You can try clothes on in Reiss. Was in there at the weekend and bought an expensive skirt (having tried on several styles & sizes). Bliss!

I went shopping for a new coat this week, came home empty handed, how can you possibly know whether a coat will fit or suit your shape/figure without trying it on.

It was a massive shopping centre that is usually absolutely packed and it was much quieter than usual - some shops, particularly Debenhams were absolutely empty.

I personally don’t see the rationale behind not allowing clothes to be tried on, nor do I think returned items should be quarantined for 3 days. We’ve all touched items in the shops anyway and surely changing rooms can be sanitised between customers. Obviously that it just my opinion and I know lots won’t agree with me!

Was in TK Maxx at the weekend, and it was a who blinked first moment.

Four women, all looking at coats. One of them went "fuck this" and tried it in, and so then did the others.

It ended up with TK Maxx making sales. Instead of every woman deciding not to bother.

Until cash comes back into the bank the same day you return, it's unfeasible for millions of people to buy blind.

I'm in Germany and while our numbers are going up, i don't think there is any evidence it's because people are trying clothes on. It is much more households, workplaces, students and people returning from holiday.

Our clothes shops let you try - they have blocked off, mostly, every other changing room and that's about it. I wouldn't buy clothes if i couldn't try them on or return them for cash. We'll see what happens when people stop buying clothes, i think.

It seems to be working okay and hopefully more people will support us during this time and like the personal service.

Gosh, i would always shop in a shop that did that, @Notthelastjedi - i hope you get and keep new customers for tha.

What about the retail staff who have to handle all these items, the hangers, changing rooms, pick up after you etc etc?

Don’t they have enough to do with covid compliance added in as well as looking after themselves, wearing ppe and dealing with disgruntled customers? They are in a skeleton staff with people isolating or with covid

YOU might feel safe touching the odd few things......but the STAFF may have to touch 20-30-40 or more items youve all tried on Throughout their shift

@GirlCrush

What about the retail staff who have to handle all these items, the hangers, changing rooms, pick up after you etc etc?

Don’t they have enough to do with covid compliance added in as well as looking after themselves, wearing ppe and dealing with disgruntled customers? They are in a skeleton staff with people isolating or with covid

YOU might feel safe touching the odd few things......but the STAFF may have to touch 20-30-40 or more items youve all tried on Throughout their shift

I don't know what the solution is then as these staff risk losing their jobs and more if shops close.

you can try shoes on

dd tried on a couple of belts in a charity shop,
i dared not breathe.
nobody cared. or noticed

It’s just nobody thinks about them and how their company has a duty of care (and covid audit) to protect them

The public are coming in to their workplace, where they have to stay for a potential 9 hour shift

It’s ok saying ‘ I just wanted to try on 2 coats’.... but staff are stuck there with the general public coming at them, and plenty of those are now too relaxed and pull masks down, don’t sanitise, bring kids or entire family in with them.....all increasing the risk for the staff.

And then add in those who are ‘mask exempt’ who are just breathing directly at you but it’s ok, they have in a magic land yard and staff are not allowed to say anything .... just stand there in the firing line

So unfair

But yes, jobs could be lost.

Girl
I was in Asda yesterday and there were people in the queue in front of us, a few younger men in their 20s, all without masks.

I felt really sorry for the assistants having to serve them. I don't believe they were all exempt.

i don't think there's a lot of evidence about surface transmission though. And if the customers sanitise their hands before they try, and the shop staff sanitise their hands after they touch things, i simply do not believe C-19 is transmitted like that. But i haven't seen any papers or results of studies on this.

The way people used not to wash their hands after going to the toilet, sneezing into their hands and not washing or sanitising them, sneezing on things, going out when they were quite ill and not being hygenic didn't really cause huge swathes of people to get sick, i think?

One of the benefits of the public information campaign during this pandemic is that people are washing their hands. My family have always been a family of hand washers/sanitisers and I'm getting a bit cross with people meeting my eye while we're washing our hands in a public loo and doing that little "oh we're all doing it now, aren't we?" eyeroll. I have ALWAYS done it, and i have ALWAYS said to children I've seen heading out of a toilet without washing their hands first to go back and do it. Even complete strangers.

But a shop could still instigate a policy of customers hanging clothes on those rollable clothes hangers, then putting them in a back room for 3 days and resorting them onto shelves? There must be some solution because this virus (or the next one, or the existing one) isn't going away.

also in Germany: no mask, no access.

Even if I can't get the clothes on I want to be able to see and feel them in person. Why aren't shops offering a postal return service? You purchase in the shop, get a better feel for the item then return if necessary. At least that would get people into the highstreet.

the charity shop wont let you try on, they do give you your money back although one assistant was fairly insistent that i should look around to make sure there was nothing for me to swap it for.
it was £2.50 so hardly breaking the bank and i felt awkward enough getting my money back without her breathing down my neck.

@Brefugee

No. Sorry but no. Customers WILL NOT consistently comply with sanitiser, masks, distancing ... none of it

Shop staff are worn down. Most time we ask ‘please could you.....’ we get shot down. People are more reluctant now to comply properly than ever. You can’t ‘get’ customers to do anything

Sorry but people think it’s simple and covid won’t spread because THEY believe people do the right thing

They do not

Just come back from Northern Italy. You can try on clothes, shoes etc. They just ask you to sanitize your hands.
The staff in all the shops are friendly and welcoming, when we bought stuff we were given discounts so we bought from there again.
It was such a pleasant experience.

I think the high street wont survive much longer which isnt a bad thing imo
Hoping they will improve sizing so its done by measurements and not size 8 etc to make buying online easier

I've learned how little I need to buy. Also managed to save more money.
However I still need new bras and want a new jacket as two of mine are getting tatty.
The bras won't be happening until I can try on again. I found a jacket that I really liked wasn't cheap- £180 so not a chance I'm buying it without trying it on, seeing it on and feeling it on.

Asda refused to refund bras that were the wrong size, offered a credit note.
Waiting to hear back from the trading standards officer and their head office.
Shops don't have to give a refund unless items are faulty. Most do it as a courtesy. Shops in the the UK are very generous in this regard.

there is no issue with sainsbury
why is a bra any different?

@GirlCrush

What about the retail staff who have to handle all these items, the hangers, changing rooms, pick up after you etc etc?

Don’t they have enough to do with covid compliance added in as well as looking after themselves, wearing ppe and dealing with disgruntled customers? They are in a skeleton staff with people isolating or with covid

YOU might feel safe touching the odd few things......but the STAFF may have to touch 20-30-40 or more items youve all tried on Throughout their shift

Wash or sanitise their hands and don’t touch their face. What we’ve all been told to do since March? It doesn’t seep through your skin from touching something.

If the staff aren’t happy they can leave or get signed off. People coming into shops are actually helping keep the place going which will in turn help staff to keep their jobs. I’m not sure what they expect?

It is ridiculous. Bought my daughter a new coat yesterday. She wasn't allowed to try it on on the shop floor. So we bought it, stood outside the shop door and tried it on, then returned it. What did that achieve for the store apart from inconveniencing me taking up staff time processing the purchase and the return??