To feel sad Debenhams is going?

[CrotchBurn]

Don't know why but it just makes me feel nostalgic
www.bbc.com/news/business-55793411

I only ever wen in at Christmas time for their novelty food gifts, same as with BHS. The clothes weren't great and overpriced.

Sad for the 12,000 people who may lose their jobs. The High Street has suffered for years from a variety of reasons.

Not sad for Philip Green though, a very nasty human being.

I feel sorry for the staff losing their jobs though.

It’s just been a downmarket John Lewis for the last decade or so, hasn’t it? Doesn’t do anything particularly well or sell anything you couldn’t get anywhere else on the high street. Always a giant sale of one kind or another on. I think it was is trouble long before Covid. Although my mum and I once found ourselves in Chatham with four hours to kill and had there not been a Debenhams go spend a couple of hours slowly browsing in we might have had to become alcoholics so we have that to thank it for I suppose.

@peak2021

Sad for the 12,000 people who may lose their jobs. The High Street has suffered for years from a variety of reasons.

Not sad for Philip Green though, a very nasty human being.

This. such a shame for the people who worked there.

The death of the high street though - i cant get too worked up, they're a relatively new thing, its not ancient history. I'm actually interested to see what comes next

"The high street first came about in the 1870's - social historian Juliet Gardiner explains that 'because of urbanisation, people no longer had the facilities to grow food themselves. It was then that market stalls became shops, with fixed prices, customer service and home deliveries. '"

@peak2021

Sad for the 12,000 people who may lose their jobs. The High Street has suffered for years from a variety of reasons.

Not sad for Philip Green though, a very nasty human being.

Debenhams isn't owned by Philip Green . Any opportunity to bash him though eh?

I feel sorry for people losing their jobs but not sorry for Debenhams. It's been in such a sad, sorry state for so many years. I've literally never gone in past the beauty but on the ground floor in the Oxford Street one in about a decade. It's just been full of tat for years.

*not sorry to lose Debenhams

Yeah. Boohoo is going to be buying all sorts now after all that profit from last year. Boycott my arse🙄

I feel a bit sad it's going
I quite liked some of the things in there actually

I used to like the jewellery sales at Christmas time etc and could always find some bargains... I will miss having a stroll through. I wonder what the stores will become now? I would have said probably Next but they already have so many large premises!

I know it was shit. But it's just sad that the high street is losing these shitty places like BHS too. Probably just being maudlin and nostalgic but just memories of being a student and having lunch in one of those crappy grab a tray department store caffs. Feels like a lifetime ago. It just feels like things are becoming glossified too much and I know that's good for us in a way, but in another way it makes me feel sad 🤷‍♀️

In several small towns I can think of, Debenhams moved into a new shopping centre 10 or 15 years ago, on the edge of the town centre. Not quite in the high street.

Then in each case, it completely killed the previous high street, in favour of the crappy new shopping centre. And then the shops that moved to the new shopping centres have gone bust one by one, and nothing is left.

I've long thought that this strategy by Debenhams was responsible for killing the high street.

It is sad for the people who work there though.

Sorry for those that work there , but our local one has been dead for years. Dated clothes , too much stock and empty. The days of the dpt store are over.

I agree op, going to places like that used to be part of the fun of shopping on a Saturday; a coffee and a muffin from B&B Muffin or a hot chocolate with a free choc on the side at Thornton’s cafe, oh and let’s not forget a pizza slice, coleslaw and a coke from a food court! Life used to be so simple and there wasn’t a gel topped perfectly measured square excuse for a dessert anywhere, just rustic goodness!

I’m sad too, it had great beauty counters and some of the clothing concessions were great. Also good for homeware if on a budget. And just remembered, decent swimwear options too. Used to shop there before going on holidays.

@CaptainMerica you don’t live in Wakefield do you? That’s what’s happened here.

Lord knows what they’re going to do with the one here. They have trouble filling the smaller units in the little shopping centre let alone something that size.

I feel sad about the redundancies However, I think retailers really need to up their game post covid to get people back. They need to make the shops appealing to compete with online. I always remember going to department stores when I was in my teens and 20's and it felt like you were going to a place with atmosphere, with a sense of theatre. They we clean, bright and sufficiently staffed to not make you feel like you were running them ragged by asking if they had more 'out the back'. You could get extra services like alterations, fancy wrapping etc. I understand that we are all more environmentally conscious and that's great, but they could still wrap goods, in compostable tissue or something and fold garments nicely, rather than just flinging them at you, which many stores do now. Stores need to reclaim identities and focus on longevity and quality of products (which would help the environment), rather than all being stacked with cheap, poor quality, synthetic stuff, which works out to be more expensive in the long run, because it never lasts.

As old fashioned as it may be, I like an inside coffee shop and restaurant as two separate things, these places should be warm and inviting and sell quality products too. Nowadays they often feel like Soviet era feeding stations and you feel robbed for the price! The coffee shop should serve tea (as in a light meal) morning and afternoon coffee and the restaurant should serve more substantial meals. I would like people to say 'thank you for shopping at...' when they check out. I would like background music, not deafening pop, warm lighting and a proper lingerie department with experienced fitters. Clean bathrooms and fitting rooms big enough to move around in. Decent parking in city centres. Who wouldn't prefer to shop in places like that than online?

The only place that I think retains a slight vestige of shopping as theatre is Fortnum and Mason in London, but that is wavering, if you ring their customer services, there is a noticeable change compared to even a few years ago.

I don't understand shopping online really for clothes
I never shop online for clothes

@MoveAsideCherry
Yeah! There was a kind of miserable sense of poetry about these types of places. Something about the zero effort anonymity that was soothing. You could see all types of people there. I feel the same way about spoons. Sure nothing beats a proper local pub but there's something about those bog market hall feeling spoons that feels comforting to me.

@CherryPieface yes they did have some excellent make up brands, the one in Leeds has a Make up Forever a Two Faced which you hardly see, and there used be Givenchy counter which you really never see. I can understand clothes and cosmetics, but you just can’t buy make up online - unless it’s a repeat purchase I suppose.

I used to quite like Debenhams and even worked there 30 years ago
However recently I’ve struggled to find anything I wanted to buy other than from concessions which I could buy elsewhere
About 2+ years ago I noticed the decline of the designers at Debenhams ranges - it all turned into principles and was just the same as their cheap Debenhams own offering - that’s when I stopped bothering

My first job was there when I was 17. And it’s always been just... there. It will be strange when it’s gone. I do feel sad because it used to be so popular and now it’s about to close forever.

I love the Bluezoo clothes for children. I’ve picked up a load of stuff in the closing down sales. Does anybody know whether Boohoo will be selling BlueZoo stuff on their website seeing as they’ve bought the Debenhams brand?

There are quite a few towns which won’t have any beauty counters once the Debenhams goes.

But where are we going to buy party dresses from? Could guarantee that they would deliver, for a black tie event. Spose it's coast these days.