I'm thinking the high street deserves to die?

[highstreetdiestreet]

Urgently need a black dress for a funeral, looked around the whole of York, nothing.

Utter dross.

Is it covid/brexit/mid-season/my being pregnant's fault?

*Today 13:10 Lipsandlashes

TurnUpTurnip
My local high street is dead, all the decent shops have shut and now it’s just weird tacky £5 clothes shops called “diva” and such like 🤢
Yes! Where have they all come from? Surely they have to be a front for something else*

The weirdest part is they close down all the time and then reopen the same shop just with a different name like “Eva” or “zoe” 🤨 but it’s exactly the same shop, with exactly the same clothes, there are so many of them on my high street all lined up together and no other clothes shops. I stick to online.

I do hope they find a way to up their game.

Their USP is that you can feel the quality, try on for size and then take home there and then.

This is completely negated when, as pp has already mentioned, they don't hold a decent stock of sizes.

It's not just clothes. I wanted to buy a double duvet cover in M&S - only singles and super king . Saw another style I liked, again only super king. I went to another branch another day and similar stock levels.

So I bought online. Not from M&S as I was scunnered with them by then.

@132orbust

Hobbs - beautiful dresses in every colour you want, including black.

Not in the York store! Not a single one.

@DocAutumn

I buy all my clothes in physical shops. I need to try stuff on to get anything that looks half decent on me.

Same here.

@HDready

I don’t think anywhere does maternity in physical stores anymore, all online

I'm only 22 weeks so don't need actual maternity wear at the moment

They never have anything in a size 8 or 10!! When I was younger everything was always stocked well in 10’s! Now it’s all size 14 and above which is great for some but not all, why can’t they stock something of every size! Size 10 obviously sells out quick so have more stock of it!!!

Completely agree. Shops and businesses simply do not need your money or custom.

The attitude of the staff, they just do not care, they don’t know anything about the stock, details of anything they sell.

They close early, even in big shopping centres, plenty of shops had shut by 7pm when the centre opens until 9pm. What is the point? And no I’m not going to check in advance that they will be open.
They simply refuse to move with the times and then wonder why they go into administration. It is a real shame.

Went to my local town centre yesterday to get a new pair of trainers for my eleven year old. Couldn’t get any. Not a single pair of trainers for a child anywhere other than Mountain Warehouse and I’m not sure Merrel will quite cut it anymore. I’ve not been able to get football boots or cricket spikes on the high street for years but it’s a bit much when you can’t even get a pair of trainers.

Got in the car and went to the retail park instead. Loads of choice in sports direct, JD etc

I really want to support my high street, genuinely, but I just can’t get what I want to there so I rarely go.

See if find the opposite that they never have big sizes always tiny ones! I think everyone says they never have their size 😂😂 don’t get me started on shoes either I’m a size 8 and can never find it only the tiny sizes!

I've completely given up on all high street clothing and am buying second hand from ebay. There is literally nothing I like and could wear to the office in the high street these days, it's either "lounge wear", or horrible polyester stuff for people in their 90s or clubbing gear.

Thankfully Dorothy Perkins and Debenhams stuff still exists second hand! I've lost a lot of weight after illness and none of my previous clothes fit, I just don't feel like "me in anything I can find new these days.

@JaniceBattersby

Went to my local town centre yesterday to get a new pair of trainers for my eleven year old. Couldn’t get any. Not a single pair of trainers for a child anywhere other than Mountain Warehouse and I’m not sure Merrel will quite cut it anymore. I’ve not been able to get football boots or cricket spikes on the high street for years but it’s a bit much when you can’t even get a pair of trainers.

Got in the car and went to the retail park instead. Loads of choice in sports direct, JD etc

I really want to support my high street, genuinely, but I just can’t get what I want to there so I rarely go.

So annoying.

There are a couple of retail parks around here, I just cannot face it after this morning.

ASOS wins again!

I like PopcornPeacock’s account. I too remember the joy of spending a full 9 hours gleefully traipsing up and down the high street and coming back with a selection of well chosen items that I would peek at excitedly on the bus home.

I guess there used to be fewer shops, and they didn’t have 2-3 floors unless they were different departments. And you didn’t have Primark. Also there would have generally only been sizes 10-14 on a rail, not 4-22. Not necessarily a bad thing but it will limit the range.

I don’t know if it’s the pandemic, or the shift to more casual wear (or just getting older probably), but I can’t get anywhere near as excited as I used to about putting together a new outfit. I’m not 100% keen on online shopping as I cba to send back loads of stuff but it does feel like the only option at present.

Once a year or so I look at the black cotton jersey wrap dress I bought from Boden 12 years ago and wonder whether I should give it to a charity shop. Then I come to my sense and put it back into my wardrobe. It has never let me down. I just have to put a black stitch into the front so that it doesn't reveal too much and it is perfect for a funeral in pretty well every season other than blazing heat.

Reading this, I plan on keeping it for another decade.

@oneglassandpuzzled

Once a year or so I look at the black cotton jersey wrap dress I bought from Boden 12 years ago and wonder whether I should give it to a charity shop. Then I come to my sense and put it back into my wardrobe. It has never let me down. I just have to put a black stitch into the front so that it doesn't reveal too much and it is perfect for a funeral in pretty well every season other than blazing heat.

Reading this, I plan on keeping it for another decade.

Definitely keep it.

It's not just clothes it's everything. The business model seems to be stock the bare minimum then get people to order online. I could do that at home without the hassle of driving and parking. Their USP should be want something today come and get it no need to order

YABU, because of the hundreds of thousands of (mostly) low paid women who will lose their jobs when all the shops go.

But YANBU about the quality of the clothes. Time was you’d get something like a good funeral dress at Debenham’s - but it’s gone.

I don’t like modern maternity clothes either; far too clingy!

Sometimes just a dark colour Navy or Plum for example, may be suitable for a funeral .I got a smart black jacket from Heart foundation for my late FIL funeral .Not the point of this thread I know! M and S will order online for you sometimes (what is point of shop) !

This is why I just order from Next.
I pay annually for delivery, can order as many as I like to try on, don’t have to share a changing room with males, and easy to take back.

Next and M&S are just as crap online though.

Also, I’m very sorry for your loss, OP

Earlier in the year I wanted a black blazer in similar circumstances. It's a classic item that I knew I'd be able to wear again, and I'd been wanting one in any case.

Months later I'm still looking and have yet to find one. All poorly cut, cheap scratchy materials and substandard product at exorbitant prices. I don't mind paying a premium for a good quality product. But these were not: that's including ASOS and the usual high street chains.

I generally always order online.

However, my grandmother died suddenly and the funeral is in Cyprus so it's been a mad panic to organise everything I need.

Potentially my fault that I don't already have a black dress in my wardrobe though. I am pregnant which means my old work dresses etc (not worn since before I was pregnant with my 3.5 year old) no longer fit.

Luckily I'm in a position where I can afford to order the whole of asos and send back what doesn't work. A lot of people can't afford to shop that way.

@VestaTilley

Also, I’m very sorry for your loss, OP

Thank you both

www.marksandspencer.com/cotton-belted-midi-shift-dress/p/clp60533536?color=BLACK

www.marksandspencer.com/cotton-belted-midi-shift-dress/p/clp60533536?color=BLACK