Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I'm thinking the high street deserves to die?

327 replies

highstreetdiestreet · 10/10/2021 12:41

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?

OP posts:
ImNotDancing · 10/10/2021 14:10

You said it deserves to die. What on Earth do you think would happen to all the workers Hmm

NoBetterthanSheShouldBe · 10/10/2021 14:10

I hate buying things online - delivery is unreliable here. Always hunt the town first but lately I have to buy everything of d3cent quality online.

Original poster
highstreetdiestreet · 10/10/2021 14:11

@ImNotDancing

You said it deserves to die. What on Earth do you think would happen to all the workers Hmm
It does.

Doesn't mean I wish for people to lose their jobs.

OP posts:
almaonao · 10/10/2021 14:11

Agree op. I was in Sheffield for a funeral not long ago and forgot my outfit. Went to all the normal shops nothing. M&S was shockingly disappointing.
Could order online as the funeral was the following morning. Ended up buying a black summer dress in New Look for a tenner and a £2 scarf in primark to cover my tits upHmm

EatSleepRantRepeat · 10/10/2021 14:13

@AhNowTed

There's a reason JL has closed.

Carry on online shopping and the whole town centre will be a desert of bookies, charity shops and Poundland.

You reap what you sow.

I very rarely buy clothes online, I have a very long torso and arms with short legs (DH calls me The Chimpanzee) so I need to check things fit without waiting in for a courier. Its since the kings of cheap shite like Mike Ashley bought out store after store, and filled them full of his own sweatshop-brands of sportswear. Even high end stores have very few capsule wardrobe pieces any more and it's all clashing prints with cutouts and badly sewn frills - try finding just a basic white shirt that doesn't show your bra to the whole office.

My local town has Cos (shapeless pale tunics that look like you've escaped a victorian asylum), & other stories (prairie/scandi knockoffs with poor sizing and scratchy fabrics), a designer-led Fenwicks with nothing above a size 12, and the dreaded H&M where nothing is lined and even an XL doesn't fit with DD+ boobs.

I used to love going high street shopping like other PPS until about 10 years ago, and would come back laden with bags. No decent Jersey or even pure cotton available now unless you want gym kit.

INeedToBuyaZoo · 10/10/2021 14:15

I don't even go into York any more, the last time I went into Fat Face and that was it. Couldn't face the aimless hordes. And now we're properly out of lockdown it's just hordes of brash and crass yoofs in teeny dresses or the same shirt and pointy shoes. So going into York centre fills me with dread.

Don't even think the retail outlet is that good anymore either

Original poster
highstreetdiestreet · 10/10/2021 14:15

@almaonao

Agree op. I was in Sheffield for a funeral not long ago and forgot my outfit. Went to all the normal shops nothing. M&S was shockingly disappointing. Could order online as the funeral was the following morning. Ended up buying a black summer dress in New Look for a tenner and a £2 scarf in primark to cover my tits upHmm
Sooo stressful!
OP posts:
AhNowTed · 10/10/2021 14:15

@ImNotDancing

You said it deserves to die. What on Earth do you think would happen to all the workers Hmm

The same people will be back complaining about the ghost town of boarded up shops and low-end tat.

timeisnotaline · 10/10/2021 14:15

Surely it’s a style thing when you’re 5 months preg as many won’t suit if the wrong style is in? I have a few nice black dresses I can wear atm, I’m currently 20 weeks but they are all maternity brands. Which is a bit much to ask of a modern high street to stock!

ChorleyFMcominginyourears · 10/10/2021 14:16

I live in Scarborough and our high street is none existent now so I need to go to York if I want to physically clothes shop but at £10 fuel each way nearly and then to find nothing and have to buy online, it's becoming increasingly easier to just buy online to start with, but I LOVE actually going shopping. We were in Blackpool last week and it made such a nice change to be laden with bags even though their high street had a lot more empty shops from when we were last there. So I feel your pain OP as I know what York is like now compared to how it used to be

Blossomtoes · 10/10/2021 14:16

@AhNowTed

There's a reason JL has closed.

Carry on online shopping and the whole town centre will be a desert of bookies, charity shops and Poundland.

You reap what you sow.

It’s bizarre that the York JL closed, it had only been open five minutes. Their mistake was opening it out of town so you had to make a special journey.
Original poster
highstreetdiestreet · 10/10/2021 14:17

@timeisnotaline

Surely it’s a style thing when you’re 5 months preg as many won’t suit if the wrong style is in? I have a few nice black dresses I can wear atm, I’m currently 20 weeks but they are all maternity brands. Which is a bit much to ask of a modern high street to stock!
Why is it too much to ask the high street to stock maternity wear?

Don't most women need maternity wear at some point?

OP posts:
ImNotDancing · 10/10/2021 14:17

@highstreetdiestreet how do you not see the connection?!

High street dying = millions of jobs lost

Nice grasp of consequences you have there Confused

Joystir59 · 10/10/2021 14:17

We're all buying clothes in charity shops and tk maxx, sea salt and Weird fish round here. M&S is dreadful, ditto Next, Debenhams has folded.

Original poster
highstreetdiestreet · 10/10/2021 14:18

[quote ImNotDancing]@highstreetdiestreet how do you not see the connection?!

High street dying = millions of jobs lost

Nice grasp of consequences you have there Confused[/quote]
I see your point, but it's not the point I was making.

Stop trying to derail.

OP posts:
MrsMoastyToasty · 10/10/2021 14:19

I went into Bristol to treat myself to some winter clothes because I've got fat . Nada , rien, nothing that I liked. In M and S you could almost smell the viscose fibres in the air.
I'm one of those people who actually shopped in BHS and debenhams because they did a lot of clothes made from natural fibres.

onlychildhamster · 10/10/2021 14:19

All my black dresses were from Dorothy Perkins but they don't have a physical store anymore.

Sabristhebest · 10/10/2021 14:20

Have you tried Matalan?

limitedperiodonly · 10/10/2021 14:20

I don't wear lots of black but I do have black or dark clothes including jackets and coats that aren't intended for a funeral but are suitable - obviously not Christmassy spangly or party things which would probably be in the shops right now.

I've been to five funerals in the last eight years and didn't have to buy anything. If I had to go to a funeral tomorrow I can picture the outfit easily. It's not like I'm Morticia Addams and look forward to funerals but I tend to keep things a few years, especially jackets or coats, doesn't everyone? Lots of women I know have far more black clothes than I do.

All the clothes came from physical shops and I wear them on other days without looking funereal.

As I said: sorry for your loss and good wishes for the baby.

Original poster
highstreetdiestreet · 10/10/2021 14:20

To ask a potentially stupid question, isn't viscose made from bamboo?

OP posts:
Original poster
highstreetdiestreet · 10/10/2021 14:20

@Sabristhebest

Have you tried Matalan?
No.. I only went into town.

I'm putting all my faith in my asos delivery tomorrow.

We'll see if that's a mistake tomorrow I guess.

OP posts:
Original poster
highstreetdiestreet · 10/10/2021 14:22

@limitedperiodonly

I don't wear lots of black but I do have black or dark clothes including jackets and coats that aren't intended for a funeral but are suitable - obviously not Christmassy spangly or party things which would probably be in the shops right now.

I've been to five funerals in the last eight years and didn't have to buy anything. If I had to go to a funeral tomorrow I can picture the outfit easily. It's not like I'm Morticia Addams and look forward to funerals but I tend to keep things a few years, especially jackets or coats, doesn't everyone? Lots of women I know have far more black clothes than I do.

All the clothes came from physical shops and I wear them on other days without looking funereal.

As I said: sorry for your loss and good wishes for the baby.

I need to work on getting a decent wardrobe of staples together.

After this pregnancy I will hopefully get down to my proper weight again, and go from there.

OP posts:
leavesthataregreen · 10/10/2021 14:22

M&S have this and this and this. All fairly plain, classic and respectable, suitable for different body types/stages of pregnancy. you can order them to the shop if not in stock.

Original poster
highstreetdiestreet · 10/10/2021 14:23

@leavesthataregreen

M&S have this and this and this. All fairly plain, classic and respectable, suitable for different body types/stages of pregnancy. you can order them to the shop if not in stock.
Thank you.

My point was, none of these dresses were stocked in store when I was actually there this morning.

OP posts:
ImNotDancing · 10/10/2021 14:23

@MrsMoastyToasty

I went into Bristol to treat myself to some winter clothes because I've got fat . Nada , rien, nothing that I liked. In M and S you could almost smell the viscose fibres in the air. I'm one of those people who actually shopped in BHS and debenhams because they did a lot of clothes made from natural fibres.
Viscose is made of wood pulp Smile