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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel uncomfortable in Harrod’s?

360 replies

Chocolattay · 08/03/2022 20:05

I went in with my mum and baby recently on a day trip to London. I obviously knew I wouldn’t get very far with my measly £200 spends but I thought I could at least get earrings or something for baby.

Goodness me, I was very quickly humbled. I immediately felt insecure. Staff buzzing around me constantly and when I said “Oh I’m just looking around” they stared me down and walked off.

I just felt very unwelcome and inadequate the whole time. We did have a meal in one of the restaurants which was nice but I couldn’t get away quick enough afterwards. It didn’t help that we ended up getting lost for half an hour trying to find the exit, and the area with the escalators etc made me claustrophobic.

I breathed a sigh of relief when we got out. Then I went and spent my money in the nearby Zara instead.

All my friends say they love snooping around Harrods but I hated it. Anybody else?

OP posts:
CatAndHisKit · 09/03/2022 00:06

too many typos to mention, sorry.

SiobhanSharpe · 09/03/2022 00:14

Two very close friends used to have part-time jobs in Harrods after taking early retirement and they are the loveliest people, very down to earth and as far from snobby as you can get.

They liked the staff discount, especially in the sales, and enjoyed working there for the interest. It was during Mohammed Al-Fayed's ownership.

We would go occasionally, it was good for wedding present shopping and we loved the food hall.
The butchers on the meat counter were ace. I was queuing on the butchery section behind a young guy who only wanted 100 grams of mince and the chap serving him never turned a hair. I bought some shin of beef. (On the bone, it was lovely)
But I do know what the OP means about the claustrophobic atmosphere. It's hot, it's crowded and you can't get out as quickly as you want. Awful.
Mind you, Liberty is even worse.

Rachie1973 · 09/03/2022 00:32

[quote NewbieDivergent]@RewildingAmbridge I took it to mean op was hoping to get earrings for herself or something else for baby.[/quote]
That’s how I read it too

Dita73 · 09/03/2022 00:35

I agree with the posts of people saying go to Liberty instead. It is a lovely shop. They have fabulous perfume in there,really different stuff. Jewellery is nice too

Twobirdsinatree · 09/03/2022 00:42

Depends on my mood but I totally sympathise!! Expensive places can make me feel terrible if I'm a bit down on myself... I understand you!! I think its because I've experienced both quite a high level of wealth and also a high level of poverty in my life so I get kinda triggered by it sometimes... at my expensive school I heard them laughing at less wealthy peoples clothing... I've also been homeless... being in situations where there's lots of the type of people I went to school with can really upset me if I'm not in a great state of mind that day. It can make you feel like an imposter or worthless

ThesecondLEM · 09/03/2022 00:43

I went to Harrods with DD, I needed a wee!!

We were a real pair of scruffy urchins but the staff were so lovely. Even when I joked that my life savings wouldn't buy me a single piece of a chess set I was admiring. The guy was like: I know right! But still took time to talk to me about it even though I blatantly wasn't buying.

WildImaginings · 09/03/2022 00:53

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stevalnamechanger · 09/03/2022 01:13

I love it !!!

You can get LOADS for £200 in there . They have white company and lots of mid price stuff

Also the underwear sale is the best ;

For £120 I got three bras , with matching pants and a pair of wacoal shorts . Fantasie bras / panache !

Chocolattay · 09/03/2022 01:24

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BambinaJAS · 09/03/2022 01:25

We love the food hall at Harrod's.

The new brasserie is also kid friendly (we bring our 2 year old).

We have also brought our little one to the Tiffany Blue Box Cafe (she was 1.5) and it was also good.

We don't do much clothes or retail shopping at Harrod's though.

Snorkelface · 09/03/2022 01:49

I used to work in Harrods and got lost all the time! I still shop there occasionally, in whatever I'm wearing, usually scruffy jeans and a jumper. I have never known staff to stare people down and walk off, but they'd leave you to your browsing if you said you were just looking. On the upper floors some departments get so little foot fall they'd be over the moon to see any one at all. Also Harrods is no more expensive than any other shop for loads of stuff. They just happen to sell a lot of very expensive things as well.

Original poster
Chocolattay · 09/03/2022 01:57

Having seen some responses I do think I probably could have gotten a little something if I’d have spent more time there. A Harrods branded teddy bear or something, that’s the kind of thing I meant by ‘something for the baby’. Or as I said, earrings or an accessory for me. Just to be able to say I got something in Harrods when I went to London. I wouldn’t have gone to the London Selfridges, there’s 2 big Selfridges near me in Manchester and I love them both and am there a lot. Going to the London Selfridges for me would have been like going to a London Primark or a London McDonald’s, not ‘special’. Admittedly we did end up in Zara afterwards lol.

As it was though, I was immediately overwhelmed as was my mum and we just made a beeline to the restaurant. We briefly looked for the food hall but I was hot and sick of the place so we just left (which took half an hour). The ventilation in the place is terrible as well, so hot!

Libertys looks lovely though. I’ll definitely have a mooch there next time I’m in London.

OP posts:
Bussinbussin · 09/03/2022 02:12

Thank you @nettie434 and @alltheapples.

Mum has decreed It Must Be Harrods. It's replacing a beloved broken one. Think I bought it at the little Harrods at Heathrow last time.

HelloKittyGirl · 09/03/2022 02:47

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Wrinklefree · 09/03/2022 02:50

@RewildingAmbridge

Round of applause OP £200 to spend on baby earrings in Harrods....
She wasn’t buying baby earrings , maybe read the OP again.
Chocolattay · 09/03/2022 02:56

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Suzi888 · 09/03/2022 03:21

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newbiename · 09/03/2022 03:56

@RewildingAmbridge

Round of applause OP £200 to spend on baby earrings in Harrods....
Earrings OR someone for the baby
Bromse · 09/03/2022 04:15

@Chocolattay

Message deleted by MNHQ. Quotes deleted post
It does read as though you meant, "...earrings or something - for the baby", so don't be mad at people misunderstanding. If you'd said '...or else something for the baby', or put a comma after earrings, you'd have been understood.

Still seems odd to me to make a beeline for a shop in London on a day trip. London has so much else to offer and I'm sure you have decent shops where you live.

I've lived in greater London all my life, within easy reach of central London where I worked for many years; I shopped when I needed to buy something in particular, as I do close to home, but I enjoyed going out at lunch time or after work to many places. I also took my child out exploring places of interest from a young age and he loved it but I doubt he'd have been impressed by a store. I suppose a baby wouldn't care one way or the other.

Harrods is nice, last time I went was for a wedding present; however no shop is pleasant when crowded, even Marks and Spencer (where my mother used to regularly drag me as a child). Markets, on the other hand, can be great fun and London has a few particularly interesting and quirky ones.

You do sound rather defensively snobbish about Harrods, if you don't mind me saying.

nettie434 · 09/03/2022 04:29

@Bussinbussin

Thank you *@nettie434 and @alltheapples*.

Mum has decreed It Must Be Harrods. It's replacing a beloved broken one. Think I bought it at the little Harrods at Heathrow last time.

Oh in that case, an alternative won't do. Good luck with finding a replacement.

I prefer the small branches at airports and stations. They don't have a big stock obviously but the queuing/buying process is so much easier. St Pancras Station has lost a few shops with the pandemic but I've sometimes gone there for Christmas shopping rather than Oxford St.

PupInAPram · 09/03/2022 04:41

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BasiliskStare · 09/03/2022 04:48

Gosh @Kendodd and @Davros & others - I am old enough to remember Harrods pet department with actual rabbits. I went with my mother on a trip to London and we loved the rabbits

I went recently on a trip and thought I might be able to get a dress for my brother's wedding - my instinct was they have put over more floor space to really really high premium brands and the more normal things you might expect in a department store are fewer. But that is only one opinion.

Original poster
Chocolattay · 09/03/2022 04:49

We didn’t spend the whole day in Harrods! Or go just for Harrods. We spent the whole day there (I mean the whole day, we flew there and back which only took 20 minutes and getting through the airport was speedy).

It was a brilliant day in every other sense, baby was a dream and had her naps in her pram. Saw a lot of the sights Smile

OP posts:
Original poster
Chocolattay · 09/03/2022 04:49

*spent the whole day in London

OP posts:
Nat6999 · 09/03/2022 05:18

I felt like this when I went in Harvey Nichols in Leeds, I went in with my mum, just looked at handbags & had an assistant breathing down my neck. We walked out & went to John Lewis instead where I bought the bag I had wanted, they lost out on £245, probably not much for them but for me it was a lot of money.