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Original poster

To be horrified by the NEXT sale?!

199 replies

SoloMumJustMuddlingThrough · 28/12/2025 04:13

I popped into next yesterday morning, hoping to get my daughter some new clothes in the sale. I walked straight back out. Honestly I cannot believe what I was witnessing. People were using two hands to pull clothes off the racks and then shoving them into bin bags bags without even looking at them/checking sizes etc. I was expecting it to be be busy but this was something else! The shop had only been open less than an hour and it was almost cleared out. I can only assume that people were buying to resell (a quick look on vinted confirms that suspicion with a bunch of items I saw in the sale listed today at full price). It's the first time I've ever been to the post-Christmas sales. Has it always been like this?

YABU - it's a sale, first come first serve. Don't like it? Stay out the shops until mid January

YANBU - a sale doesn't give you the excuse to behave like an animal. Stop walking around eating and dropping food all over the shop, pushing, shouting and showing zero respect for staff & other customers. Also don't be a dick.

I half blame the shops. They don't care where their profits come from. If it had been a family run store i can guarantee a few people would have been told to royally fuck right off.

OP posts:
Futurept · 28/12/2025 04:27

I worked at next as a teenager and we all hated the sale, which we were all made to come in for at 4am. Customers behaved like absolute animals as you described. Vijyed wasn't a thing then so people were just grabbing whatever and then returning most of it later. Queues on the day were an absolute nightmare as it took an age to get through everybody's bin bag full of stuff, and then for the next 2 weeks or whatever processing returns, just insane. Everybody was grumpy and rude because they'd been queuing outside for hours in the cold. The clean up was horrendous. Consumerism at its worst. Next stuff isn't even that great!

NansCheeseFlan · 28/12/2025 04:31

Tried it once years ago, lasted about 3 mins before I had to leave. It was carnage.

FancyNewt · 28/12/2025 04:33

I've never understood the thing about the Next sale. Their clothes are mostly hideous.

Original poster
SoloMumJustMuddlingThrough · 28/12/2025 04:33

@Futurept That is mind boggling.

OP posts:
realsavagelike · 28/12/2025 04:36

Not in the UK, but couldn't believe the crowds at the electronics store I was passing through yesterday. I am starting to think that a lot of people are holding off on buying things before Christmas altogether and that Boxing Day is now the main event for them.

Original poster
SoloMumJustMuddlingThrough · 28/12/2025 04:37

Are NEXT sales a thing? To be honest the other shops didn't look to bad when I was passing. I just popped in hoping to get a few pieces for my daughter who appears to have grown a few inches overnight 😅

OP posts:
pestowithwalnuts · 28/12/2025 04:38

Iv never actually visited the shop for a Sale but tried online.
Most of the stuff offered has been for sale two or three years ago. Most of it is just old tatt
Who wants to queue for hours in the cold to buy jumble sale shit

FancyCatSlave · 28/12/2025 04:52

The Next clearance pages online outside of the actual sales are good-I buy a lot of DD’s things from there. But never during actual sales.That’s carnage.

I find the best bargains are online at 4am when you can’t sleep as stock comes in and out. I got a lovely pair of leather boots for myself reduced to £19 from £85. But you have to hunt out the good bits.

Kimura · 28/12/2025 05:05

I think 'horrified' is a bit strong! I wouldn't go somewhere like that on a sale day but if someone is making or supplementing their income by reselling, I wouldn't begrudge them clearing the shelves.

Being rude, aggressive or dropping food is a different matter.

lovealongbath · 28/12/2025 05:09

FancyCatSlave · 28/12/2025 04:52

The Next clearance pages online outside of the actual sales are good-I buy a lot of DD’s things from there. But never during actual sales.That’s carnage.

I find the best bargains are online at 4am when you can’t sleep as stock comes in and out. I got a lovely pair of leather boots for myself reduced to £19 from £85. But you have to hunt out the good bits.

This ⬆️

if something you want is not available, check when the world is 💤, this is your best chance of getting it.

BiffandChip2 · 28/12/2025 05:36

Me and my friend go every year, arrive at 5.30am, out by 6.30am. If you're prepared to be bashed around a bit you can get some great kids clothing. Agree people are awful, but I'll take it for a half price winter weather coat for all 3 🤣

BCBird · 28/12/2025 05:43

A friend over mine always used to go. No way would I do it. I used to buy stuff for work, but knitwear used to give a wide berth. If I was buying a piece of electronic equipment I might wait till the sale if there was a substantial saving instead of buying in time for Christmas.

Original poster
SoloMumJustMuddlingThrough · 28/12/2025 05:44

Kimura · 28/12/2025 05:05

I think 'horrified' is a bit strong! I wouldn't go somewhere like that on a sale day but if someone is making or supplementing their income by reselling, I wouldn't begrudge them clearing the shelves.

Being rude, aggressive or dropping food is a different matter.

I think it is selfish to clear a shelf to resale. Of course it's allowed, but that doesn't make it right. It's the same as people who clear out the reduced section in the supermarket and and end up throwing away half of it when someone could have benefited. It is unlikely that all of those people won't be reporting their profits to HMRC.

I was horrified by the whole thing - not just the clearing out of shelves but the pushing, grabbing, shouting, throwing items on the floor, food everywhere, kids in those big electric cars screaming. It was gobsmacking.

I have worked in retail before but I have never seen anything like it. I am in London, perhaps that makes a difference?

OP posts:
Icebreaker911 · 28/12/2025 05:45

Next online have VIP sales if your a subscriber - so early access...

martha79 · 28/12/2025 05:48

SoloMumJustMuddlingThrough · 28/12/2025 04:37

Are NEXT sales a thing? To be honest the other shops didn't look to bad when I was passing. I just popped in hoping to get a few pieces for my daughter who appears to have grown a few inches overnight 😅

I didn't realise it was still as much of a thing but it has been for years - people queueing in the early hours before the shop opened, grabbing loads of stuff to buy (much of it rubbish that they clearly haven't been able to sell during the year). I went once in the late 90s/ early 2000s to see what the fuss was about - sat in a dark car park at 5am waiting for it to open. Never again! I've got a few decent bits in the online sale this year though, although as others have said that's a helpful by-product of insomnia!

PrizePillock · 28/12/2025 05:51

Is this still a thing?
I feel sorry for the staff.
I rarely go in when not on sale so no thanks to the carnage.

Blessedbethefruitloopss · 28/12/2025 05:52

People have posted videos complaining about items they just bought with their vip access. When the main sale then went live, the prices were lower.

ObsidianTree · 28/12/2025 05:53

So weird. I get invited to the VIP sale. So buy online a few days before the boxing day sale starts. Why don't these people do that?! Surely they must spend enough to get invited to it! I think buying a few bits online gets you invited to it

SqishySqashmas · 28/12/2025 05:55

I ended up at the first day of a Next sale purely by accident. Like you, I'd gone in to get something for my daughter. We did get a few really nice things but I was surprised at the quantities other people were buying. I can't believe the resale value is really that much. It's bizarre, it's only Next!

Oreosareawful · 28/12/2025 05:59

I used to work for Matalan and it was the same. We opened at 6am on Boxing Day and would have to serve hoards of professional resellers (usually market traders as Vinted wasn’t a thing)
they would have trollies full of stuff in every size, stuff they didn’t want would be thrown to the floor. The clean up was horrendous and simply trying to serve them as difficult as they would be trying to use discounts, paying in cash that had to be checked, and would be argumentative with staff and amongst themselves 🙈

YourMintTraybake · 28/12/2025 06:00

FancyCatSlave · 28/12/2025 04:52

The Next clearance pages online outside of the actual sales are good-I buy a lot of DD’s things from there. But never during actual sales.That’s carnage.

I find the best bargains are online at 4am when you can’t sleep as stock comes in and out. I got a lovely pair of leather boots for myself reduced to £19 from £85. But you have to hunt out the good bits.

So true!

After settling my baby I was online at 4am the other day and got 8 outfits for them and a pack of socks for 43 quid in next sale!

calminggreen · 28/12/2025 06:01

I really don’t get it? I have a NEXT VIP log in - logged in on the 22nd December - shopped the sale ordering everything I needed for kids (and me) - booked to collect from store in about 3 weeks time when the sale settles down - done and went back to my mulled wine - I NEVER shop in store and don’t know why anyone would! (Same with M&S which started Xmas Eve)

Ukefluke · 28/12/2025 06:02

I have never seen an article in Next that isnt hideous. Can only imagine all the old shite they put in the sale.

BlossomLeaves · 28/12/2025 06:04

The Next sale has always been completely bonkers. I remember back when I was a student, so 20+ years ago, I worked at Debenhams and had to be there early on Boxing Day so went to check it out as I knew people who raved about it, would camp outside from 3am etc. It was just as you describe, people behaving like absolute animals pushing people around to grab armfuls of stuff to then sort through up the corner. The other shops nearby buy who also opened that day were nothing like it.

Summerbean · 28/12/2025 06:19

I've never understood the Next sale phenomenon, in fact I've been given Next vouchers in the past and struggled to spend them on goods full price or otherwise. Surely the reductions can't be so spectacular to warrant the sort of behaviour you're describing so YANBU.

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