To be horrified by the NEXT sale?!

[SoloMumJustMuddlingThrough]

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.

The next sale is the day after Boxing Day. They have managed to make it into an event somehow, I don’t know how. Maybe it’s because it opens at 6am. My dd said that the average transaction was between three and four hundred pounds in the first couple or hours and that 40% off the stock was gone by 10am. They are bringing things out all of the time from the stock room and customers were just falling on it like wolves.

@Futurept what is 'Vijyed'?

Next clothing is similar quality to primark but with a higher price tag.
I thought all the sale shite came out with the sale sticker already on!

Obviously a typo for Vinted?

I have never understood the Next sale, either. Next was quite a decent shop when they started in the 80s, but for approx the last 30 years their stuff has just been cheap (even at full price) and nasty. Why would anyone bother?

I never understand why people would want to be queuing up early in the cold on Boxing Day to go shopping after all that shopping in December in the run up to Christmas. It's the last thing I'd want to do. That people are perhaps pushing and shoving eachother in the process on Boxing Day is quite sad really.

I didn't know the Next sale was still a thing! The behaviour described sounds horrific.
M&S was very busy yesterday but everyone was shopping normally,even at 50% off! Got two jumperscand a pair of black jeans for work for £43. Happy with that.

Next are doing very well though despite all this, and people thinking they are rubbish, profits were good when they were released earlier in the year. Mainly driven by the online Directory model I would think

Only do next sales online, the shop sale is , especially on the first day, as OP said, horrendous and most of the the stuff looks like something you’d find in a jumble sale, though this does seem to apply mainly to the women’s clothes.

The Next store in my hometown closed down and I do miss it for basics like work trousers and tops. Now I use my VIP slot and order branded stuff which is usually pretty good value. I browse beforehand and then just punch in the item codes when my slot goes live. I got about 25% of what I wanted this year - swimsuits and school shoes mainly.

Years ago I had an Australian summer job in one of the nicer department stores known for their Boxing Day sales. A lot of the “ super markdowns” were cheaper lines of good brands bought in especially for the sale. I don’t really trust the hype nowadays.

99% of people there won't be disgusting people, just customers like you.

I can tell you now from years of working there and then another high street store, that the majority of shit you get from customers isn't from the sale day, it's from the harassed parent in the run up to Christmas who can't get the thing she wanted. The reason sale day is bad is because of the volume of stock on the floor, but genuinely almost every customer who shops there at 5am sale day is quite excited and knows what they are getting themselves into.

I can ask tell you that people who bought tons of stuff are great. Couldn't give a shit what they did with it after the store, but them buying 4 X as much stuff as the next person means one person to serve instead of 4, it means more stuff out the stockroom on day 1, it means less stuff to process the day after.

I can also tell you as a member of staff, that we begrudged EVERY SINGLE CUSTOMER on boxing day. Every single person through that door added yet more £ to the total next made, that meant that next year it was worth opening again on boxing day.

So while you think you are better, while I'm sure there were 1% of people causing issues, you also were part of the problem. Stay home and enjoy your family/ quiet time/ fridge full of food instead.

I agree that it’s mad to queue up at 3am now when you can buy online and when the quality is no longer nearly as good

It’s mad to queue at 3am at anytime! 😂 No discount is worth that.

I don't get it either when it comes to the clothes. For people on a budget in desperate need of clothes there are cheaper options elsewhere of similar quality. For people who are fashion conscious and need to wear named brands why would they want to be seen dead wearing last seasons rejects?

One thing they do well is know their customer base.

I got a VIP invite, surprisingly as the last few times I got one, I’ve bought nothing but this time I did get several things for a holiday in a few months time, as well as a dress from this winters range. I’m not bothered that the summer clothes I’ve got are from this year, I’m more about what looks nice on me and I’m comfortable wearing than being on trend.

I have never gone in store when the sales are on, not unless it’s a few days in and I’m out shopping for other things and see a Next that isn’t looking too busy.

My big bug bear with Next is their petite trousers used to be a great length for me, now they’re at least two inches too long so I’ve given up buying their trousers or jeans. I find their petite range in dresses fit well though so I buy more dresses from there than anywhere else.

Or shop around online? I always find branded coats for kids (it's not my thing, but they're there) for a fraction of the price.

I thought the crazy Next sale was a thing of the past these days with online shopping and the big decline in Next popularity. Genuinely surprised it keeps going as when I walk past the one in Oxford, it barely has any customers. I actually went in a few weeks ago on a weekend (so peak Christmas shopping time) and there were two other customers.

I guess it's people who don't celebrate Christmas or see it as a big deal in their family or whose income is from reselling clothes

I remember hearing about it many years ago and seeing pictures of people queued up outside at 5am or something ridiculous. I would never have done that and even when I went in during normal hours a few days later couldn't stand the chaos of the stuff being all over the place! But I thought all that was in the distant past and people weren't so obsessed with Next now. Obviously not!

It was like that 20 years ago. I remember Zara was absolutely carnage with clothes in piles on the floor everywhere after people tried them on right there on the shop floor

I shop regularly at Next and have a credit with them but didn't get a vip email. Last vip invitation i browsed my slot but didn't buy anything. All the nice things I'd want are never in the sale or if on sale my size has already gone out of stock.

Yes, I did when mine were young too. I could kit them out in great clothes, for the year. Their children clothes were fab, cute dungarees, t-shirts with matching caps and socks.

For a couple of years it became my thing. Parents would stay overnight to look after DC’s, I would head out really early, quick shop and then treat myself to breakfast somewhere rather gorgeous, then head home.

Busy but not the madness reported and I never had to queue.

Can confirm I've no intention of visiting shops until Jan.

I avoid the next sale, I’ve never been shopping on Boxing Day, places like selfridges handbags department make circa £2m on Boxing Day, one department!! It’s bonkers.

My DD wanted to shop yesterday, took 2.5 hours to buy 6 items from two shops… 3 items in the sale, 3 full price. Hollister and another, they had huge queues for fitting room and tills. Yuck