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.

I worked for next for 3 years, the people that come to the sale were always the same. We actually called them regulars as we saw them all the time then come sale day they would come in and grab kids clothes by the arm load. One woman would buy her daughter a top in every size and then told us at least she would be set for a few years… but we always saw her next year. I think a lot of the people that attend the next sales religiously are bargain hunters more than anything they get a thrill from buying something cheap.

I don't mean to be a massive snob (I am...) but Next is not worth fighting over surely? cheap, nasty clothes!

The very young kids clothes are good actually- lots of lovely bright colours and wash well. My DD hates pink, rainbows and unicorns but there was always much less gendered choices for her. At half price they are supermarket price but better quality.

I don’t buy much adult clothing that is Next branded apart from their boots which always fit me well and their premium t shirts, but buy a lot of brands online through them as have a delivery pass and the returns are easy.

I haven't been properly to the Next sale for years. It's all just odd sizes, microscopic or voluminous. And it's never the "normal stuff", it's all the bizarre "collab" collections they've started doing in the last few years with B list "slebs" and dying fashion houses. I only have so much use for a knee-length bedazzled off-the-shoulder cocktail dress.

I have a friend who loves Next, god knows why, and she and her two dds would always go to the boxing day sale and buy tons of stuff and then complain that shops shouldn't open boxing day because 2 of them worked in retail. She never worked boxing day but the dd did.
I remember one of them bought christmas cards and wrapping paper 1 year not in the sale and spent £80 just because it was Next. They have since discovered Card Factory.

You were there early doors enough because you wanted a bargain as well though. Those others are no different except in the scale of the operation.

I vote U because wild horses wouldn't drag me to a place like the Next sale. People know what they're getting into.

I wasn't there for the sale though...I was just walking past after my run on the way to pick up some break & milk and thought hey since it was open I could pick up a couple of pairs of leggings for DD because currently the only thing that fits her has reindeers on (not looking for a bargain per se). This was just after 9am so hardly super early. Lots of other shops were open and it was all relatively calm until I stepped through the door and then turned right back out again. 🤷 The only time I have seen anything like it is in a video of people in the US fighting over Stanley cups...

Oh, I loved Next Directory. Never has the cafe, though! Don’t think they made it this far north!

They don't need to look at the sizes. They're resellers.

The Next sale was always a big thing years ago, and I remember people going down to queue from 2am on Boxing Day. I always preferred to wait until about the middle of January, because round about then people would bring back all the stuff they’d grabbed on Boxing Day, and it was quiet enough to actually browse. It was never amazing, though, but I got a few good bargains.

i didn’t think it was still a big thing, though, because as others have said, the website and app are pretty decent if you’re wanting to buy. I’d imagine Vinted is full of Next sale items too.

I’ve never been but I think it’s likely that the sales are a bigger thing at Next as they don’t ever randomly offer 20% off discounts like most other stores do. There is a a permanent clearance section on their website though, which includes the other brands that they sell. I sometimes have a look through there but would never be queueing/scrabbling at an actual store.

It's a bunch of shite that nobody wanted in sizes that fit no-one

Next was fabulous in the mid 80s and early 90s. A revelation. Smart, well made, fashionable, stylish and good quality. Not cheap, but still an affordable investment. It was the higher end of high street and brilliant for workwear and special occasion wear. I can't pinpoint when it changed but it's been a long, long time since I've bothered to shop there. Probably 15 years at least.

A few years ago I decided to see what the fuss was about and got up for the 6am opening. I was first shocked at the queue. Then I was shocked at the professional shoppers with the rail grabbing etc. luckily I didn’t have children then, the kids section looked like an exhibit in a zoo.

I witnessed staff and security getting abused by queue jumpers trying an alternative entrance. It was a sight to see and since then, I’ve never done it!

i used to get my work clothes from Next in the 90s, I had a job where I needed to look smart but current for meetings and conferences and Next was my go to shop. LIke you I have not shopped there now for many years as the style and quality has nosedived.

our Next had a cafe, it was such a treat to get a coffee there after browsing all the (in those days) lovely clothes.

Oh, they used to be amazing for skirt suits in the 1990s. I fancied a new skirt suit recently and I couldn't find one anywhere - I guess the move towards casual wear and WFH has torpedoed the market. It's a shame because I'm one of those people who doesn't look 'put together' without a suit.

Not been for years mainly as the quality has really diminished - the fact changing rooms are closed just makes things worse though

That was unique about next I think - changing rooms were closed during the sale so you buy everything, try it on at home and then return what you don't want. Hence the handing out of bin bags as you come through the door so you can stuff them full! I presume they hoped people wouldn't bother making another trip for returns, so they ended up making more sales

Sorry, I meant vinted but was typing too quickly on my phone and it didn't autocorrect!

Embarrassing imagine your mum, daughter, girlfriend, doing this and knowing they act like animals over a sale

I never buy from the Next sale. I think they have warehouses full of stuff they can’t sell that they bring out every year. Even their furniture is over priced and made in China. Very expensive clothes that everyone wears so I never buy them myself.

Also the reason they close the changing rooms is because loads of people in my nearby Next went in there and even the toilets so they could rip the tags off and steal the clothes. That what one of their employees told me.

I used to work with someone who would literally camp out the night before in order to be first in the queue for Next's sale.