Changing rooms that are open.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I thought starting a thread where we can say whether changing rooms are open or not in stores. Government guidelines allow for them to be open now.

I tried to buy a bra yesterday in House of Fraser (don't ask). Changing rooms were closed. I cant buy the hundreds of bras online I need to try on while trying to work out what fits me now. So I gave up.

So. Please add to this list.

House of Fraser - closed.

Oh and I also have had a non-contact bra fitting at bravissimo. So you keep your door open and they stand 2m away. There’s no privacy, as everyone else having a bra fitting is also there with their door open too. It’s a total waste of time tbh, you’d be better off measuring yourself and ordering a range of sizes around your measurements online and just returning what you don’t like

Went to a big TKmaxx earlier today, the changing rooms were closed.

Thank you for the updates, have a day off on Fri and hoping to go to Gunwharf Quays, so will report back 😀

Yours Changing rooms open
Peacocks wont let ppl try on shoes.
Thats all i know so far.

Im currently going bra less and as i was a 32HH and have got bigger its really noticeable. But i cant do a bra fitting online as i dont shop online plus im dyscalculic which makes things harder. So having to #freethenipple at the moment. But im not shielding people from the consequences of closing close contact services once it gets too hot for me to hide the droop under a coat.

@IDontDrinkTea

Oh and I also have had a non-contact bra fitting at bravissimo. So you keep your door open and they stand 2m away. There’s no privacy, as everyone else having a bra fitting is also there with their door open too. It’s a total waste of time tbh, you’d be better off measuring yourself and ordering a range of sizes around your measurements online and just returning what you don’t like

So they don't even measure you? Just watch you doing it and see how your bra fits? Also open door? Did they tell you in advance? Wtf? This is a complete waste of time. Disappointed if that's what Bravissimo is doing!

You can definitely buy clothes, try them on in the public toilets and take straight back. It’s what was happening locally yesterday and probably why there was a 30 min queue for the toilets in the shopping centre!

Or I guess you could buy bras in M&S and then go to H&M to try them on, you’d need to take a H&M item into the changing room with you. 🤷‍♀️

The thing about steam cleaning clothes after they’ve been tried on seems a bit daft. I could totally manhandle an item of clothing on the rack without trying it on. I picked up a skirt in primark yesterday, felt the fabric, held it against me to decide if size was ok...decided I didn’t like it and put it back. Nobody cleaned it. Probably 20 people touched it before me. The risk from surface transmission is very low.

I can see the logic of not opening them. If you have a queue of customers outside (plus max amount of customers allowed in) and there are people trying clothes on inside (some people take ages over this), then that queue is going to go down very slowly.

Plus can they guarantee social distancing when people are close together in the changing rooms?

I saw a piece on the tv news saying that the changing rooms would be open in some stores during 'quiet times' but closed if busy and queues etc and I think that's fine.

Section 5.4 covers how to safely open fitting rooms. If shops aren't opening them then that's their choice and personally I'll be shopping accordingly: www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/shops-and-branches#shops-5-4.

It says nothing about quarantining clothes nor steaming them that I can see. That's just daft, we should all sanitise hands anyway after touching everything. (And surely you wash new clothes once you get them home, pretty rank if not.)

Some shops will end up with massive queues outside them because the queue to return clothes is so horrific inside. Then what happens to those returned clothes - at least some of them goes to landfill. What an awful retail model.

Also, not all of us live close enough to clothes shops to be able to return things easily. Id much rather queue outside, so that I can actually try clothes on and make a purchase.

I've just looked on the Cos website, and says "Our fitting rooms are open with limited access". Which isn't very helpful. I'm a 40 minute drive from my nearest clothes shops and really don't want to bring things home to try them on, then have to bring them back again.

There's some info here about M&S contact free bra fittings. At least you get to try them on.

I agree they aren't good at bra fitting, I wouldn't use them myself but I can't think of anywhere else to take a pre-teen.

corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/press-releases/5e0f046f7880b21924350282/shop-with-confidence-m-and-s-launches-contact-free-bra-fit-service-in-england-and-wales

Great thread! I also need jeans and cannot deal with the hassle of one trip to buy and another to return! At the end of last summer, I know Crew Clothing in Cardiff had their changing rooms open. Not sure about anything else. It's a real deterrent for clothes shopping if changing rooms are closed!

John Lewis were good with my preteen, pre covid.

So they don't even measure you? Just watch you doing it and see how your bra fits? Also open door? Did they tell you in advance? Wtf? This is a complete waste of time. Disappointed if that's what Bravissimo is doing!

Bravissimo never measure anyway I don’t think, it’s always been done on an eyeball of how your current bra looks, mixed with trial and error. No warning of the door open thing, but then I don’t overly care personally, but I appreciate other people might. I was being fitted at the same time as two other lovely ladies and we all ended up having quite a nice natter about how strange the world is these days! But yes, it is an enormous waste of everyone’s time. And they quarantine any bra you touch for 3 days.

Seasalt are open, one in one out
White stuff closed

New Look - closed

M & Co - open but they (nicely) ask you to only try on things you are seriously interested in buying

@RaggieDolls try Victoria's Secret for first bra fitting, they were great with DD when she had hers done (going back 2/3 years though). They are v expensive though so we did buy two bras and then used the sizing to get the rest elsewhere!

Thanks for this thread. I'm desperate for somewhere selling bras that will allow me to try them on. I seem to be an odd shape and usually need to try on loads before finding one that fits!

So can I book an M&S fitting and then tell them I'm quite happy to fit them in my own, or do they have to watch me?

I think Bravissimo fitting could work fine non-contact surely? They only normally touch you to adjust straps or check a band and they could easily direct you to do those yourself whilst they watch. They never measure you with a tape there anyway.

Wait, so surely shoe shops are open and let you try on shoes, but some shops that also sell shoes like Peacocks and JD won't let you try on shoes? Wtf

Re M&S - our changing rooms never re opened, so we bought bras then went into the cafe toilets to try them on, then returned them & bought different ones, tried them on & kept them. Nobody objected.

Why can we try shoes on but not clothes? Are our feet not susceptible to the virus?

I tried on some shoes in John Lewis last summer and they requested you put on little disposable pop socks over your own socks/feet when trying shoes on. But you didn’t have to wear gloves to touch the shoes, so they clearly thought feet were higher risk than hands (and higher risk than calves, as I was trying on knee high boots and the pop socks only covered my feet).
It definitely felt more performative, thought up by someone who felt that they should do something.

Nearest town Next was closed, assistant said no plans to open as they'd need to be staffed and not enough staff. Fat Face open, hence I tried on and bought a top. Unwilling to purchase without trying then having to drive 30 minutes to return. Interesting to hear PP say White Stuff closed, I had an email to say changing rooms would reopen? But stores like Fat Face show it can be done.

We have 2 H&Ms one has open changing rooms the other one doesn't

I absolutely refuse to buy if changing rooms are closed. I have the same policy if shops close changing room a during sales. I'm certain they do it to
Encourage people to buy more to try on at home, I'm sure loads of people just never get round to returning the clothes they don't want