M&S no better than primark according to Daily mail

[THK]

Do mumsnetters shop at M&S for more than knickers?
Interested to know where you shop?
I tend only to buy white knicks and socks for school as I find the childrens styles uninteresting.
IMO M&S ladieswear is generally unappealing so would agree with the article.
I would probably end up in Zara before M&S.

Dullsvile.

M&S, not your post.

Very rarely buy swimwear in there (maybe the odd cossie).

Buy pants and husbands socks

Once bought an Autograph dress which was lovely but fell apart very quickly

That's it.

Soooooo much more choice that is more stylish and better made out there.

Not sure re "M&S not yr post"??
Im curious as Stuart Rose mentions in the article M&S have increased market share but I dont know anyone who buys ladies "fashion" from M&S

I think she meant M&S is dull, not your post!

I used to buy t-shirts and plain cardies for work, but the price (and quality) has dropped. After just a few wears/washes they look really tatty. Socks just as bad. I dont bother any more. Complete waste of money. If it says only £7 for a t shirt, then I know from experience it will be shapeless after a few washes. If I spend 2 quid each in Primark, Im not expecting much more, but I have more t shirts for the money.
I have a couple of tops that I bought about 5 or 6 yrs ago in M&S that still wash well, and come out for summer. But I bought some last year that are now in the bin.

I still wander through the clothes section on the way to the food bit, but its all very old fashioned and a bit old ladyish.

Quality has definitely dropped off, even in their underwear!

Does really make you wonder why you would buy it any more when it doesn't last. But I guess they want us back in there buying more often. Trouble is I think it has the other effect, of us going elsewhere for 'cheap' stuff.

Primark is way better than any shop on the high street. I dont need a newspaper article to tell me that! Best clothes ever.

I don't shop in there much.

Much of it is racks of deadly dull all the same. They seem to have an obsession with shiney slacks.

Anything they do have which could be interesting is all mixed up into sections which mean nothing to me, but clearly M&S arrogantly assume I do know ie the difference between Autograph, Indigo, Ltd Collection?? - it's like an 'in' joke I'm not in on

And tbh I think some of it is blimmin expensive considering it's from a chain store. If I'm going to spend a bit on something I don't want to see everyone else in it.

I have started to understand TK Maxx lately. I used to be overwhelmed and walk away, but if you spend a bit of time, there are some unusual one offs at brilliant prices.

On-line I love La Redoute. I've never had a moments bother from them and they do so many useful day to day type clothes that aren't dull at a great price.

Me and DW have followed M&S as investors and as customers for many years and are frustrated by it as a business because it could be so much better. It actually has great staff and huge customer loyalty but we feel it just consistently under delivers and disappoints. We just feel Stuart Rose has not improved M&S at all although he may have slowed the decline.

We go in M&S to buy fresh veg and fruit and bits pieces of food most weeks and are happy with that but we never buy clothes or anything else. We would be happy to buy more in M&S but the problem is that it should focus on good quality 'no brainer' basic clothes and stay away from pretensions of high fashion clothes, furniture and household goods.

Clothes quality has dropped since they moved away from UK suppliers. Even their underwear is not as good now. The last set of underpants I bought there were truely awful. Paxman was right. In fact I have some Primark ones on now and for the price they are great even compared to the much more expensive Calvin Klein ones DW bought me in Selfridges. M&S used to pretty much be the underwear supplier to the UK. Not anymore.

When I go in there I always get the overwhelming sense of deja vu. The store layout, colour scheme and the actual clothes in it look exactly like they did in the 1970s but just not as good quality. I remember being dragged round M&S by my Mum and running inbetween the racks throug the clothes. My sons could do exactly the same today. Our M&S near us has exactly the same light fittings and lino on the stairs as the one in York in the 1970s.

They have also missed a massive opportunity by not doing proper online food deliveries. I know they have an online ordering system but you have to pick it up yourself. Oddly, some stores will deliver food if you go and pick it off the shelf yourself. It makes no sense, just have a proper online system and deliver - how hard can it be? If it were properly online with its food store I am sure it would take market share from Ocado/Waitrose.

So I wonder who is buying it!!
no one on MN so far and just done a poll around the office and the last purchase was biscuits and crumpets.
Per Una boggles the mind.

I buy knickers at M&S when back in the UK for ds, dh and myself. They are also good for tights and knee highs for under jeans and I have lots of their long sleeve T shirts, some of which I have had for about 6 years, and they are still fine. Their socks are good as well.

The £9.50 jeans for men are fab for ds, as he is growing like a weed, so it doesn't hurt to replace them when he has a growth spurt, and I love their moleskins for men; dh has several pairs and they last for years. I also buy the blue harbour polo shirts for ds, as he is hard on clothes and there is no point buying crew or fatface, just for him to rip clothes to shreds. Dh has some as well from circa 2007, and they are still fine.

I quite like some of their shoes as well, as it is hard for me to get 3.5s and they do them. Their shoes can be quite wide as well, which is good for me.

I bought a couple of linen tops there for the summer last year, and am wearing them again this year,as they have lasted well.

Dh is now back in suits for work, as opposed to uniform atm, and we bought a couple of suits for him, which weren't too expensive, and the quality is OK.

I like their cookbooks, the prosecco is good, as is the quality of the fruit and veg, and the price (compared to Belgium) is so reasonable. Their cooking utensils are great as well, and I am hard on things like that.

As I am abroad I tend to buy most of my clothes from Lands End, plus I have a wardrobe full anyway, so just restock with jeans and fleeces when I need them.

THK - per una makes me feel slim, as I can get into skirts at least a size smaller than I am!

I don't buy underwear there but the Per Una range is absolutely fantastic - great design, beautiful colour coordination and well made (if pricy).

I only buy the odd kids stuff in there...they do some nice hello kitty and other character stuff

M&S a waste of space. Never go in there. See some things online which look OK but never see anything in the local shop - Cheltenham - it is all polyester horrors or Per Una frilly shite.

Never bought underwear from there - as a teen I had a job in a knicker factory sewing M&S knickers, I was crap at it and the knicks were very shoddy. I wouldn't pay £6 or whatever for something I sewed.

Plus it is hatred and vengeance for having had to sew those bows on knickers for 6 months.

I got a switly skirt from M&S and it fell apart as I was wearing it - went home and changed. M&S gave me a refund with a face like thunder.

This was 5 years ago and never been back - like Primakr though for a few bits

Their selection of maternity clothes is dreadful. I went to the Westfield branch expecting as much choice as I had when pregnant with my son 3 years ago. All there was were some dreary T-shirts, leggings, tracksuit bottoms and frumpy jeans.

I know that many retailers have cut back on their maternity ranges, but M&S seems to have just given up!

I bought all dd's school uniform in there last year and it was a complete waste of money, it all faded, bobbled and fell to peices within months.

Primark is better quality I should think.

I wouldn't by anything for myself from there though, I'm only 30 I'm too young to wear m&s.

Not a fan of M&S to be honest. I would only usually buy something to wear from there if given a voucher for a birthday or christmas.

I dont have an M&S within 100mile radius now, and dont miss it! The only thing I was fanatical about, if anyone would care to send me any, is the dark chocolate ginger biscuits!!!

I do buy stuff there, on the rare occassion I buy any clothes. But the underwear quality has dropped off in recent years and is no better than anywhere else now IMO. Won't be long before the rest follows I'm sure.

Their t-shirts last well and I find they hold their shape and don't shrink too much. Plus I like the fact that they're made of fair trade cotton.

Most of my work clothes (linen skirt for summer, heavier skirt for winter) are from there. And it does last when I think that I do wear the same 3 skirts week in week out.
And their per una jeans last years and the boot leg cut was really flattering on me before i got fat.

I do have to go to a really big store to find nice stuff that I actually want to buy though. Our 'local' shop has a really poor selection. Especially of baby/children's clothes. I can go for years with finding nothing then suddenly there'll be a whole bunch of stuff I really like and want and am prepared to buy.

I liked the little girl clothes they had when I was buying them for my Ex's dd. Nice selection of colours (not just shades of pink), and not the same as everyone else Next

Food wise their vegetarian stuff is wonderful, when I can afford to treat myself to it. Though a bit over zealous with mushrooms in the dishes on offer currently.

I always save up specially to get our Christmas food ordered there. And often buy gifts there as you know it's easy for people to take them back should they want too.

So yeah, am happy to admit I shop there. Never shop in primark I'm afraid. Wouldn't even know where the nearest one to me is. But then I so rarely buy clothes for myself I tend to head for where I know I can get something I will like if i search long enough

Oh and disagree with the previous poster about school uniform.
Always get my ds's trousers, shirts and PE stuff there and they last brilliantly.

Their school coats also have a lot more reflective strip on then anywhere else and come in colours other than brown (which I lothe).

Never bought jumper's there though, but I find that our school logo ones tend to bobble anyhow.

Their range of boys clothes sucks big time though. But same can be said about almost every shop I've been in where boys selection is always less than half that of the girls selection.

I always buy my kids school uniform from M&S. I find it hardwearing.

Not to do with clothes, because I never buy clothes there, but the quality of their furniture is just appalling.

Dh and I recently spent over £1000 on a bed which wobbles so much we have had to sleep apart for the last six months.

Even though I put in a complaint straight away they have consistently fobbed us off by directing us through the furniture ombudsman, who seems to be completely clueless, jobsworth, and working for M&S anyway as they are being funded by their retail clients.

Dh and I have lost so much money over this matter, they just don't seem to care for their customers anymore. Throughout the whole process I've been made to feel like my opinions don't matter - whatever happened to 'the customer is always right?' . Their strapline 'quality worth every penny' is just farcical. We were told that the bed was handmade to order in Britain but the ombudsman said it had clearly been mass produced in the far east!

I do like their food (and wine!).

Clothes mainly too old fashioned for me apart from the underwear.

I remember when M&S used to be considered the best place to buy bras. I went there faithfully for years - and now know I was wearing completely the wrong sizes. When I went for a proper fitting elsewhere about 2years ago and wasn't even measured I was blown away. I have huge norks and it's my local House of fraser all the way now as they stock Freya. And this amazing fitter works there. No reason to go to M&S now (unless it's to buy food occasionally).

M&S = frumpy, frumpy, frumpy!