Talk to me about the whole John Lewis thing

[notreallyuponJL]

As per the title, and inspired by another thread where someone was asking about the JL experience.

It's never been a place I would think of going to, not least because there wasn't one in my city until recent years, although other "posh" department stores very much existed. However, that store has now closed, as has the "JL At Home" which opened in 2011 and closed in 2020, and with a shift towards online shopping from a seemingly endless choice of retailers, I have to ask what the advantages of the likes of JL are.

I only ever knew one person who was a devout JL shopper, and it certainly tied into his overall arrogance & delusions of grandeur which applied to other aspects of his life...certainly the connotations (whether real or imagined) about shopping in Argos were ingrained in his mindset, principally because it came with a catalogue, which in itself had connotations of being for people who couldn't afford to buy what they wanted, and not helped that Argos was launched on the back of the success of the Greenshield stamp scheme.

My question comes from a place of genuine curiosity and not reverse snobbery, having only ordered from JL once, online, and it being an experience as good as any other right up to the point where they couldn't get stock to fulfill said order. Their customer service was horrific, and I've never used them since.

Given current trends and the uniformity that is the internet (not to mention how crowded and noisy it is), are some retailers (like JL) still able to stand out from the rest? If so, how and why?

John Lewis had, and is working hard to regain, the kudos they one had, in a very competitive market, or at least until some billionaires decimate the competition, and you have only one place to shop!! I have kitchen items, bought in 80s and 90s, still used every day, and latterly I am very impressed with some of their own brand clothing. This council estate girl, happily shopped there and before Selfridges went stupidly 'luxury' focused, in there too! Prices v quality is not guaranteed today, but they still have better customer service than most. Definitely not posh, just perceived to be imo.

If anything, I think John Lewis is resolutely - almost iconically - British middle class, rather than posh. Brand emphasis is always on value, quality, reliability, transparency, not high cost or fancy design or exclusivity. It's somewhere that you buy an ironing board that you realise you've owned longer than your grown-up children have been alive, not somewhere you'd go for the most cutting edge ironing board currently available. Although if Dyson suddenly made ironing boards, John Lewis would definitely stock them.

I particularly like the Christmas section at Peter Jones, and the borderline acid-trip tree decoration 'themes' - baubles in the shape of chocolate labradors, pianos, JCBs, Santas on surfboards, giant teeth, etc.

If anything, I think John Lewis is resolutely - almost iconically - British middle class, rather than posh.

One person's 'middle class' is another person's 'posh' though. It's a question of perspective.

@BriefHug out of slight boredom curiousity I looked up ironing boards on the JL website. They seem to sell 3 types - own brand, a brand called Brabantia and one another brand.
A quick look on the Argos website and they have various brands including Brabantia.
One of my points earlier in the thread was that an awful lot of what can be bought at JL can also be bought in other retailers - but some people seem to think that if you want quality you have to go to JL because places like Argos are "cheap".
But it's frequently exactly the same products 😂
I wonder who manufactures their own brand products. Again several different retailers own brand stuff actually all comes from the same factories. It's just put in a different box.

True! I used the ironing board example because I bought my John Lewis own brand ironing board from the Oxford Street JL in (checks notes) 2001, and it's still as robust as ever, probably because it's pretty basic but well-made. I guess it's those decades of pre-internet shopping brand spadework that are still paying off for customers my age (50+)...

I used to love going to the huge one in my university city. I loved the huge make up hall and my friends and I loved going to browse (obviously high end make up was a treat but fun to blow student loans on occasionally haha).

Recently went to the one in Kingston when visiting a friend and loved their huge baby area with a brilliant and well thought out feeding room/baby area. My own local town has no such thing in any shop at all and I so wish we did!

I don’t always shop in JL but anytime I have a voucher from there and buy something it’s always been excellent. We bought our pram from there because of the warranty they offered.

I definitely have a certain sense of brand loyalty - I grew up in a city where the John Lewis (known by it's former department store name) was the middle class/ upmarket department store and sold pretty much everything. It was there, M&S or Argos and as M&S was own brand only and Argos seen as a bit cheap, JL it was for everything.

Now I buy a lot of tech/ household applicances there because of the longer warranty. I like that I can get online things delivered to my local post office. I like that I can (mostly) trust the quality.

But I don't think that their stores are all that any more. I went to the Oxford Street one yesterday as we were in the area and thought it looked really tired. Tried to get school shoes fitted for DD and the service was so poor we ended up giving up - it wasn't even that busy. Did had some really lovely cake in the cafe though!

Yes! I thought John Lewis was posh until I went to Harrods.

Harrods makes JL look very basic indeed.

Harrods is for tourists and people with more money than sense 😂😂😂

I dislike Harrods. It's too OTT to be properly classy. I'm sure tourists love it though.

I did joke to a friend the other day about wishing I was rich enough to do my weekly food shop at Harrods food hall !
Not that I want any fancy foods....it was just the thought of being that rich.
😂

Absolutely amazing these days. I don’t think your average tourist could afford anything there. Its full of stuff I didnt even know existed. Knightsbridge now is packed with clearly very wealthy groups of women wearing the draped robes and head covers. Shopping like crazy!

@DeLaRuiz oh yes... it's divided into tourists who just go and look and Middle Eastern tourists who actually buy stuff.

For electrical goods I like their extended guarantee, although I always price check. For clothes I like that they have a range of brands all i th same store. SO when I was looking for a trenchcoat I could check out Barbour, Mango, Hobbs and a couple of other brands without having to trawl to the individual shops. Selfridges is similar but higher end. There is some crossoer (JL & Selfridges both sell brands like All Saints, Levis & Ralph Lauren but JL sells Mango and similar priced brands whereas Selfridges goes higher end/more expensive.

I shopped in Harrods last year. I bought a pair of All Saints trainers in the sale for £68, they had my size in stock whereas they were out of stock in the actual store and dd was looking at running trainers. It's not all Gucci & Brunello Cucinelli!

I don't think JL is particularly posh but I do think it's bland (to the extent where something bland will be described as "a bit John Lewis")

It has very uninspiring stuff, obv to appeal to the broadest audience which is understandable.

I don’t shop at JL anymore, I used to on the belief that it had great customer service and it was worth sometimes paying that bit extra for it, but it’s pretty shit and the nail in the coffin for me was just a terrible terrible experience that went on for months trying to get a refund and solve the situation and just useless useless customer service and a bit rude. I’ve had far better customer service from cheap places like Argos and Amazon

Ah now this is great to hear. I used to love the Harrods sale. A little holiday, in rich world, and come away with a bargain!

I worked for them for over 25 years before leaving last year , they are not the company they once were , but who is I guess ? Times they are a changing , however they’re still probably in the top set of retail employers .
Im not sure they’ll survive for the next 25 years though , like most of the high street .
I shopped there a lot due to generous discount , since I’ve left I’ve probably bought 3 items , there’s nothing they really sell that someone else doesn’t now & usually cheaper from online retailers .

They’ve got lovely feeding rooms. I remember feeding my baby in a nice quiet room with leather sofas and another Mum came in and fed her child. We had a lovely chat and really connected. I often think about that nice Mum I met in John Lewis because despite going to every baby group going I never really met anyone I stayed friends with. I should have swapped numbers with her.

That’s really interesting about the Kingston feeding room. It used to be dire 15 years ago. I mean - it existed, so kudos there, but the nappy bins were never emptied and it stank! Very very much a last resort back then.

I have never lived near one or had enough money to buy from them BUT I treat them as a sort of art gallery/museum. I like to look at what is on display accepting that it will never be mine. The same with a Waitrose supermarket, such a treat and yes, something may make its way into my basket! BTW we do have a Booths and I do enjoy a look at Christmas.

Department stores bring a sort of nostalgia to me because there were so many of them around when I was a child. I’ve never bought anything from JL, but I feel ‘homely’ walking around in there.

That’s interesting @Needmorelego i had t considered it. Posh privilege I guess. Which makes me sad as no one should feel that they can’t even go into a shop.

I had vouchers and I recently went to the Bluewater branch with a list. None of it available.

Couldn't find an assistant as they don't seem to wear a uniform and there was a lot of hair covering name badges.

Then I wanted to buy some sunglasses but the sunglasses assistant had gone to lunch and, no, no one else could sell them to me. Needless to say, I ended up buying them elsewhere (online of course) for £100 less.

JL customer service used to be the gold standard. No more.

(Still loyal to our lovely local Waitrose though)