Hollister - the seventh circle of hell

[AgentProvocateur]

I went into Hollister today to get some teenagers' presents. At the risk of sounding like an 80-year-old, it was so dark that I could barely see the clothes, never mind read the labels.

It also stunk of sweet perfume, and I had to politely decline when the checkout assistant asked me if I'd like to buy some of the fragrance that thet perfumed the store with!

I'm not usually easily put off shops, so it must be a sign that I'm getting old. (I remember my mum refusing to come into Chelsea Girl with me because the music was too loud!)

lol at Chelsea Girl - used to love shopping there!

Yes I don't get the dark thing either. Mind you, some shops are so brightly lit they give me a migraine - White Company - HOW much are you paying for electricity??

DH and I came out of holster muttering very similar things. How on earth does anyone know what they're buying? We thought perhaps it was a very expensive lucky dip.

but the clothes are shit too. I don't get it at all. They're like abercrombie and fitch but so much worse, and the way that they try to make it feel like you are walking in to aprivate members bar when you go through the doors is just laughable when the clothes are so damn dull.

Also the music was incredibly loud. It was like being in a nightclub full of clothes.

I also wonder why they design their shops so as to make them as unfriendly to the disabled as possible. They put fake steps at the door when the entrance was completely flat anyway (like all the other shops in the shopping centre) and then have to put more steps from the entrance nonsense to get into the shop. Once you've negotiated that it's dark, noisy and crowded. It's bizarre.

We are getting one here. The outside shop-fit looks bizarre. I thought they were building a Santa's Log Cabin-type grotto.

My mum hated Chelsea Girl too.

Don't get me started, trying to look round there with a pushchair was like a task on the crystal maze, and our presence in there seemed to invite great derision from sales assistant.

I made the mistake last year in asking if they'd had a power cut.
It's the vacant assistants which get me, the bloody potted plants everywhere and the general attitude that if you're over 20 you have no right to be there.
Luckily dd hasn't pot Hollister on her list this year, so there will be no donning of the miner's helmet for me.
One is opening in Kingston soon.