John Lewis - Personal Shopping

[BobbilyBoo]

I am looking to refresh my work wardrobe and thought I might use the John Lewis personal shopping service but was looking for some reviews from people with first hand experience. I don't have a lot of patience for shopping so the idea of getting it all out of the way in one go is very appealing.

I was considering paying for the consultation at £125 and then the free two hour shopping experience (the £125 is redeemable if I spend £500 on clothing).

Can anyone share their experience or offer any alternatives?

I did a free 2 hours session. Loved it. I would go for a free one tbh. They are very efficient (they go hunting whilst you try on) and know the stock/shop floor very well. If you don't get everything you want in one session I would be surprised - but if you don't you could always just book another session.

Have an idea of what you want - ie casual tops and trousers or work outfits. They will push some of your boundaries - but in a good way. When I was there looking for a couple of outfits for events there was only one thing that looked awful on me - the rest was great.

If you do the free one you have nothing to lose iyswim.

Debenhams do it too and I can recommend it. I've done it with them and with John Lewis. I've not paid for the consultation though.

I can't see why anyone would shop for themselves now. I use it for wedding outfits and wardrobe updates.

Yes do the free one, no need for longer and you can give them an idea of what you need in advance.

I've done the Jl one and I'd totally recommend it. As others have said, I'd go for the free one if I was you.

The tip about having an idea of what you want is a good one. My other comment would be that I don't know which JL you're thinking of going to, but I went to Westfield Stratford which is quite a small

I thought at the time that if I'd gone to eg Bluewater or another larger one, I'd have been totally overwhelmed by choice, so if you think you might be the same, go for a smaller branch. They still have tons of stuff but it's not quite so overwhelming.

My shopper asked what brands I liked which also narrowed it down as we could focus on those, plus some ideas she had which I wouldn't have thought of, rather than trying to pick from the whole shop.

Thanks for the replies, very encouraging to hear the positive feedback.

The reason I was tempted by the consultation is I have fallen into a rut and all I wear to work is black. From what I can gather they will spend time working out what colours/styles suit you best and I quite like that idea.

I might just can that and go for the free session first though.

Thanks for the tips!

I'd definitely can it. I did the colour/style one and found they didn't really tell me anything I didn't instinctively know (save that acid yellow suited me...). I only had an hour after that, which flew by and much of her time was spent going back out to the shop floor whilst I waited. I didn't get nearly £500 of stuff out of it so I then did a mad dash round the store (had somewhere else to go) to make up the amount (and then took everything except some jeans and a top back...).

I'd have far rather had the extra time trying clothes on, and will give them another go along those lines in the future.