At my WI meeting last night, we talked about M&S. We are a village WI, between Bath & Bristol. Bath M&S gets a better range than Bristol M&S - probably because more affluent & more tourists. My WI has an age range from 40-80 & we totally agree with Floisme's comments about what the Chairman said & with most of the comments here.
Why does M&S waste its time trying to chase younger customers? Why are the stylish good quality basics so hard to find? I've been looking for winter weight trousers too for work - why can they do men's wool machine washable trousers but not in womenswear? As someone else commented, go to Uniqlo for merino knitwear - I do.
There is some good stuff if you search hard enough - I used my 20% off voucher recently on footwear, Autograph velvet opaques (the best opaque tights) & a coat (an Ilse Jacobsen dupe). But there is a sea of awfulness to wade through. They need a good edit. It'll be interesting to see if Alyson Walsh (That's not my age) has an impact as she going to be collaborating with them on a series of style posts.
My WI members shop mainly on the high st - most hate online shopping due to the faff with returns but will use if they can be delivered to a local store. Favourite stores among them are M & Co, John Lewis, Mistral, White Stuff, Joules, East, Laura Ashley (only in sale times), & the ubiquitous Hotter for shoes (comfort!).