I went shopping on our local high street last week for the first time since Christmas. It was a beautiful day and was mostly enjoyable.
However, I went to Monsoon to see a top that I had liked the look of online. I located the top I’d seen online (but wanted to do quality/size check in person) and liked the look of it, but wanted to see it against me in a mirror. It wasn’t possible. There were no fitting rooms open (although competitors like Mint Velvet did have open fitting rooms). I’d have been happy with a mirror on the shop floor, but there were none that weren’t either in the darkest corner of the shop or almost completely obscured by rails of clothing. Surely they would sell more even if they have less stock out, by allowing people to see what they look like?
Reminds me of Laura Ashley before its demise - our local one had such low level energy saving lightbulbs in its fitting room that you couldn’t see yourself at all - the staff seem demoralised and ‘not allowed to use any initiative at all to make it easier to sell things.
Another example is shop fitting in Phase Eight branches. The rails are too high. The average height of a woman in the U.K. is 5’4. It makes it much harder to look at the clothes properly. When they did their restyle a few years back, the local staff told me that they knew it was a mistake, but they had no input or discretion. Why?