Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Original poster

Which popular shops DON'T you shop in?

146 replies

Bearpawk · 26/12/2023 17:21

Saw some pics of the inevitable Next boring day sale queues in the press today and it struck me that I've never bought anything there. I'm 40 so probably their target demographic ? It's a store I'd never think to go in, these days, it's just not for me.

I guess I buy a lot of H&M, Cos, Uniqlo, Arket and Vinted for LF markey/ Ganni /
toast etc. Undies and thermals from M&S.

OP posts:
teaandtoastwithmarmite · 26/12/2023 18:55

I do buy from next buy mainly online as the shop never has anything I like except for the other day I found a bag, jeggings and leggings

Kwasi · 26/12/2023 18:56

I buy to last, so avoid Primark and Boohoo. I am short, so don't bother with River Island, Zara or Mango.

These days, most of what I buy comes from Vinted.

TonightMatthewIamgoingtobecher · 26/12/2023 19:01

@tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz 200 degrees coffee?

IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 26/12/2023 19:40

Bearpawk · 26/12/2023 18:33

Ok @PickAChew it must have been an article about previous year queues. I didn't read it but was just scrolling. It was definitely people queueing outside a next - I remember in my local city people queuing at 6am for the sale: it was always in the paper

Next last opened on Boxing Day in 2020. There are articles about this year's Boxing Day sales but it's very lazy journalism if they're using photos of Next.

Solymoly · 26/12/2023 19:50

I have a Next account and buy lots of branded stuff from there, likewise M&S, don't use the shops though. I bought lots of branded stuff in the Next sale online last Thursday

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 26/12/2023 19:53

Zara. About 15 years ago the same assistant gave me a long, slow stare and told me that they don't do clothes for people as big as me. I was a size 14, and was actually asking her to explain their sizing for my (much smaller) mum.

Primark - they don't to internet shopping, I'm rarely near their shops. I'm also old and not fashionable, so I'd rather spend more or something higher quality, once.

Solymoly · 26/12/2023 20:11

I don't like Zara or H&M, the quality is not good at all.

LolaSmiles · 26/12/2023 20:15

Any ultra fast fashion online brands such as Pretty Little Thing, Misguided, Boohoo, Shein, and most high street shops like New Look, Zara and River Island.

I went off Zara and then saw an instragrammer doing some deep dives into Zara on quality which confirmed some of my impressions about declining quality.

Primark has some items that are good quality for the price so they're my compromise on some items for fast fashion worn slowly.

TheOGCCL · 26/12/2023 20:17

Zara
Shein
Cos
Arket
And Other Stories
Monsoon
River Island
Bershka
Hollister
Massimo Dutti
Fat Face
Hobbs
Urban Outfitters

And anything designer

Mumaway · 26/12/2023 20:17

Never Next. As kids my mum wouldn't take us because she said the sales were rip offs with stuff bought in, and otherwise too expensive. As a young adult I worked there, and she had definitely been correct! The sizing is also super weird for adult women, and kids clothes just overpriced for high street tat.

Solymoly · 26/12/2023 20:20

Better to get clothes from the supermarkets than most of the high street clothes shops as the quality can be better. The only high street clothes shop I go in and buy clothes from is Seasalt.

Solymoly · 26/12/2023 20:24

Next online is the best really, if you pay for the yearly delivery you can have all the brands delivered to your doorstep and not really bother to go anywhere else. I buy a lot of my Seasalt stuff from Next

tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz · 26/12/2023 20:51

TonightMatthewIamgoingtobecher · 26/12/2023 19:01

@tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz 200 degrees coffee?

No not the one. Don't want to say which as it would possibly be outing Grin

tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz · 26/12/2023 20:51

Although we do have one of those

tiktokontheclock · 26/12/2023 21:04

Next always seems better online but I always return anything I buy online too.

Mairzydotes · 26/12/2023 21:43

Zara

Also , Amazon . I've managed to get this far without ordering there.

MaloneMeadow · 26/12/2023 22:16

River Island! I have no idea how they haven’t gone under. Walking into one of their stores is like going back to 2012. Glitter, gold, rhinestones and chavvy branding on literally everything

Tiddlywinkly · 26/12/2023 22:41

H&M, Zara, ASOS, Next, Primark etc.

I try to buy less and go for good quality and ethics, but I appreciate that I could not afford to prioritise that in the past.

Original poster
Bearpawk · 26/12/2023 23:41

agree Zara quality is dreadful recently, although I very much like their clothes - last few items all fell apart at the seams very quickly so I shaln't be buying from there in future.

OP posts:
Original poster
Bearpawk · 26/12/2023 23:42

Tiddlywinkly · 26/12/2023 22:41

H&M, Zara, ASOS, Next, Primark etc.

I try to buy less and go for good quality and ethics, but I appreciate that I could not afford to prioritise that in the past.

@Tiddlywinkly where do you show now you can afford quality?

OP posts:
Steppingintome · 27/12/2023 05:55

Quite a lot of them don’t appeal to me but I do shop online at next. Mainly different brands not the next brand itself. Just easy returns if it doesn’t fit or suit.

a few mentioned here I’ve never even stepped in one of their shops

Thatswhy11 · 27/12/2023 06:00

I never seem to buy anything from River Island. The quality is much better than Zara. Mango is another shop I never really purchase anything from.

PieAndLattes · 27/12/2023 06:05

River Island - I’ve never liked anything in there. Next - I used to absolutely love Next in the late ‘80s - I even worked there for a bit as a student. It was originally conceived as a brand to sit between M&S and Jaeger and it did its job perfectly; lovely designs, good quality fabrics, great design, quirky and interesting lines (e.g. Next Too), quite expensive but worth it, but now it’s just Primark with notions.

Ragwort · 27/12/2023 06:06

None ... ... I aren't even stepped inside a clothes shop for years ... about 15 years ago I decided to spend a year only buying clothes from charity shops and have just carried on ... it's quite liberating-I have a lot of good charity shops where I live & I also get to know the ones which have the brand new M & S lingerie ...

I used to work for a fashion retailer and their lack of ethics (whatever they might say in the press) about exploiting workers was truly shocking.

heartofglass23 · 27/12/2023 06:09

Same next story as others- did the sales in late 90s. Not bought there for several years. Same with RI.

I actually like some M&S but only at sale prices!

Never been to Zara, All Saints, Superdry, Abercrombie & Finch, Hollister, White Stuff, Oliver Bonas, Arklet, Uniqlo, H&M, Matalan.

Have some Monsoon, Seasalt,Hobbs, Phase Eight, Fat Face, Tu, Levi's but again only in sales.

Swipe left for the next trending thread