Which clothes retailer going bust would you be most affected by?

[TheOGCCL]

I’m not sure as the last ten items I bought were all from different places, but maybe that is the challenge for retailers these days, they have lost their identities and with it their loyalty and clear customer base.

Potentially Next. Turns out I could easily live without M&S.

Me +em ,hush and Boden
but me+ em the most

Yes it's the reliability of those shops that I miss the most, I could always find something I liked. Can't think of a single retailer like that now.

I think some shops are almost like ghost shops - existing in name only but a shadow of their former selves. Some seem to build up their brand, or buy a well known one, and then enshittification kicks in and they rely purely on reputation and previous goodwill until they slowly sink.

A brand used to be a sign of quality, but to me the quality of the basic knickers in M&S now is no better and sometimes worse than Primark. They are coasting on their brand names and these days it will work for a couple of years max before they hit trouble.

I miss River Island, for example. It's still there as a name above a shop, but it's nothing like it used to be. It used to be a level or two above New Look, but I don't see the difference now.

M&S and Zara for me, too.

I also wear quite a bit of vintage era clothing, so when Collectif went under I was a bit devasted (it's thankfully been bought over and is back!)

M&S and Crew Clothing - really good quality - great for T shirts, hoodies and blouses.

@RestlessSparrow yes agree. Once upon a time there was a wonderful shop called Principles (1980/1990s) where you got beautiful clothes. Now the name is hosted by Debenhams to a range of horrors !

Yes 15-20 years ago a lovely shop and their own range in Debenhams

my go to brand

I was gutted by Matches going bust and especially losing Raey

I suppose now Net a Porter, but you can probably buy their stuff everywhere else. And in fact I buy most of my clothes from Zara these days.

Next directory is very convenient.

Most of my stuff is from BAM.

Raey (RIP) … Oh God, the scramble to find a reliable replacement!

Raey was: Toteme + Lemaire + Rohe + Margaret Howell + Toast + Studio Nicholson + James Perse + (new) Pollyanna of Barnsley + OG Topshop for grown ups + Auralee + Our Legacy + Co Collections + Petar Petrov + Uniqlo + Le Kasha + even Community Clothing.

It’s made getting dressed so bloody arduous.

When I was buying Raey I was running between the NW, London and Europe. Now I’m in a grand university city and am getting by on slowly transplanting succeeding MHL collections to my wardrobe. But I long for a badass leather skirt, or a ridiculous sequin encrusted hood (two things I deeply regret not buying at the time) and I resent having to buy from a website that never shows a face older than about 22, except on a craft page. Websites that do acknowledge older faces (Rohe, Petrov …) aren’t selling clothes that work for my current life - they’re all too fancy.

<Weeps>

Raey was Topshop Boutique - same designer

M&S or H&M because of how much I rely on both for my clothes and DD’s. I really missed M&S when they were “offline”.

If Shein went bust I wouldn’t know how to dress anymore. They are the perfect size for my petite body with no dreadful vanity sizing. Plus anything I can imagine in my head that I would like, is always there.

your style sounds fab

I was gutted when Monsoon shut but now it's under new management I have bought some lovely clothes on there.