Have you fallen out of “love” with a shop you previously loved?

[Britpopbaby]

For me it’s &Other Stories. Granted I looked in yesterday and did try something in but there’s been a change of direction and Inam not liking it.

I will look back and miss radley bags when they have gone. Another victim of private equity.
I am currently using a 15 year old radley bag but had stopped buying them because they were so expensive.
Ive got an old radley watch too.
I'll probably buy a new bag and maybe a watch before they disappear altogether.

Laura Ashley original stuff would survive anything. The cotton dresses were so pretty. I had a few, they felt a rare treat.

Reading this thread , ppl are basically done with EVERY brand. Same pattern.....brand comes along, everyone loves it. Few years down the line, it's gone off...moral of that tale seems to be.....constantly look for new brands that are making an effort....and when they think they have reeled you in and start making garbage.....ditch them and find something new and better...Dont give your money to brands that take your custom for granted and are taking the piss out of you !!!!

Don’t think there is a single shop that is my go to anymore. I think shops are trying so hard to keep prices down that the quality is suffering.

I remember when Next was great for smart work wear. I bought my work trousers and blouses from there, all great quality.
I only got rid of them due to putting on weight 🙁.
Does anyone remember Warehouse? I bought a long black skirt from there which washed and wore well. Plus a black skirt suit.

Far too much man made patterned crap now.
All mass produced.
All sweat inducing.
Although I do think women are voting with their feet and refusing to buy certain products.
For example I will only buy big, plain, cotton knickers in either nude, black or white.
The days of me buying scratchy, lacey knickers which ride up my crack are long gone.

I love Hush, but maybe because I only buy Jeans, some trousers and joggers. I make most of my own clothes these days, all of my dresses, blouses and tops and some trousers.

I used to really like Boden (years ago). I still like their swimwear. For anything else though, their quality has dropped and their prices have gone crazy. Anyone for a Polyester blend dress for £180? I suspect most of their buyers are in the USA where they remain popular.

Yes I was exactly the same but it's picked up a bit recently and I love it again. Their T shirts wash so well.

I found the same with Jonny Malone but went the other way and started wearing the Aqua Allegoria range by Geurlain. It's more expensive but absolutely delicious.

Sorry! Jo*

Oasis and warehouse in the 90s were brilliant.

80’s Warehouse was peak everything to me… and I worked at Miss Selfridge. The girls who worked there had the coolest look.
Had a friend who worked there so we would use each other’s discount.
I used to pass stuff on to my mum and she still had a silk shirt from Warehouse that she wore in her 70’s. It was expensive though. I can remember buying a suit in there in 1985 and even with my friend’s discount it was £70, and I earned £1.50 an hour on a Saturday.
Sales were the best - we picked out what we were buying and we’d stick it on a rail in the back with our names on.

OG Karen Millen wasn’t always seen as the most tasteful but the quality was fabulous.
I suppose around 2000/2001 it fitted with the times with all the logos about.
Once Karen left and the whole ownership changed, when I do look online everything is always in the sale?
I did love going in there back in the day.
Once bought an outfit in there head-to-toe including the shoes and bag and thought I was fabulous in it.
And then Bev from Brookside - iykyk - was wearing it on a date night with Ron and I got so much stick I couldn’t look at it. Looking back it was awful - fuschia low waisted trousers. Eek.

The mention of Rivals and Laura Ashley bring back such happy memories!! I had absolutely lovely stuff from LA - lovely tweeds and velvets and cottons. My most favourite ever evening dress came from there - black strapless velvet, sweetheart neckline with a petrol blue taffeta mermaid skirt and a bow-on-the-bottom. Years later, I bought the same one for dd billed as ‘vintage’. God I felt old!!

Does anyone remember Droopy and Brown? Peak 1980’s but the tailoring was exquisite!

I had an evening skirt from LA. It was proper cotton velvet, with a matching ruffled blouse, in ivory white. There was a matching jacket, which I couldn't afford. Think the jacket had a fitted waist. The skirt was calf length. It was very Rivals. I absolutely loved it.

Back in the day, I had a couple of proper velvet jackets from marks. One of them is still being worn and still gets compliments, it's a gorgeous mossy green, very well finished.

Velvet today is nasty synthetic stuff. Not proper cotton velvet.

H&M such awful quality

Never fell in love with H&M. Their kids clothes used to be good cheap quality.

Back in the day I loved C&A, which was similar. In my local town their branch had clock house boutique. And a cafe, which we thought the height of sophistication. Then we grew up.

BHS also had a really good self service restaurant. It used to get packed, a shopping day treat. The food was grotty and overpriced long before bhs closed.

House of Frasers used to have a range of nice places to eat. They also got grotty and overpriced.

Their Linea range was very good before it got taken over. Never buy anything now

BHS sons school trousers he was very slender the adjustable waistband was invaluable. The fabric was indestructible too. Other suppliers weren't nearly as good.

I miss Ladybird at Woolworths for young mothers. Children's clothes cute, Inexpensive but well made.

Mothercare was always hit and miss quality wise in clothes.

RIP topshop, the best shop. Eta: also Miss Selfridge.

Jaeger, back when they had shops, not just outlets in M&S. I have several things that were all expensive at the time but which were made so well they will last me forever. I used particularly to like the Jaeger London line which was more fashion forward. I used to save up for things, and they were really worth saving up for.

The death knell sounded for Hush when they messed with the quality of their bread & butter Alexa harems. Used to be a lovely weight cotton jersey with a properly draping leg on a deep leg cuff. They drastically reduced the fabric quality and skimped the cut, flatly denying they’d changed anything. They were instantly dead to me.🤣

@PetulaGordeno Yep - I got a lot of stuff from Finery in 2016 - 2018 when I moved in to a job that required smarter dress than I was used to. I loved their affordable but interesting and well made workwear. I still wear a lot of the stuff I bought during that period.

I stopped needing to buy new work clothes during the Covid lockdowns and then moved to a job with more casual dress code. I went back to the website last year when I was on a project that required me to travel and attend conferences and board meetings, I was looking for a smart, easy to wear jersey dress.

The website is now full of horrible frumpy, floral polyester tea dresses and, what a very blunt friend of mine calls "fat bird shirts" - awful baggy shirts and tops that hang from the boobs, making even the slimmest and petite-est of women look enormous - so we larger of boobed or wider of shoulder stand no chance!

I don’t buy Boden nowadays because of the hunting connection but today I’m wearing a stripy t shirt from there that is probably about 15 years old and it’s still like new. I’ve got some ten year old Bretons from there that are still lovely and sorting through some old clothes the other day I found a couple of their silk/viscose Ravello tops which I had for work years ago. They are so floaty and light that they were perfect in the heat.

Agreed and they are awful for the environment