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’m still disappointed by the demise of LKBenett. Was a lot of beautifully cut, stylish clothes in beautiful colours and of course the staple shoes. Then tried too hard, expanded into the American market and went all ditzy and floral. And eventually disappeared. Liked Hobbs in the same era and went to many weddings in a Hobbs dress but now is just over priced and dowdy office wear. Even my mum who is nearly 80 thinks it’s old fashioned. Phase eight then became a staple but now doesn’t know who it’s making for. I think it’s dowdy. Older friends thing it’s too
young.

Like Sweaty Betty … Lululemon.

They had really edgy legging prints, lovely lifestyle/leisure clothes with a great design element and now it’s just bleh technical workout stuff in gruesome fabrics. Black or sludge green leggings. So …meh

DIL had a lovely jumper and trousers hung up the other day. Sainsbury's she said.

I'm a hoarder of clothes, luckily have the room. I'm diving into stuff twenty, thirty and even forty years old. Summer dresses I'm just rotating ones from sea salt, fat face , white stuff, Zara etc I've had forever in this heatwave.

I topped up winter jumpers during COVID lockdowns when the sales were good.

I'm done with leggings they're as disposable as tights. Knickers falling apart in months. Mumsnetters put me onto a fabulous brand though I've bought 15 pairs just in case they get pulled.

Don't get me started on estee Lauder. When a Chinese consortium bought them my lovely single eyeshadows were ditched. My perfume went rancid in a few months. I'm done with them.

I totally miss LK Bennett.

Hush ( loved their stuff but never even consider them now)
Boden (used to love a cashmere cardi at Christmas)
Toast - was a big fan and wore their dresses on first dates with DH1 and DH2 (but still find occasional piece and love ReWorn)
Hobbs - granny
Whistles - granny

So many brands seem to go shapeless and baggy.

I do like Cos though. If you get the size and cut right.

I have a very old pair of Sloggi pants that I swear must have magic properties - they seem to go on and on, they have survived so many of my twice-yearly 'shabby pants culls' because they haven't faded, frayed, lost their elastic or developed holes. I bought them at least 10 years ago in a sale somewhere, wish now I'd bought more but they were still relatively expensive on sale - although given their lasting power, they were brilliant value.

Agree M&S. Not much stock in store. Don't like self service. They've stopped doing half sizes in shoes.
For years, I thought it was me, no it wasnt, their tights are awful!!
Quality has dropped. I used to love their merino jumpers, i used to buy several a year, i have some that are over 6 years old. Two that I have bought in the last 12 months have disintegrated into holes. I now buy from Hobbs, more expensive, but better quality.

Not sure where body shop went wrong. I occasionally buy hand cream, but nothing else interests me.

I hate Lush. I hate the smell when I walk past. I used to love a bath bomb.

My latest shop for shower gel and hand wash is rituals.

I really miss Debehams. Their beauty department. It was good for occasionwear too.
Other sadly missed, principals, richards shops, Wallis, precis petite, country casuals.
I will miss radley bags when they are gone.

I haven't been tempted to buy anything from Monsoon as an adult, but I have worn some of my mum's Monsoon dresses from the 80s/90s. They are gorgeous and so well made. The fit seems better too.

The best quality items I've bought in recent years are from Community Clothing and Brora. I hope they don't change!

I still buy from Whistles, Hobbs and Boden because of them having a petite range. There is some cashmere, linen and cotton, and I'll tolerate synthetic fabrics that look OK in an occasion dress. But there is a lot of stuff I skip over.

What are snags politics that you disagree with?

I have a lot of their tights (although I won’t buy glittery ones again, the glitter just comes off.)

Toast - find everything a bit samey and shrinks when washed.
Sezane - as above and nothing especially special about it.
Andotherstories - really overpriced and can buy pretty much exactly the same things, much cheaper in H&M

On the other hand, really liking M&S after not buying anything except knickers there for the last 20 years. Ditto Zara - didn't shop there for years and really having a moment (for me anyway).

Asda. So overpriced now for average standard goods. Their stuff is OK but not the quality of Morrisons and Sainsburys, and yet the prices are higher. It used to be the go-to place for cheap and cheerful prices and goods. No more. Overall, Morrisons and Sainsbury's are cheaper, and as I say, better quality goods.

Asda started to go downhill about a decade ago, because when you went in, around 15% of what you were looking for was out of stock. Then the prices started to go up. Staff seem a bit miserable half the time too. They used to be the friendliest.

I would be really pissed off if the only main supermarket in my little town was an Asda. Luckily for me it's a Morrisons.

Agree! I now don’t buy anything at Sweaty Betty unless it’s in the sale - it’s overpriced for its quality now.

Boden. Had some lovely, simple, thick jersey dresses from there about ten years ago. Saw recently they had brought back the same style dress so ordered a couple- they were so thin they were almost see-through! And one of them weirdly had zero stretch, despite being described as a cotton/elastane mix.

That's interesting.

How can you tell the difference between painted on and woven in?

Bershka, topshop, zara, guess, karen millen. I really miss A wear that was my favourite in college.

Meant to say that I would be on FB groups where there would be rumours of new Lululemon prints and I’d be queueing to get them as they would sell out in a day. These days I can’t remember when I last bought anything!

Thank you! I now know where to shop!

I think M&S have improved a lot lately. I can always find something.

Regarding natural fibres, I don’t get the obsession. A well made item in a good man made fibre (viscose, etc ) can be just as nice a silk and I find leather and linen alternatives nicer to wear than the real thing but cotton and wool alternatives are , I agree , never as good

M&S - wish they'd stop trying to be innovative and would just supply good quality fairly plain undies, knitwear, jeans, trousers, t-shirts, blouses etc in a wide range of colours, for men, women & children. I was so put off when they first introduced their Atmosphere range that I really only buy food in there these days. Uniqlo seem to have stepped in to fill the M&S gap!

I wouldn't go so far as to say 'gone off' - yet, but this morning I've been sorting some clothes out and ended up comparing a Joe Browns dress from 2 or three years ago with a Seasalt one I bought recently.

The Joe Browns one is really heavy and 95% viscose, Seasalt much lighter weight (style is similar) and 100% organic cotton which has made me think I'll look at their stuff more often instead of defaulting to JB which has also gotten really expensive in recent years.

Next - everything covered in awful graphics and prints when I just wanted a nice top! Their kids clothes are lovely though, wish I could buy some of those for adults!
Fatface - so expensive now and everything just looks frumpy and some of the patterns are horrible.
I still love body shop though so I'm surprised it's mentioned on here.

Uniqlo and Cos have been mentioned here, but they are the two shops that I buy most of my clothes from. I don’t wear prints and I like cotton and linen so they are both good shops for me. But I have to be careful in Cos as I am petite so I can be overwhelmed by their clothes sometimes.

I would be lost without those two. I love the simple cotton clothes!

I used to love Fatface for their cotton or wool knits, easy soft short or long sleeved tops, jeans that looked and felt comfortable and worn in, cosy clothes with a better colour palette and pattern design than ordinary, not all navy and black. It now seems to be far away from its original ethos of exploring, camping, surfing etc and seems to be verging on silly, with silly high prices, voluminous puffed sleeves, jeans like sail boats, all just clothes for posing rather than doing. The men’s clothing has thankfully remained pretty much the same as always but the prices are ridiculous now.

Aren’t Boots’ shelves empty due to them hiding stock from the shoplifters? The smaller stores especially look so sad and empty.

I don’t go in store that much but find their online shop is really good,
Particularly for kids. Far more variety, and the quality of relatively cheap T-shirts, jumpers, joggers etc is still noticeably better than primark.