High Street spending down...well what do you expect???
Discussion
Went into town over lunch (Rugby, Warwickshire) as I needed a new suit. Next- "sorry, we only sell men's suits at our out of town retail park branch".
Tried M&S. Guess what? "Nearest branch that sells mens' suits is Fosse Park, Leicester" Great, 50 mile round trip and the place that had documented parking rage over xmas. "We can get one in mail order if you want" Er, no, call me unconventional but I quite like to try them on first... FFS, since when can you not buy a suit at M&S? It's a business suit I want, not a space suit FFS!!!!
So I popped into a very old school gents' outfitters, not quite "oooo, suits you sir" but not far off it and got totally individual attention for 30 minutes (ooo-er!), "to be honest sir although that's a better quality suit as is reflected in the price the shoulders just don't sit right on you so I would go with the cheaper option". One nice suit later, I'm one happy customer, they've just upsold me to come back in the summer when I have lost the few pounds I am aiming to get rid of and get something made to measure.
So next time some big retail spokesman starts winging on breakfast TV about declining sales they can p
s off as far as I am concerned...perhaps they'll start realising that good old fashioned customer service is more important than the "seasonal line profitability" or whatever it was that the M&S sales assistant was on about!
Tried M&S. Guess what? "Nearest branch that sells mens' suits is Fosse Park, Leicester" Great, 50 mile round trip and the place that had documented parking rage over xmas. "We can get one in mail order if you want" Er, no, call me unconventional but I quite like to try them on first... FFS, since when can you not buy a suit at M&S? It's a business suit I want, not a space suit FFS!!!!
So I popped into a very old school gents' outfitters, not quite "oooo, suits you sir" but not far off it and got totally individual attention for 30 minutes (ooo-er!), "to be honest sir although that's a better quality suit as is reflected in the price the shoulders just don't sit right on you so I would go with the cheaper option". One nice suit later, I'm one happy customer, they've just upsold me to come back in the summer when I have lost the few pounds I am aiming to get rid of and get something made to measure.
So next time some big retail spokesman starts winging on breakfast TV about declining sales they can p
s off as far as I am concerned...perhaps they'll start realising that good old fashioned customer service is more important than the "seasonal line profitability" or whatever it was that the M&S sales assistant was on about!
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