M & S - not a happy shopper!

I get M and S online and think it is way overpriced now so I no longer buy anything. I used to love their clothes but whoever is in charge now needs to be replaced because they just don’t look nice anymore. A shame because it forces you towards places like Temu where they are often very cheap but no quality.

M & S don't have much choice, and they are all so short!

They used to. I have three, all old now and one very old indeed, they're like long but soft t-shirts. Wish I'd bought more at the time. Just below one length.

I'll look at Sainsbury website, thank you.

My main gripe is night shirts. I hate wearing pyjamas and getting them all wrapped round my legs in bed. I just want a tee shirt style night dress that's about knee length. M& S don't have much choice, and they are all so short! I have my 12 year old grandson staying every weekend and I don't want him getting a flash of buttocks every time I lean across the work top to pick something up. I've had really good ones from Sainsbury so why can't M&S do it?

I first ordered thermal vests from Damart nearly forty years ago when I worked out doors. No online ordering then just ordered by post from an advert in a magazine. Even after all those years they still send out their catalogues.
You can buy long sleeved thermal vests from larger branches of Asda.

Witzend Noooooooooooooooooo.

Richmond is already a shadow without East, Dickins and Jones, Uniqlo and Laura Ashley. I know they all went a while back.

I lived there in my early 20s and still have a navy leather handbag from Dickins and Jones 56 years ago. I could cry!

HelterSkelter1

Witzend I also hunted for a sales counter upstairs in the Richmond MS branch. No staff either on the floor to ask. And a rather grubby loo.

Shopping is so disappointing these days.

However a friend bought a very smart denim jacket from Damart and is pleased with it.

I hear the other day that the upper floor of Richmond M&S is going to close! It’s apparently going to turn into a gym.
The ground floor - certainly the food dept. - will remain. I used the upper floor cafe very recently - on a Tuesday, not a busy weekend day,
It was extremely busy. If they’re going to ditch that, I should think it’ll lose them a fair bit of revenue.

Of course these shops are closing! It's because people prefer to shop on-line, except me that is!

I agree. Out local town has lost an MS, BHS, Debenhams. It has gained an MS food Hall.
Other smaller shops have gone as well. The town is a shadow of its former self. Shopping was a pleasant experience. Just so sad.
Losing the MS was the worst as it was quite a large one and until the final year was always busy.

MS thermals are excellent as are Uniqlo ones. Luckily I bought long sleeved vests from both shops a few years back and still wear them. I do wash them with care.

You’re very lucky to still have a proper M&S nearby. Our lovely Wakefield store has just announced it’s closing its long‑standing city centre site — the one with the full range of womenswear, menswear, kids, gifts, beauty and café — and replacing it with an out‑of‑town food‑only shop that’s really awkward to reach unless you drive.

I’m genuinely sad about it. That store has been there for as long as I can remember, and its loss will leave yet another huge gap in the town centre. It sits right next to the old BHS and not far from Debenhams, both of which have stood empty for years, so it just adds to the feeling of decline.

I really miss the days of popping into real shops and making a day of it in a busy, thriving town or city centre. Today’s shopping experience feels nothing like it used to, and it’s such a shame to see places that were once full of life slowly disappearing.

I was surprised to find reduced packs of M&S themal vests and The most fabulous thick magic leggings sold by M&S also half price on the
Ocado web site. I saved a fortune and it was delivered by a lovely man with my groceries to the kitchen

Perhaps the store had no stock left or the size of the store couldn't accommodate the item. Nearest M & S to me is 18 miles away but small, eg for winter coats there was a selection of only 3 styles.For anything I'm looking for especially clothing I check online if the store has any stock of size, colour etc before travelling.

I have to say that for thermals, you'd be hard pressed to beat some of Aldi's stuff.

M& S gone downhill, would rather cater for under 40's not everyone now...

JaneJudge

what is Damart?

Once considered to be providers of thermals for the older lady, getting Princess Diana as a customer made them a great deal more well known among all age groups.

"On the 12th September 1991 the late Princess Diana visited the Damart UK head office in Bingley, West Yorkshire for a grand tour of the company.

During her visit, palace staff stocked up on thermal underwear from the shop, for her to wear during winter! Princess Diana herself revealed she kept warm in freezing weather by wearing fashionable thermal underwear saying “I’m like a walking advertisement for Damart”.

It was a true testament to the quality of Damart thermals, that they were considered good enough for royalty!"

www.damart.co.uk/our-heritage

I haven't bought from MnS online, or at all lately, as I can’t get there, but I used their click and collect a lot previously, because I need blue badge parking, and it was so convenient.
The last time I ordered they added £3.00 to click and collect, with no warning until the payment page at the end. Why do I have to pay for picking up a parcel from their premises?
I cancelled the order. {Possibly for a thermal camisole!}

Tbh I'd have just bought the men's rather than messing about. If you're wearing it under something anyway nobody will see it. I used to wear my partners thermal longjons in winter.

Damart is old fashioned in my view. I live nearby and I have been to the store but won’t buy. It made me feel ancient.
Primark, George, Tu ( Sainsbury’s) M & S are all good for thermal underwear.

Grannycool52 it didn’t work quite like that when I worked there, from 1982 to 2012.
Clothing wasn’t graded by quality, the same was sent out to all stores, but they worked with ‘packs’ and store selling space.

Each department eg ladies knitwear would group their lines into packs, so for example pack A would be sent to all stores and be the basic lines, packs A&B would be sent to mid size stores and large stores would get A,Band C which had luxury lines in it.

That’s an oversimplification as there were many more packs than 3 and the challenge came with stocking small stores in affluent areas, the sort that would want pack C cashmere and not pack A acrylic.

Sorry to waffle on about it, and as I’ve been gone for almost 14 years it’s probably done completely differently now!

M&S doesn’t seem to have them in store much after Christmas. I wonder if people tend to buy them up early in the winter? They don’t seem to have them at all in the summer months.

I prefer what have I got here? What have you used? That’s because it’s it’s what you use isn’t the right stuff it’s not really chocolate the Uniqlo ones too - very thin so brilliant for layering - I can wear them m under a t-shirt with a jumper on top and don’t feel too bundled up. DH has one of their extra thick ones which he said was brilliant on a photography day out in the recent very cold weather.
They are a Japanese company with stores in larger cities.

Our nearest clothing M&S is 45 miles away but we do have the benefit of a food store in town, easy to collect and return orders.
No Primark, Sainsbury’s or Waitrose/JLP near us either.
It sometimes feels we’re in the back of beyond on the Lincolnshire coast

Allira

JaneJudge

I honestly have never heard of them. I thought it was an American firm but I think I'm thinking of walmart

When I get paid I'm going to buy some socks from there

Walmart used to own Asda but only has a very small stake in it now.

I keep hearing that Walmart might leave the United States soon because of Trump and his tariffs. Probably unlikely, but the way things are going, who knows?

I don't know about nowadays, but M&S used to categorise their shops as A, B and C.
I learned about this on a uni field trip to M&S years ago.
So A flagship stores were the central London ones, cities like Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and Belfast had B flagship stores and the shops in provincial towns and suburban shopping centres were C stores.
The best items, including the best finished ones and with the best fabrics, and those made in certain factories, went to the A stores, the good but not best ones went to the B stores and the least well made ones to the rest of the stores.
I hope that's not still the case.

Lucky you for having a M and S close, mines over 20 miles away, I can order online and pick up at a M and S food hall which is 10 miles away, I don't live in the back of beyond either.

pennyg
Uniqlo have heattech with several different necklines including polo neck. They have some that is a cashmere mix too.

I gave up on the women's thermal tops as they all seem to have a wide 'boat' neckline, which means cold neck & shoulders; I now buy the M&S men's thermal tops - not so pretty perhaps, but they're better value & have a sensible neckline!