Whatever happened to...

We still call it St Michael in our house!

Who is St Michael and what have M&S done with him?

I don't know what happened to him but I do know things have got worse since he disappeared

Apparently St Michael disappeared in 2000. He arrived in 1928 and was either called after Simon Marks father (Michael), or because he complemented St Margaret who was the brand of the firm's original suppliers. To be honest I had forgotten all about him until this thread reminded me !

When did we start calling Marks and Spencer stores M&S come to that?

It was always Marks and Sparks when I was growing up.

St Michael clothing was made at The Corahs factory in Leicester for M&S.

I think there was originally the St Michael range for men and the St Margaret range for women. At some stage they used St Michael for both.

DS1, when told we were going shopping, would ask " Do we have to to Marks and 'Spensive?"

Awww ? Phoenix although they used to be cheap, they started off with a barrow in Leeds Market.Didn't they do well?

Didn't they,,,, grr iPad.

Should have been "go" in my post, roses grrr Kindle! ?

I can remember St Margaret as well

When did we start calling shops "stores"

My son worked McDonald's in the late 90's and into this century and always used the word store
I thought it a bit posh at the time but guess it's an Americanism

St Michael disappeared when they had the clothes manufactured in far flung corners of the world. St Michael was the patron saint of quality which is no longer associated with M&S.

I still find M and S clothes of very good quality harrigran. I really can't remember ever having to return any item of clothing because it wasn't up to scratch!

Well someone (sorry, can't remember who) on this forum very recently was complaining about some M&S sheets which hadn't even lasted 6 months - she did obtain a refund with no fuss, but even so...

I have had blouse seams that came apart on first wearing, garments that twist out of shape on washing and I had a sheet that pilled and became see-through after one wash. Have you ever noticed the smell of the dressing on the fabric, yuck.

I always thought that they used the name St Michael to hide the fact that they were a Jewish company (were they?).

We always called the village shop "the store" back in the 50s when I was growing up.

Ilovecheese said "When did we start calling shops "stores"

I think it was when we no longer had shopkeepers. A store manager is not the same thing:-)

I dont even use the name M&S i just call it Markies

It doesn't matter what it's called, this season's clothes are horrible. I am, once again, disappointed with their range. Grannypiper, we call it Marksies

Think we started calling shops stores around the same time as we started calling all tv programmes 'shows' . Does annoy me.

I agree, icanhandthemback...their clothes are grim. What happened to their quality classics?