What is up with M & S?

The t-shirts I bought from M&S last year are now cut up and are being recycled into my rag rug.....sums it up really!

I tried again last week M & S Fosse Park Leicester and it was so depressing and drab. i popped into river island recommened by Mary portas as having done a good makeover in their shops. I have to say although the styles are not for me the layout was fabulous, easy to get round and lost of suggestions for co-ordinating their clothes and accessories. Ended up in Gap for day to day t-shirts - I could see my hand through the ones in Marks!

After Stuart Rose retired, I understood his successor was aiming to have all similar items (eg trousers, blouses etc) all in one place and then "subdivided". That seems to be happening in our M&S but not completely so it's a bit confusing! I love Indigo for casual stuff and their Tshirts are not bad quality for the price. Per Una is a bit over the top for me and I can't stand faux layers either! But I can always find something I want to buy!!

I'm bucking the trend on M&S. Between the ages of 21 and 60 I rarely went near the shop as I found the clothes so dull and boring. When Stuart Rose took over, stylewise, I thought the store picked up and I bought a few items but the quality of what I bought was so poor and the items so quickly ended in the ragbag that I didnt go back. This autumn M&S clothes seem to have both style and quality and I have bought a military style winter coat, several pairs of shoes and trousers there. Yes, there was an awful lot of black in the shop, a colour I never wear, and those dreadful Boudicca bras...... As for all the sub-brands, I cant say I take any notice of them or have clue what they stand for. I just get irritated because all the trousers, for example, are not in one place but scattered round the store. In the store I visited women's wear was all on the ground floor - except for another smallish area on the first floor. If I hadnt gone upstairs to see the shoes I would never have found this clothing section or winter coat I bought.

I've at last got over my disappointment with M&S and have accepted that it died a long time ago. Since I stopped frequenting the awful place I have discovered that, yes, I can get nice clothes in places like Wallis and Monsoon beautifully styled, coloured and good fitting. I would advise my contemporaries out there to 'quit the habit' of allowing our feet to automatically shuffle us to the old familiar shop hoping it has improved only to come out sorely disappointed and astonished at their awful merchandising. Forget M&S, after all, it has forgotten us.

Looking in M&S this afternoon in Liverpool I saw a nice Parka Jacket just below hip length and with the usual type of fur trim which you get with a normal Parka style coat,all very nice and very good fitting thought I,on looking under the collar to find how the hood was folded I find no hood,what is the point of doing a rain jacket without a hood ? What has happened to the designer's have they gone daft or something.

ariadne I agree, they seem to think we are contortionists. I can no longer fasten my bra behind my back (have to fasten at the front then twist it round and pull the straps up), let alone work a strap adjuster that is out of sight and reach, between my spine and my shoulderblade. The straps are harder to pull up onto the shoulders unless they are loosened, so they then need tightened again after the bra is in position ........

It gives a second answer to that old riddle "Put your right hand where your left hand cannot reach it" (standard answer is "on your left elbow")

I visited M & S to get a little dress for my GD this week. I also wanted a child sized duvet but was told that whilst M & S do them, this particularly branch didn't, which was disappointing but not the end of the world. When I was paying for the dress, a young employee rushed up to the desk and asked for the key to the disabled loo [it should be 'accessible' not 'disabled' but that's me being pedantic!!!] as he couldn't find it and someone wanted to use it. The girl serving me said it had been lost since the previous day! I was absolutely horrified. There was this person in a wheel chair having the embarrassment of asking for a key because she didn't have one and then it was lost! I don't know the outcome of the story but I personally find it totally unacceptable and will be writing to the manager. It's not what I expect of M & S

I was at M & S today - first time for ages - with daughter looking for emergency shoes for a wedding tomorrow (left hers at home!). Found shoes, but there was sooooo much stuff there that I took fright and ran back to the car and the safety of home

Today I tried on a dress, can't think why, as I rarely wear them, but also took into the changing a very tight short black skirt. I was trying to visualise myself with black tights and heels, but had second thoughts, as I go nowhere to wear such clothes!!! I really don't like their clothing in the 'granny grunt' section, it must be popular though???

AND - what is with this fashion for putting the adjustable part of bra straps at the back? Have just bought the usual bra from M&S - bet lots of you know which one, and lo and behold, it too has the * things at the back. I do like to be able to give myself a little rest now and then....(am quite well endowed apart from bit missing on the left) Another black Mark for M&S.

virginiaplain, I've been in our local, quite large, M&S today and they had a variety of cashmere sweaters and tunics in multi coloured stripes. Don't know if they would have them in the smaller stores or on-line.

I was in my local M&S yesterday and they were telling me of new plans/updates etc., etc., - I have to say the staff in my local store are lovely and very helpful. However they do not stock Autograph and I love this range so buy from the internet and am not usually disappointed...............

I missed M&S when I first came to Germany and used to fíll a suitcase with children's clothes when visiting Sheffield. I still buy on line sometimes but the quality is disappointing and some items are badly sewn. I complained about a jacket, one side was longer than the other. They removed it from their online pages but refused to refund my postage ( from abroad)

There is no danger here that anyone will apologise for you having to wait at the checkout, nor at a bank. If you have to wait then you wait.

On the otherhand when we have vistors from the UK they now go home with lots of clothes bought in Germany. We still have C&A which is fashionable in the cities and dowdy in the country areas amd quite few reasonable lables selling clothes for the mature wowan.

Suspected as much!

OK Twobabes, I get your point, i must have had a blow to the head!

I was in M&S this morning, likewise John Lewis and in both I was completely disoriented as they have re-arranged all their sections. JL has even moved some sections up two floors and relocated the ladies' loos. If only they would supply a map because there are never enough staff around to show you the way.

Popped into M & S in Truro as the car park led into it and though I would look for a winter hat and scarf - are they all made out of carpet remnants this year - they were so rough and hard!

Yeah, men in particular don't need any help buying clothes do they...
Another reason why I go to Gap where they genuinely try to be helpful in the changing rooms - e.g. run and get another size for you.
Just to digress, and to put off getting on with some work, I once, in a moment of madness, tried on a karen millen dress. The sizing was about 2 sizes out (their 14 is more like a 10 etc). Got the darn thing half on and then couldn't get out again. Alone in changing room, worried about tearing expensive dress, arms wedged above head, thought there should be a new word in the language for that particular brand of panic!

M&S staff available to help? Oh, come on, GG, be reasonable!!
That's like saying their prices and sizes should be clearly shown, clothes on display should be available in that store and that staff should know where to find them. There are limits, you know!

I would like to see more M&S staff on the floor ready to help.

Looks like M & S is about to have another big update, with new style Delis ( if you are a foodie ) and clothes being grouped into more sections for style etc as Per Una is now.

I read this in the Press so it must be true! So will wait with eager anticipation as I have always been an M & S shopper and can agree with so many of your comments. I hope Marks and Spencer staff are also reading them.....

I had my rant on here a month ago and vowed to boycott M&S forever, very po-faced looking back on it! I now have to eat humble pie and admit I have just bought a very pretty skirt, black with orange flowers, and a great top-black with a cut out flower detail round the neck. I guess even M&S can only please some of the people some of the time.

hi there
Every woman is entitled to at least one good M and S rant!

Don't get me started on M&S, their t-shirts are rubbish, one wash and they grow in size - widthways, I asked an assistant if they had any t-shirts that weren't £7.99 as I would like to buy something with a little more quality, she looked at me as if I was mad. All their fitted trousers, whether you are a size 6 or a 18 are made like jodphurs, with huge bulges on the hips. I brought two pairs of linen trousers, one black, one white, identical style, same price, upon washing them (only once,I may add) one pair is lovely and has retained its look, the other pair looks like a dish cloth and the leg is at least 1" wider than the other pair. I have checked the label, both were made in the same country. Do their cashmere sweaters only come in plain colours & styles, no choice, either round neck, roll neck or V neck - same length, nothing different and what's with this hankerchief bottom on everything from dresses to sweaters, haven't we now seen this for the laqst 3 years??? As you can possibly gather, I do not shop there anymore - thank you for listening if you have reached the end of this blog without dropping off to sleep!!!