I thought I loved shopping until I went to Hollister

[Drywhiteplease]

I can clothes shop till I drop, but this evening I nearly had a teenaged melt down in Hellisterhollister where I took my teenagers after a similarly traumatic experience in Abercrombie and fuckwit Fitch, for a treat whilst on holidaying US.
It's horrendous and I thought I was going to cry;

Crap lighting ( longsighted so couldn't read any prices or judge colours)
Crap sales staff
One cashier so huge queue
Avarage quality, no better than Gap at hugely inflated prices
Annoying music
The stuff my kids liked on the mannequins was not available in store and could no way be removed from the dummy.

I calmed down after a splurge in Mac and half a bottle of Pinot Grigio and a peanut butter cheesecake ( damn!!)

Rant over, anyone else feel same about other stores?

[Chubfuddler]

I get ragey in boots. I can never find anything and the same is true of every boots store everywhere.

[TheRealFellatio]

Oh but the sales staff are so so unfeasibly pretty, even the boys. Or especially the boys. How could you possibly have a had a crap customer experience when you could just look at all those beautifully turned mankles and floppy fringes? What on earth is the matter with you?
If you were expecting practical stuff like decent service, and being able to see what you were buying then you are clearly too old and frumpy to appreciate shopping as a young person's art form. Get back to Per Una where you belong.

Can I share your Pinot Grigio?

[TheRealFellatio]

The Shopping Day FRom HEll for me was always the pre-Septemeber term shoe shop. Two boys who couldn't give a stuff about fashion and just want to get back home as quick as possible, and would prefer me to measure their feet with a ruler and choose their school shoes and trainers for them, and one who thinks it's totally beneath him to wear anything less than 150 quid trainers.

After a minor, but controlled meltdown in Clarks we would then move on to JJB Sports which is the seventh circle of hell as far as I am concerned. I could usually be relied upon to do a full-on vomiting, head-spinning Linda Blair from the Exorcist by the time we'd been in there for half an hour.

[TheRealFellatio]

I only have one child who still needs school stuff now - it's bliss.

[Longdistance]

'Sports' shops. I use the term loosely, as most people that shop in them don't know what sport is if it bit them on the arse.
It's the array of awful labels closely stuffed into the shop, accompanied by loud music that makes your ears bleed, and the young shop 'assistants' who'd knock you over if you happen to be in their way.
I refuse to go in them, as they give me the rage

[MissBeehivingUnderTheMistletoe]

I use the torch app on my phone to light the way in Hollister

As for the stuff they display on the mannequins, sometimes its not even Hollister so you can't buy it, wtf is the point of that

[LadyMountbatten]

You're too old OP

[MadAboutHotChoc]

I'm with RealFellatio.

Shoe shopping esp when its for school shoes, trainers and rugby boots is hell with DS who hates shopping and wants to get home as quickly as possible and DD who rejects every single shoe in her size on the basis that its not what she has in mind (i.e shoes that are unsuitable for school) and she has to go to every single store in town.

[LadyMountbatten]

Oh god never do sports shopping yourself you weirdos.
Men do that

[Hulababy]

I was shopping with 11y dd yesterday as she had birthday money to spend. Two visits to Hollister and into Blott among others. I was reminded by dd in advance that iPhone torch is not allowed!!! I sat on the sofa and waited whilst he paid, etc

[BeckAndCall]

I LURVE Hollister! But I always have to take two teenage girls with me who are a size 10 or less......... I wonder what they do with all of the big clothes they make - you know, like size 12? They must just sell out really quickly, that must be it.

What I really hate is TK Maxx. It's like a jumble sale in a shop.

[Badvoc]

TK maxx.
I mean. Wtaf!?
It's basically a jumble sale.

[dexter73]

I don't like H&M. It looks like a jumble sale, no sales assistants on the tills and the sizing is all over the place.

[SoupDragon]

My memory of Hollister from a hot day last year is young male model type men in tight red swim shorts. Everything else is a blur.

[scarlet76]

Sports Direct or whatever they call their cheap sports stores. My 7th circle of hell. I can feel my blood pressure going through the roof as I step over the threshold.
DH tries to placate me everytime saying what a good deal we will get on trainers for DS and how they will have lots of cheap running gear for me.
The last visit there ended with me flinging a shoe - not that anyone noticed amongst the chaos and mess of the store. DH agreed it is probably better for me to pay ££ more elsewhere and save my sanity ;-)

[Hulababy]

I may have to put in a formal complaint to the Sheffield branch. The staff are all fully dressed every time I have been made to go in.

[AmberNectarine]

Yeah topless man outside Hollister is the highlight of my day. Never go in mind, that is the business of teenagers. When my time comes I will give them cash and send them on their way like my mother did before me.

New Look for me. I walk about 10ft into store and then turn and walk straight out. I'm sure there is good stuff in there but the assault of synthetic, sparkly shit on my senses is too much.

[carrie74]

I'm not a massive fan of Hollister, but don't mind A&F (and actually, find the quality better. H favours their Polos over others, and has several shirts as well).

I do object to M&S. Every so often, they seem to make something within the realms of fashion, so I persuade myself to go in. There are FAR too many clothes all with different brandings, with no kind of sense around the shop, the queues are always massive (although TBF, seeing as I generally don't find what I'm looking for, I don't tend to queue very often). It actually leaves me with a sense of rising panic, and I have to get out).

[orangepudding]

A couple of weeks ago I went to Hollister followed by Hamleys. Both shops were busy and claustropgic witg no easy way out. Primark on Oxford Street used to fuel like he'll but was pleasant compared to the other two shops!

[SoupDragon]

Hula, come to Regents Street

[Hulababy]

I may have to allow DD to visit that branch on our next trip down south then SoupDragon!

[SoupDragon]

Pick a sunny day :)

[MadAboutHotChoc]

And shopping with teenagers is guaranteed to suck all the joy out of clothes shopping...

[Startail]

Bad things, school shoes for DD1(15), back and forth between shops and still end up with frumpy Velcro strapped things like the last 4 pairs.

Why oh why can't there be a better choice for DDs who can't do courts/pumps without straps.

Or better still why can't they wear ankle boots, like lots of office workers do with their identical black trousers.

Good things trainers both DDs found trainers they liked, quickly in sports direct. Also two pairs of trainers = less than one pair school shoes.

Good things, 3 pairs of leggings for DD2, so hopefully she won't wear her see through Primark ones in public.

And DD1 bought herself some boots in republics sale, to have weekend shoes she does like.

[foxysocks]

agree with hellish nature of hollister, M&S, tkmaxx, new look. basically any shop that is crammed full off stuff and makes it hard to a. see what there is at a glance and b. navigate around easily.

H&M ok for vests and that's it imo. saying that, reading more about their marketing/manufacture policies has put me off buying anything there ever again.