A High Street Shopping Experiment | Where The Nice People Are Round 2

Yonks ago, back in what feels like the blogging dark ages, I wrote a blog post about where the nicest shopping experiences were to be had.  Just as a little experiment to show appreciation for the friendly people who make your day that bit nicer.  And yesterday I decided 3 years down the line to do High Street Experiment Round II, with different shops, and see where had the friendliest staff and who made for the nicest experience as a whole.  Tbh I felt a bit like the Hotel Inspector (who remembers Alex Polizzi and the yucky B&Bs?) but it was fun and I thought it’d be interesting to hear your guys thoughts on these high street shops too.  Like I said last time this was obviously based on specific staff, working on specific days, in specific branches, so by no means representative of every shop ever.  I’ll stop waffling now!

H&M

Let’s start with a good one shall we!  I decided my mission in H&M was to find a flowy midi skirt, and both Cecilia and Verity were really nice in helping me hunt one down.  My search for The One continues but nevertheless, thanks girls!  H&M didn’t have any size 8s or 10s (evidently everyone and their mother also wants a midi skirt) but I needn’t have fussed because the size 6 and size 12 I tried both fit anyway.  Not quite sure how that works!

Miss Selfridge

So yesterday’s Miss Selfridge experience was a bit meh, the girls pretty much just ignored me and carried on chatting to each other.   The store was really quiet so I guess they just maybe weren’t switched on or something, but they weren’t madly helpful.  I tend to prefer the Miss Selfridge concessions to the actual stores anyway – not sure why!  Oh and the changing rooms were freezing and kinda tatty.  Not exactly gonna make you want to hang about in there.

River Island

RI Resort Swimsuit

Firstly, can we have a moment of appreciation for RI Resort swimwear.  Goodness gracious they’re doing a good job.  This swimsuit of mine was from there last year and it’s forever a fave, but this new beaut might just knock it off top spot.  However they do seem to be pretty inconsistent with fit – my black one piece fits my long torso fine, but another I tried from the same range literally didn’t even reach my boobs.  This year’s snazzy new one just about fits, so I just need a beach holiday excuse now!

Anyway I digress.  Much as I loved the pieces in River Island, not much can be said for the shopping experience when nobody’s actually there to help you.  Good job I hadn’t picked a strappy item to get myself stuck in otherwise this gal would’ve been stuck in that cubicle a mighty long time.  So yeah RI, mixed opinions!

Saints & Sinners

This one isn’t a national high street store or anything but I thought it was worth a mention anyway!  I spied a pair of over the knee boots that looked ACTUALLY LONG so naturally had to try.  Much as I love my chunky heeled pair they only actually just cover my knees!  Rachel (I hope I’m spelling everyone’s names correctly, apologies if not) found me a pair to try straight away and was just lovely and chatty.  I like chatty people. 🙂

New Look

Unusually nothing jumped off the rails at me in New Look (maybe I’m just bored of Winter clothes) so I didn’t try anything on.  However Sam and Lizzy were really helpful in my quest to find a jumper dress online when the one I spotted in store didn’t look like it’d cover le buttcheeks.  Thanks guys!

Primark

First things first – if you want Primark to be a stress free experience then I can recommend Wednesday early afternoon.  And trust me I’ve been in there a lotta times.  Anyway, after seeing this tie waist shirt on Hannah Gale’s blog I decided I 100% needed it in my life and set about a mission to try it on.  I suspect the waistline would be 4 inches too high on me but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.  Alas, the lovely lady I asked in Primark knew straight away that they didn’t have it, so hopes crushed.  Impressive mental inventory of all Primark stock I must say.

Topshop

Praise the lord for strangers who help you into clothes when you foolishly pick up strappy clothes to take into the changing rooms on your own.  Helen who helped me into the dress I needed to try on (even my hyperextendable shoulder couldn’t help me get this one fastened) and offered to bring me a smaller size when said dress did that irritating back gapey thing.  And was also y’know, a smiley face to chat to.

I don’t think I’d have even noticed this dress on the website but it looks so much nicer in real life!

Topshop embroidered sandals

I have no reason for including a photo of these shoes other than you to join me ogling them.

Fat Face

I see bloggers wearing Fat Face all the time and always think they look fab.  Maybe the clothes just look 10x better on people than on mannequins/hangers but it just seemed a bit boring dare I say it!

Andddd that’s all I managed in one day.  Thanks to everyone in the Preston stores!  Now the next part of the experiment is for you to tell me where you think the nicest people are too.  Go!

lily kate x

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