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London shopping
- Thread starter vintage_princess
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Where can one find the best selection of Isabel Marant and A.P.C.? and what market (Portobello, Spitalfields, etc) is best for vintage clothing and accessories?
Checkout Portobello Market and the vintage shops on and around Portobello Rd.
This article may also help..http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/321614/the_best_vintage_clothing_shopping.html
This article may also help..http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/321614/the_best_vintage_clothing_shopping.html
Kate_Moore
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^Thanks for that!! 
I'm going to stay at Harrow House college (that's in Hampton Court if I'm not wrong) so I'd pray if one of the excursions was to the Portobello Market.
I've been said that the college it's pretty near from the second largest shopping centre in London, but I don't know its name and which shops I'm going to find inside it. Anyone knows what I'm talking about?
I'm going to stay at Harrow House college (that's in Hampton Court if I'm not wrong) so I'd pray if one of the excursions was to the Portobello Market.I've been said that the college it's pretty near from the second largest shopping centre in London, but I don't know its name and which shops I'm going to find inside it. Anyone knows what I'm talking about?
^^ Not entirely sure about that...but you may be near Lakeside shopping center which is apparently the largest shopping area in Europe!It is in Thurrock, Essex.
http://www.urbanpath.com/london/boutiques/index.htm - some other info for you!
http://www.urbanpath.com/london/boutiques/index.htm - some other info for you!
Kate_Moore
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^Thanks for the website 
but I couldn't find anything on that page so I googled it.
If anyone's interested : http://www.lakeside.uk.com/
We can find there: Claire's, French Connection, Gap, H&M, Lacoste, Marks&Spencer, Oasis, Primark, Topshop, Zara, etc... for Ladies fashion and then a wide selection that goes from Shoes to Hair and Beauty, not forgetting opticians, pet shops, mobile phones...
Oh, and it has a Personal Shopper service too.
but I couldn't find anything on that page so I googled it.If anyone's interested : http://www.lakeside.uk.com/
We can find there: Claire's, French Connection, Gap, H&M, Lacoste, Marks&Spencer, Oasis, Primark, Topshop, Zara, etc... for Ladies fashion and then a wide selection that goes from Shoes to Hair and Beauty, not forgetting opticians, pet shops, mobile phones...
Oh, and it has a Personal Shopper service too.
Consumer testing London's shops
London shops have a bad reputation when it comes to customer service, but how guilty are they? Time Out's shopping experts – designer-clad diva Maggie Davis, scruffy girl-about-town Kate Riordan and geeky guy Tom Lamont – go mystery shopping, donning distinct outfits to see if they get treated differently
High street
Mission To find a last-minute outfit for a wedding
Topshop
Maggie The Oxford Street branch is always rammed – even on a Sunday afternoon when it’s piddling with rain. I set sail down the escalators and target the first shop assistant I see. She is young and lanky, and slightly reminiscent of Brit model-of-the-moment Agyness Deyn. ‘I’m looking for a dress to wear to a friend’s wedding next weekend,’ I say. ‘There are lots over in that direction,’ she replies. ‘Just near the Kate Moss collection.’ So far, so good – but I need more than someone pointing me the right way. I wait. ‘Would you like me to take you and help you find one?’ she asks. ‘Yes please,’ I reply, managing not to sound to sarcastic. Once we’re there, she proceeds to point out about five groovy, metallic mini-dresses. All fabulous, but not quite my style. ‘OK, there are loads around here,’ she says. Then she disappears into the sea of shoppers. This being Topshop (allegedly the world’s busiest fashion store), I’m strangely impressed. If I’d had the time, I could have booked a free appointment with a style advisor, after all. Compared with the service at H&M and many other high-street shops, it’s more than acceptable. Significantly, I also discover that staff are prepared to look for your size in the stock room if its not on display and don’t come out with that excruciatingly annoying catchphrase: ‘If it’s not on the shop floor it means we haven’t got it.’
Mission Failed, but only because the styles were slightly too young for me.
Customer-service rating 6/10.
Kate It’s lunchtime in the school holidays, so naturally Topshop is crammed full of schoolgirls arguing petulantly with their mothers about skirt length. It takes me a good ten minutes to locate a member of staff who’s not chained to a till, or speeding past with a rack full of clothes, exuding unapproachability. Finally, I grab a girl tidying a rail and tell her I need a last-minute wedding outfit. Are the smart dresses all in one place? She tells me that dresses are everywhere but the smarter ones are all ‘behind Kate Moss’. I presume she means the concession rather than the woman herself and set off (on my own). A gangly male student-like male employee is now in my sights. I ask him if some nearby dresses are a bit sparkly and shiny for a wedding and he agrees they are. I find I’m feeding him lines but he’s very well-meaning and friendly and then suddenly – eureka! – a lightbulb goes off in his head and he suggests Topshop’s ‘Boutique’ range, telling me he’ll take me there himself as he’s ‘going that way’. Once we arrive, he leaves, saying, ‘Sorry I haven’t been very helpful’. But – in his own way – he has.
Mission Just about accomplished.
Customer-service rating 6/10.
Tom I hardly expected the ever-busy staff to approach me offering help, but someone is there as soon as I start to throw out looks of vague appeal. The assistant, a tall chap like me, immediately takes to the task of finding me some trousers that won’t taper off at my shins. Of course, my studenty garb goes unmentioned. Most of it was bought here anyway.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 8/10.
Topshop/Topman, 214 Oxford St, W1 (020 7636 7700/www.topshop.co.uk) Oxford Circus tube. Open Mon-Sat 9am-8pm, Thur 9am-9pm,Sun 12noon-6pm.
WORST OVERALL CUSTOMER SERVICE
H&M
Maggie I stalk into H&M at the Tottenham Court Road end of Oxford Street determined to find a shop assistant within two minutes. I do, just. ‘Hello,’ I say in a firm but friendly manner. ‘I’m looking for an outfit to wear to a friend’s wedding. Please can you help?’ The shop assistant looks bemused and then blank. ‘Nah,’ she says. ‘You’re better off trying the Bond Street branch.’ Well, I reason to myself, it’s information, even if delivered without charm. En route, I also try my luck in the huge (and hellish) Oxford Circus branch. Here it takes me more than three minutes to find a shop assistant – I think she is down in the basement. ‘I’m looking for a dress to wear to a friend’s wedding,’ I explain. ‘I don’t think we do them,’ she says, looking slightly annoyed to be pestered with a question. I persist: ‘Really, nothing at all?’ Wearily she replies: ‘Okay, I’ll ask someone.’ Two minutes later she returns. ‘Sorry, we don’t have them – try the Tottenham Court Road end or the Bond Street end.’ Feeling a bit like the retail equivalent of a pinball, I head to the Bond Street branch, where this time it takes me even longer to find a shop assistant. Again she is down in the basement putting accessories out. I repeat my question. She frowns, looking quite angry. ‘NO!’ she barks. ‘We don’t do that kind of thing,’ and promptly goes back to displaying the 99p earrings. I am appalled.
Mission Failed.
Customer-service rating 0/10.
Kate I ask a woman folding jumpers for some help. ‘Smarter stuff is over there,’ she replies, waving vaguely in one direction. After she’s dealt with me, I watch as she gesticulates in a similar fashion at other customers looking lost, but never budging from her spot. I walk around for another ten minutes looking for a different member of staff to ask but there’s no one to be seen. You have to fend for yourself here.
Mission Failed.
Customer-service rating 1/10 for not actually being rude with it.
Tom Though no busier than Topshop in terms of customer numbers, H&M's service seems markedly more disorganised and frantic. Appeals to the tattooed Euro-staff are never ignored outright, but most assistants are dashing from one task to another and too busy to offer personal help.
Mission Failed.
Customer-service rating 3/10.
H&M, 261-271 Regent St, W1 (020 7493 4004/www.hm.com/gb) Oxford Circus tube. Open Mon-Wed, Sat 10am-7pm,Thur, Fri 10am- 8pm, Sun 12noon-6pm.
Luxury designer
Mission Ask for help with new-season accessories in Prada, and ‘guilt and quilt’ bags in Chanel
Prada
Maggie Just off the Victoria Line I head to Bond Street with neat hair, air-brushed makeup and smart attire, and – it must be confessed – a slight sense of anxiety. My ruse is to act like a rich b*tch who’s dying to part with wads of cash. The security guard opens the door with a smooth, ‘Hello, madam’. Demurely I walk across the blush-coloured carpet and head straight for accessories. The store’s already buzzing at 10.30am on a Friday morning due to the fact the new autumn collections have arrived. My mission is to ‘buy’ a chic Prada purse. Within a second of my looking at the glass cabinet, an extremely friendly and smiley male shop assistant says how nice these styles are. ‘Oh, yes,’ I coo in euphoric agreement. ‘Can I have a look at this one please?’ I point at a cream purse with a divine and perfectly placed metal Prada logo. The fun banter begins. I explain that I want it for my birthday and that I’m hoping my other half is going to buy it for me. ‘Good idea!’ he says. ‘When’s your birthday?’ ‘November,’ I lie realising how inconveniently distant it seems. Perhaps I’ve just been rumbled. ‘So, that’s um… how many days?!’ he jokes and proceeds to write down the style name, code and price on a card. Temptation strikes. I seriously contemplate buying it. Good sense gets the better of me, but this shop assistant’s enthusiasm, approachability and friendliness has worked a treat.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating: 10/10.
Kate My heart is in my mouth on the way down Sloane Street. The store’s virtually empty when I get there, so it’s only my (high-street) flip flops on the plush carpet. I walk to the back and am drawn to a pair of purple reptile-skin peep-toe heels which would be the antithesis of a practical purchase. I sneakily look at the price on the sole: £615. A shop assistant is by this time hovering so I ask for her help and – blow me! – she smiles. She gets me a pair in my size and I shove my feet in, aware that I could do with a pedicure and that my flip flops are on the grubby side. My assistant is not effusively friendly, but she’s polite. All the time I’m in there, I’m aware that the hulking security guard has come to stand nearby. Perhaps it’s paranoia but I find myself wafting around, picking up heels and putting them down, and trying to look as unlike a shoplifter as possible. When the second pair I have fetched for me fits, I explain that my boyfriend’s actually buying them so can she write down the name for me. She says they’re the only purple crocodile skin heels they do so there’s no need. ‘Thank you, madam,’ she says, as I leave. Madam!
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 7/10.
Tom After a few minutes of aimless wandering, I'm spotted by a friendly assistant who takes me under her wing, offering to explain the range of handbags and purses. I mumble my cover story (mum’s birthday, special present, always been her dream to own a handbag that costs more than a castle) and the rest is a breeze. I must visibly flinch at the price of one bag – my instinct is to swivel and run – because soon she disappears downstairs, to find me something a little cheaper. We spend so long talking about a leather-lined bag with secret pockets that I come worryingly close to buying the thing, before remembering that I haven’t the money, it isn’t my mum’s birthday, and, anyway, she’d prefer a castle.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 9/10.
Prada, 16-18 Old Bond St, W1 (020 7647 5000/www.prada.com) Green park tube. Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Thur until 7pm; 43-45 Sloane St, SW1 (020 7235 0008/www.prada.com) Knightsbridge tube. Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm.
Chanel
Maggie When it comes to intimidating shops, Chanel tops my list. Is it the ultra-chic and iconic black logo or simply the fact it’s French? I take a deep breath and saunter in, after being greeted amicably by the doorman. A petite French sales assistant swiftly looks me up and down. I’m unsure whether it’s simply out of natural interest or to suss out the price of my clothes (I suspect the latter), but either way it makes me feel a little more self-conscious than at Prada. I make eye contact with a more approachable shop assistant. ‘Can I help?’ she asks in polite but frozen tones. ‘I want to buy a classic 2.55 bag,’ I explain. She gets examples out and then talks me through the various different leathers (calf skin vs lamb skin) and is clearly an expert on the subject. I start to become unhealthily excited by the options. Once more, good sense prevails, but I ask her to write down both styles on a card with the price. She has defrosted somewhat when she realises how serious (and enthused) I am about owning one.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 6.5/10.
Kate When I go into Chanel, a gaggle of grown-up sisters and their large mother are congregated in the jewellery section. Meanwhile, two small boys, apparently belonging to them, chase each other around the glass cases on wheely trainers, putting finger marks everywhere and shrieking loudly. I make eye contact with the doorman who looks pained but remains mute. So is this what it means to be seriously rich – not caring that your kids are running riot in Chanel? I browse the handbags for five or so minutes until a very dapper man asks if I need help. I explain that ‘my father’ (‘daddy’ would be pushing it) is going to treat me to a handbag and I want one from the new season. He tells me that all those on display are new season. I pick at random a big, squashy brown one, hoping I’ll earn some kudos for picking one of the least ostentatiously labelled bags in the shop. I ask what colours it comes in and how much they are and, after some casual slipping it onto my shoulder for size, declare it to be the one. ‘Can you write it all down for my father please? After all, he’s the one with the money,’ I say gaily. He laughs politely. As I leave, the long-suffering doorman holds the doors open for me and says ‘Thank you very much, madam’ – the subtext being ‘at least you’ve got some manners.’
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 8/10.
Tom As at Prada, I am treated like minor royalty as soon as I enter. My hoodie and grimy strap-bag go unnoted. Instead, I breeze into the cover story and am immediately presented with a choice of lamb-skin handbags. I even manage to slip the phrase ‘new season’ into conversation. The assistant, Caroline, is friendly and consultative, never pushy. Prices are, discreetly, never mentioned; instead she writes them down for me to consult later. I like this; I can be rendered breathless with horror in my own time.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 10/10.
Chanel, 26 Old Bond St, W1 (020 7493 5040/www.chanel.com) Green Park tube. Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm; 167/170 Sloane St, SW1 (020 7235 6631/www.chanel.com) Knightsbridge tube. Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm.
London shops have a bad reputation when it comes to customer service, but how guilty are they? Time Out's shopping experts – designer-clad diva Maggie Davis, scruffy girl-about-town Kate Riordan and geeky guy Tom Lamont – go mystery shopping, donning distinct outfits to see if they get treated differently
High street
Mission To find a last-minute outfit for a wedding
Topshop
Maggie The Oxford Street branch is always rammed – even on a Sunday afternoon when it’s piddling with rain. I set sail down the escalators and target the first shop assistant I see. She is young and lanky, and slightly reminiscent of Brit model-of-the-moment Agyness Deyn. ‘I’m looking for a dress to wear to a friend’s wedding next weekend,’ I say. ‘There are lots over in that direction,’ she replies. ‘Just near the Kate Moss collection.’ So far, so good – but I need more than someone pointing me the right way. I wait. ‘Would you like me to take you and help you find one?’ she asks. ‘Yes please,’ I reply, managing not to sound to sarcastic. Once we’re there, she proceeds to point out about five groovy, metallic mini-dresses. All fabulous, but not quite my style. ‘OK, there are loads around here,’ she says. Then she disappears into the sea of shoppers. This being Topshop (allegedly the world’s busiest fashion store), I’m strangely impressed. If I’d had the time, I could have booked a free appointment with a style advisor, after all. Compared with the service at H&M and many other high-street shops, it’s more than acceptable. Significantly, I also discover that staff are prepared to look for your size in the stock room if its not on display and don’t come out with that excruciatingly annoying catchphrase: ‘If it’s not on the shop floor it means we haven’t got it.’
Mission Failed, but only because the styles were slightly too young for me.
Customer-service rating 6/10.
Kate It’s lunchtime in the school holidays, so naturally Topshop is crammed full of schoolgirls arguing petulantly with their mothers about skirt length. It takes me a good ten minutes to locate a member of staff who’s not chained to a till, or speeding past with a rack full of clothes, exuding unapproachability. Finally, I grab a girl tidying a rail and tell her I need a last-minute wedding outfit. Are the smart dresses all in one place? She tells me that dresses are everywhere but the smarter ones are all ‘behind Kate Moss’. I presume she means the concession rather than the woman herself and set off (on my own). A gangly male student-like male employee is now in my sights. I ask him if some nearby dresses are a bit sparkly and shiny for a wedding and he agrees they are. I find I’m feeding him lines but he’s very well-meaning and friendly and then suddenly – eureka! – a lightbulb goes off in his head and he suggests Topshop’s ‘Boutique’ range, telling me he’ll take me there himself as he’s ‘going that way’. Once we arrive, he leaves, saying, ‘Sorry I haven’t been very helpful’. But – in his own way – he has.
Mission Just about accomplished.
Customer-service rating 6/10.
Tom I hardly expected the ever-busy staff to approach me offering help, but someone is there as soon as I start to throw out looks of vague appeal. The assistant, a tall chap like me, immediately takes to the task of finding me some trousers that won’t taper off at my shins. Of course, my studenty garb goes unmentioned. Most of it was bought here anyway.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 8/10.
Topshop/Topman, 214 Oxford St, W1 (020 7636 7700/www.topshop.co.uk) Oxford Circus tube. Open Mon-Sat 9am-8pm, Thur 9am-9pm,Sun 12noon-6pm.
WORST OVERALL CUSTOMER SERVICE
H&M
Maggie I stalk into H&M at the Tottenham Court Road end of Oxford Street determined to find a shop assistant within two minutes. I do, just. ‘Hello,’ I say in a firm but friendly manner. ‘I’m looking for an outfit to wear to a friend’s wedding. Please can you help?’ The shop assistant looks bemused and then blank. ‘Nah,’ she says. ‘You’re better off trying the Bond Street branch.’ Well, I reason to myself, it’s information, even if delivered without charm. En route, I also try my luck in the huge (and hellish) Oxford Circus branch. Here it takes me more than three minutes to find a shop assistant – I think she is down in the basement. ‘I’m looking for a dress to wear to a friend’s wedding,’ I explain. ‘I don’t think we do them,’ she says, looking slightly annoyed to be pestered with a question. I persist: ‘Really, nothing at all?’ Wearily she replies: ‘Okay, I’ll ask someone.’ Two minutes later she returns. ‘Sorry, we don’t have them – try the Tottenham Court Road end or the Bond Street end.’ Feeling a bit like the retail equivalent of a pinball, I head to the Bond Street branch, where this time it takes me even longer to find a shop assistant. Again she is down in the basement putting accessories out. I repeat my question. She frowns, looking quite angry. ‘NO!’ she barks. ‘We don’t do that kind of thing,’ and promptly goes back to displaying the 99p earrings. I am appalled.
Mission Failed.
Customer-service rating 0/10.
Kate I ask a woman folding jumpers for some help. ‘Smarter stuff is over there,’ she replies, waving vaguely in one direction. After she’s dealt with me, I watch as she gesticulates in a similar fashion at other customers looking lost, but never budging from her spot. I walk around for another ten minutes looking for a different member of staff to ask but there’s no one to be seen. You have to fend for yourself here.
Mission Failed.
Customer-service rating 1/10 for not actually being rude with it.
Tom Though no busier than Topshop in terms of customer numbers, H&M's service seems markedly more disorganised and frantic. Appeals to the tattooed Euro-staff are never ignored outright, but most assistants are dashing from one task to another and too busy to offer personal help.
Mission Failed.
Customer-service rating 3/10.
H&M, 261-271 Regent St, W1 (020 7493 4004/www.hm.com/gb) Oxford Circus tube. Open Mon-Wed, Sat 10am-7pm,Thur, Fri 10am- 8pm, Sun 12noon-6pm.
Luxury designer
Mission Ask for help with new-season accessories in Prada, and ‘guilt and quilt’ bags in Chanel
Prada
Maggie Just off the Victoria Line I head to Bond Street with neat hair, air-brushed makeup and smart attire, and – it must be confessed – a slight sense of anxiety. My ruse is to act like a rich b*tch who’s dying to part with wads of cash. The security guard opens the door with a smooth, ‘Hello, madam’. Demurely I walk across the blush-coloured carpet and head straight for accessories. The store’s already buzzing at 10.30am on a Friday morning due to the fact the new autumn collections have arrived. My mission is to ‘buy’ a chic Prada purse. Within a second of my looking at the glass cabinet, an extremely friendly and smiley male shop assistant says how nice these styles are. ‘Oh, yes,’ I coo in euphoric agreement. ‘Can I have a look at this one please?’ I point at a cream purse with a divine and perfectly placed metal Prada logo. The fun banter begins. I explain that I want it for my birthday and that I’m hoping my other half is going to buy it for me. ‘Good idea!’ he says. ‘When’s your birthday?’ ‘November,’ I lie realising how inconveniently distant it seems. Perhaps I’ve just been rumbled. ‘So, that’s um… how many days?!’ he jokes and proceeds to write down the style name, code and price on a card. Temptation strikes. I seriously contemplate buying it. Good sense gets the better of me, but this shop assistant’s enthusiasm, approachability and friendliness has worked a treat.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating: 10/10.
Kate My heart is in my mouth on the way down Sloane Street. The store’s virtually empty when I get there, so it’s only my (high-street) flip flops on the plush carpet. I walk to the back and am drawn to a pair of purple reptile-skin peep-toe heels which would be the antithesis of a practical purchase. I sneakily look at the price on the sole: £615. A shop assistant is by this time hovering so I ask for her help and – blow me! – she smiles. She gets me a pair in my size and I shove my feet in, aware that I could do with a pedicure and that my flip flops are on the grubby side. My assistant is not effusively friendly, but she’s polite. All the time I’m in there, I’m aware that the hulking security guard has come to stand nearby. Perhaps it’s paranoia but I find myself wafting around, picking up heels and putting them down, and trying to look as unlike a shoplifter as possible. When the second pair I have fetched for me fits, I explain that my boyfriend’s actually buying them so can she write down the name for me. She says they’re the only purple crocodile skin heels they do so there’s no need. ‘Thank you, madam,’ she says, as I leave. Madam!
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 7/10.
Tom After a few minutes of aimless wandering, I'm spotted by a friendly assistant who takes me under her wing, offering to explain the range of handbags and purses. I mumble my cover story (mum’s birthday, special present, always been her dream to own a handbag that costs more than a castle) and the rest is a breeze. I must visibly flinch at the price of one bag – my instinct is to swivel and run – because soon she disappears downstairs, to find me something a little cheaper. We spend so long talking about a leather-lined bag with secret pockets that I come worryingly close to buying the thing, before remembering that I haven’t the money, it isn’t my mum’s birthday, and, anyway, she’d prefer a castle.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 9/10.
Prada, 16-18 Old Bond St, W1 (020 7647 5000/www.prada.com) Green park tube. Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Thur until 7pm; 43-45 Sloane St, SW1 (020 7235 0008/www.prada.com) Knightsbridge tube. Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm.
Chanel
Maggie When it comes to intimidating shops, Chanel tops my list. Is it the ultra-chic and iconic black logo or simply the fact it’s French? I take a deep breath and saunter in, after being greeted amicably by the doorman. A petite French sales assistant swiftly looks me up and down. I’m unsure whether it’s simply out of natural interest or to suss out the price of my clothes (I suspect the latter), but either way it makes me feel a little more self-conscious than at Prada. I make eye contact with a more approachable shop assistant. ‘Can I help?’ she asks in polite but frozen tones. ‘I want to buy a classic 2.55 bag,’ I explain. She gets examples out and then talks me through the various different leathers (calf skin vs lamb skin) and is clearly an expert on the subject. I start to become unhealthily excited by the options. Once more, good sense prevails, but I ask her to write down both styles on a card with the price. She has defrosted somewhat when she realises how serious (and enthused) I am about owning one.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 6.5/10.
Kate When I go into Chanel, a gaggle of grown-up sisters and their large mother are congregated in the jewellery section. Meanwhile, two small boys, apparently belonging to them, chase each other around the glass cases on wheely trainers, putting finger marks everywhere and shrieking loudly. I make eye contact with the doorman who looks pained but remains mute. So is this what it means to be seriously rich – not caring that your kids are running riot in Chanel? I browse the handbags for five or so minutes until a very dapper man asks if I need help. I explain that ‘my father’ (‘daddy’ would be pushing it) is going to treat me to a handbag and I want one from the new season. He tells me that all those on display are new season. I pick at random a big, squashy brown one, hoping I’ll earn some kudos for picking one of the least ostentatiously labelled bags in the shop. I ask what colours it comes in and how much they are and, after some casual slipping it onto my shoulder for size, declare it to be the one. ‘Can you write it all down for my father please? After all, he’s the one with the money,’ I say gaily. He laughs politely. As I leave, the long-suffering doorman holds the doors open for me and says ‘Thank you very much, madam’ – the subtext being ‘at least you’ve got some manners.’
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 8/10.
Tom As at Prada, I am treated like minor royalty as soon as I enter. My hoodie and grimy strap-bag go unnoted. Instead, I breeze into the cover story and am immediately presented with a choice of lamb-skin handbags. I even manage to slip the phrase ‘new season’ into conversation. The assistant, Caroline, is friendly and consultative, never pushy. Prices are, discreetly, never mentioned; instead she writes them down for me to consult later. I like this; I can be rendered breathless with horror in my own time.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 10/10.
Chanel, 26 Old Bond St, W1 (020 7493 5040/www.chanel.com) Green Park tube. Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm; 167/170 Sloane St, SW1 (020 7235 6631/www.chanel.com) Knightsbridge tube. Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm.
Cutting-edge fashion shops
Mission Looking for a ‘trendy’ present
Kokon to Zai
Maggie It’s lunchtime on a Thursday and I walk into this excruciatingly hip shop selling dance music and obscure cutting-edge fashion labels just off Soho Square. In my white patent-leather heels, black trousers and cream jacket, I couldn’t be less appropriately dressed; this is the shop that stocks Marjan Pejoski, the nutty designer who created the famous swan dress for Björk, after all. The shop assistant is clearly not impressed – but is he impressed by anybody? Certainly he’s happy to ignore me for precisely six minutes as he chats to his friend on his mobile phone. Then the shop phone rings. He picks it up still ignoring me. ‘Yeah, you couldn’t get through to me on the mobile because I was talking on it,’ he announces loudly. Obviously another of his friends. I feel like I’m interrupting, but persist with a deliberately intrusive grin. ‘Hang on a second, I’ll call you back,’ he says to the other friend, looking a bit pissed off. ‘Hi,’ I say. ‘I’m looking for a present for my younger brother who is very cool and into clubbing.’ He looks at me with deep pity, but then suffers a brief attack of helpfulness. ‘Okay, here we have some brightly coloured T-shirts which use the print from Westwood’s 'Pirate' collection; these ones are more wearable and these are quite original,’ he says. I root through them, but the helpful attack has passed, and he has disappeared to talk on the phone out the back. My smart clothes and Oliver Peoples sunglasses aren’t effective in the slightest.
Mission Failed.
Customer-service rating: 2/10
Kokon To Zai, 57 Greek St, W1 (020 7434 1316/www.kokontozai.co.uk) Tottenham Court Rd tube. Open Mon-Sat 11am-7.30pm, Sun 12noon-6pm.
Dover Street Market
Kate After a lacklustre performance by Kokon To Zai, where staff were still unpacking huge boxes of stock at 11.30am and had had the door locked until I hammered on it, I feel trepidation at the thought of six floors of seriously cutting-edge design over at Mayfair’s Dover Street Market. I’ve got scruffy trainers on – but not in a cool way – and the music on my iPod is defiantly untrendy. However, when I go in I am immediately greeted cheerily by two assistants. Wondering if this is a one-off I go up to the top floor and another nice assistant asks if I need help with a big grin. Overwhelmed by the politeness, I head to the basement and tell the equally friendly bloke down there that I’m after a T-shirt for my brother. ‘How old is he, how tall is he and what music is he into?’ he immediately replies, obviously relishing the challenge. He spends the next ten minutes with me, introducing me to Japanese designers I’ve never heard of but whom Kanye West apparently rates (I said my brother was into hip hop). Before I leave, he tells me what to find on the other five floors and even recommends a rival streetwear store for a label Dover Street Market doesn’t stock in full. He is not only unpretentious and nice but genuinely very knowledgeable; I leave very impressed.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer service rating 10/10.
Tom An awkward experience. I am immediately halted on entry by a trendy, positioned in what looks like a popcorn stand. He’s only asking what kind of clothes I’m looking for, but manages to make the query sound more like a demand for justification of my entry into the shop. Uncomfortable, I browse the £600+ jackets on the ground floor for ten or so minutes, but no one offers help and I’m too nervy to ask. I exit awkwardly, feeling like a shoplifter.
Mission Failed.
Customer service rating 2/10.
Dover Street Market, 17-18 Dover St, W1 (020 7518 0680/www.doverstreetmarket.com) Green Park tube. Open Mon-Wed, Fri, Sat 10am-6pm, Thur until 7pm.
Department stores
Mission To be personally directed to the other end of the store (on purpose) and then get decent, unpatronising advice on flat-screen TVs in the electrical department
Selfridges
Maggie It’s a busy Sunday when I head to Selfridges, one of my favourite shops, and pretend I don’t know it like the back of my – obviously well-manicured – hand. The helpful man standing by the escalators directs me down toward the TV department with a smile and within minutes I am gazing with some fascination at droplets of sweat on footballers’ foreheads on the enormous HD screen. I look at all the sets for several minutes before attracting anyone’s attention – a couple who look seriously interested in buying are garnering more assistance – but I decide to persist and act as if I’m hoping to buy a widescreen, HD, flat-screen TV. ‘What’s the best one on the market?’ I ask a shop assistant who takes me straight to an obscene £2,000 Panasonic model with a ridiculous 50-inch screen (obviously aimed at men – though you should never judge a man by the width of his TV…). ‘How about best value for money?’ I ask. He takes me down another aisle to an £800 Samsung model that comes in black or white and explains it’s a good deal for the price. I ponder and then ask him to explain what high definition actually means. My eyes become as glassy as the surrounding TV screens when his lecture ensues. I leave feeling none the wiser about the finer details of LCD and plasma TVs, but maybe I wasn’t listening properly (it’s a hard job being a mystery shopper). At least I now know where I can get a good-quality £800 flatscreen HD TV.
Mission Failed but partly due to my own lack of interest.
Customer-service rating 5/10.
Kate Friendly and useful advice, though it takes quite a while to find an assistant. Even a deliberate obtuseness on my part in understanding the difference between HD and HDD doesn’t faze the man; he knows his stuff.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer service rating 7/10.
Selfridges, 400 Oxford St, W1 (0870 837 7377/www.selfridges.com) Bond St tube. Open Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 9.30am-8pm, Sun 12noon-6pm.
Harrods
Tom A mixed experience here. As soon as I enter, there’s a man in a bright yellow sash, offering maps and information. He directs me to the electronics department, where I am fairly quickly swooped upon by an informative, if terse, assistant. He answers my questions, but seems a little dubious that I’ll buy anything. He’s right – I won’t – but that didn’t stop the luxury handbag people making an effort. I’m a bored-looking young male with enough time and disposable income on my hands to be wandering around Knightsbridge on a Monday morning. Try to sell me a bloody big telly!
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 5/10.
Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Rd, SW1(020 7730 1234/www.harrods.com) Knightsbridge tube. Open Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 12noon-6pm.
What we’ve learned
Maggie 'Wearing smart clothes doesn’t necessarily get you better service – even in designer shops – but it does help give you confidence. More important than anything else is being sure of what you want – if you have time, look at the shop’s website first to be sure of what they stock. Don’t have preconceptions about shops being snotty either. If you go in with a negative attitude, you are unlikely to enjoy the experience. Expect good customer service and you never know, you might actually get it.’
Kate ‘London’s shop assistants don’t seem to mind what you wear, though I’d have felt more confident down Sloane Street in a pair of heels. Refreshingly, shopping for high fashion, such as the wares at Dover Street Market, doesn’t equal being sneered at by too-cool-for-school types either. If you’re polite and you persevere, almost everyone is nice back. That London has the worst shop service is definitely a myth.’
Tom ‘I normally hate to ask for help in shops – I’m one of those people who pounds in, buys something, and pounds out again, as quickly as possible. But being forced into it for the purpose of this investigation was a really pleasant surprise. I couldn’t believe that someone like me – who doesn’t look very wealthy – could walk into a shop where the handbags cost a grand and still get smiles and good service. But I did.’
what they wore to the shops:
maggie
Kate:
Tom:
timeout.com/london
Mission Looking for a ‘trendy’ present
Kokon to Zai
Maggie It’s lunchtime on a Thursday and I walk into this excruciatingly hip shop selling dance music and obscure cutting-edge fashion labels just off Soho Square. In my white patent-leather heels, black trousers and cream jacket, I couldn’t be less appropriately dressed; this is the shop that stocks Marjan Pejoski, the nutty designer who created the famous swan dress for Björk, after all. The shop assistant is clearly not impressed – but is he impressed by anybody? Certainly he’s happy to ignore me for precisely six minutes as he chats to his friend on his mobile phone. Then the shop phone rings. He picks it up still ignoring me. ‘Yeah, you couldn’t get through to me on the mobile because I was talking on it,’ he announces loudly. Obviously another of his friends. I feel like I’m interrupting, but persist with a deliberately intrusive grin. ‘Hang on a second, I’ll call you back,’ he says to the other friend, looking a bit pissed off. ‘Hi,’ I say. ‘I’m looking for a present for my younger brother who is very cool and into clubbing.’ He looks at me with deep pity, but then suffers a brief attack of helpfulness. ‘Okay, here we have some brightly coloured T-shirts which use the print from Westwood’s 'Pirate' collection; these ones are more wearable and these are quite original,’ he says. I root through them, but the helpful attack has passed, and he has disappeared to talk on the phone out the back. My smart clothes and Oliver Peoples sunglasses aren’t effective in the slightest.
Mission Failed.
Customer-service rating: 2/10
Kokon To Zai, 57 Greek St, W1 (020 7434 1316/www.kokontozai.co.uk) Tottenham Court Rd tube. Open Mon-Sat 11am-7.30pm, Sun 12noon-6pm.
Dover Street Market
Kate After a lacklustre performance by Kokon To Zai, where staff were still unpacking huge boxes of stock at 11.30am and had had the door locked until I hammered on it, I feel trepidation at the thought of six floors of seriously cutting-edge design over at Mayfair’s Dover Street Market. I’ve got scruffy trainers on – but not in a cool way – and the music on my iPod is defiantly untrendy. However, when I go in I am immediately greeted cheerily by two assistants. Wondering if this is a one-off I go up to the top floor and another nice assistant asks if I need help with a big grin. Overwhelmed by the politeness, I head to the basement and tell the equally friendly bloke down there that I’m after a T-shirt for my brother. ‘How old is he, how tall is he and what music is he into?’ he immediately replies, obviously relishing the challenge. He spends the next ten minutes with me, introducing me to Japanese designers I’ve never heard of but whom Kanye West apparently rates (I said my brother was into hip hop). Before I leave, he tells me what to find on the other five floors and even recommends a rival streetwear store for a label Dover Street Market doesn’t stock in full. He is not only unpretentious and nice but genuinely very knowledgeable; I leave very impressed.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer service rating 10/10.
Tom An awkward experience. I am immediately halted on entry by a trendy, positioned in what looks like a popcorn stand. He’s only asking what kind of clothes I’m looking for, but manages to make the query sound more like a demand for justification of my entry into the shop. Uncomfortable, I browse the £600+ jackets on the ground floor for ten or so minutes, but no one offers help and I’m too nervy to ask. I exit awkwardly, feeling like a shoplifter.
Mission Failed.
Customer service rating 2/10.
Dover Street Market, 17-18 Dover St, W1 (020 7518 0680/www.doverstreetmarket.com) Green Park tube. Open Mon-Wed, Fri, Sat 10am-6pm, Thur until 7pm.
Department stores
Mission To be personally directed to the other end of the store (on purpose) and then get decent, unpatronising advice on flat-screen TVs in the electrical department
Selfridges
Maggie It’s a busy Sunday when I head to Selfridges, one of my favourite shops, and pretend I don’t know it like the back of my – obviously well-manicured – hand. The helpful man standing by the escalators directs me down toward the TV department with a smile and within minutes I am gazing with some fascination at droplets of sweat on footballers’ foreheads on the enormous HD screen. I look at all the sets for several minutes before attracting anyone’s attention – a couple who look seriously interested in buying are garnering more assistance – but I decide to persist and act as if I’m hoping to buy a widescreen, HD, flat-screen TV. ‘What’s the best one on the market?’ I ask a shop assistant who takes me straight to an obscene £2,000 Panasonic model with a ridiculous 50-inch screen (obviously aimed at men – though you should never judge a man by the width of his TV…). ‘How about best value for money?’ I ask. He takes me down another aisle to an £800 Samsung model that comes in black or white and explains it’s a good deal for the price. I ponder and then ask him to explain what high definition actually means. My eyes become as glassy as the surrounding TV screens when his lecture ensues. I leave feeling none the wiser about the finer details of LCD and plasma TVs, but maybe I wasn’t listening properly (it’s a hard job being a mystery shopper). At least I now know where I can get a good-quality £800 flatscreen HD TV.
Mission Failed but partly due to my own lack of interest.
Customer-service rating 5/10.
Kate Friendly and useful advice, though it takes quite a while to find an assistant. Even a deliberate obtuseness on my part in understanding the difference between HD and HDD doesn’t faze the man; he knows his stuff.
Mission Accomplished.
Customer service rating 7/10.
Selfridges, 400 Oxford St, W1 (0870 837 7377/www.selfridges.com) Bond St tube. Open Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 9.30am-8pm, Sun 12noon-6pm.
Harrods
Tom A mixed experience here. As soon as I enter, there’s a man in a bright yellow sash, offering maps and information. He directs me to the electronics department, where I am fairly quickly swooped upon by an informative, if terse, assistant. He answers my questions, but seems a little dubious that I’ll buy anything. He’s right – I won’t – but that didn’t stop the luxury handbag people making an effort. I’m a bored-looking young male with enough time and disposable income on my hands to be wandering around Knightsbridge on a Monday morning. Try to sell me a bloody big telly!
Mission Accomplished.
Customer-service rating 5/10.
Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Rd, SW1(020 7730 1234/www.harrods.com) Knightsbridge tube. Open Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 12noon-6pm.
What we’ve learned
Maggie 'Wearing smart clothes doesn’t necessarily get you better service – even in designer shops – but it does help give you confidence. More important than anything else is being sure of what you want – if you have time, look at the shop’s website first to be sure of what they stock. Don’t have preconceptions about shops being snotty either. If you go in with a negative attitude, you are unlikely to enjoy the experience. Expect good customer service and you never know, you might actually get it.’
Kate ‘London’s shop assistants don’t seem to mind what you wear, though I’d have felt more confident down Sloane Street in a pair of heels. Refreshingly, shopping for high fashion, such as the wares at Dover Street Market, doesn’t equal being sneered at by too-cool-for-school types either. If you’re polite and you persevere, almost everyone is nice back. That London has the worst shop service is definitely a myth.’
Tom ‘I normally hate to ask for help in shops – I’m one of those people who pounds in, buys something, and pounds out again, as quickly as possible. But being forced into it for the purpose of this investigation was a really pleasant surprise. I couldn’t believe that someone like me – who doesn’t look very wealthy – could walk into a shop where the handbags cost a grand and still get smiles and good service. But I did.’
what they wore to the shops:
maggie
Kate:
Tom:
timeout.com/london
^ Interesting read! Thanks for posting!
I was wondering if you can get a VAT cash refund at Harrods? I bought some flats there in June and I seem to remember that I was asked if I wanted the money back in cash or through my credit card, but now that I think about it, I'm not sure what I heard. Hehe.
I was wondering if you can get a VAT cash refund at Harrods? I bought some flats there in June and I seem to remember that I was asked if I wanted the money back in cash or through my credit card, but now that I think about it, I'm not sure what I heard. Hehe.
The Pineal Eye - Moving Location or Closing down?
http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.aspx?edid=00&salerent=1&pid=299872&agentid=04622
49 Broadwick street...what's going on?
Also gives a rather clear indication into how much they are paying on Rent & Rates...
http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.aspx?edid=00&salerent=1&pid=299872&agentid=04622
49 Broadwick street...what's going on?
Also gives a rather clear indication into how much they are paying on Rent & Rates...
pomegranates
Member
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2006
- Messages
- 143
- Reaction score
- 0
Heard different things... relocation, closing down, bankruptcy... starting an online boutique maybe... not sure what to believe though
CHEAPandCHIC
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2005
- Messages
- 1,168
- Reaction score
- 2
Does anyone know of any shops which sell vintage designer? And how much would things cost, compared to buying new? Thanks so much. I know there are two bye Starbucks in Notting Hill but I have never been in. Are they good?
Customer Service is purely down to the character of the person serving you really...it's the same in any industry, within any retail market...
More often than not it's purely down to the training & orders staff are under...usually you'll find stores such as DSM, carry out policies on interaction with clientele & may even send in mystery shoppers to gain an external evaluation on how well their staff operate.
More often than not it's purely down to the training & orders staff are under...usually you'll find stores such as DSM, carry out policies on interaction with clientele & may even send in mystery shoppers to gain an external evaluation on how well their staff operate.
