Those of you on the forums who have ever visited the United Kingdom, have you ever gone shopping at a major department store? I did in a city called Hull, and awesome impressions could be had of the department store just from looking at the outside of the building: http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1277/4719993959_599bf6bf8d_z.jpg
There were three levels available to customers, a basement which sold mens stuff and electronics such as TVs and there was also a luxurious cafe with out of this world quality food and both the prices of the cafe food and the quality of the food puts cafe food in the United States to great shame.
Up the top there was the lady’s clothes and perfume and at the very top was the general home stuff such as bathroom and dining room stuff etc.
The politness and general customer service was out of this world and puts customer service in the United States to great shame.
I think that we can learn a lot from the United Kingdom in terms of cafe food, department stores in general and customer service.
I can’t really offer an opinion, but I am curious about your OP, you seem to think that having 3 levels is a good thing as opposed to a neutral thing. Is it just that you are making the point there was a lot of space and thus probably lots of items to choose from?
I live here (does that count as having visited?) and I’ve also been to those in the US.
Department stores vary in both countries, pretty much to the same degree. There are good ones and bad ones, and the good ones are about as good as each other and the bad ones are about as bad as each other.
Though I’ve never had the misfortune to visit Hull.
I have lived for many years in both the US and the UK and I agree with Candyman74. Within-country variation is much greater than between-country variation. In any case, it is very much my impression that department stores are on the way out in both countries.
Alas, I’ve never been to the UK. But the department stores described in the OP seem more like the departments stores we used to have here in the US.
Foley’s was Houston’s Big Store downtown. Nine floors offered clothing for men, women & children, dry goods, books, records, furniture–just about everything you’d want to buy. There was a luncheon counter, the Azalea Terrace for lunching ladies, a Men’s Grill–& a lunch counter for “Colored People” in the basement, until our city was desegregated, partly thanks to aFoley’s executive.
Houston grew & shopping malls were built for the outer suburbs, served by freeways; Foley’s branches opened in the malls. Fewer people came downtown to shop–it was such a long drive. Foley’s became part of a national chain; eventually, Foley’s was renamed “Macy’s”–just as many other cities “lost” their favorite stores.
Macy’s downtown is still open. Five floors sell clothing & a few other items; there are no places to eat. Across the street is a parking garage in the shell of Sakowitz, the flagship store of the higher end local chain; rumor has it that excesses of a young Sakowitz led to the demise of that proud name. Just down Main, a CVS now inhabits the first floor of the former Nieman Marcus–the even more exclusive Dallas chain that survives elsewhere. There’s nothing left of the other local & regional department stores that used to line the street.
Most Houstonians use the malls & the big box stores. I do miss the old department stores…
Macy’s in New York and Wanamakers in Philadelphia also used to be full service. The last time I was in England was a while ago, but I was in Berlin two years ago and they still have real old fashioned department stores, with all kinds of food, and books, and great toys, etc.
The specialty big box stores killed this in the US, and so did the ruthless winnowing of any products which didn’t sell enough per square foot.
Yes, department stores strike me as a bit of a relic from another age. House of Fraser, as described by the OP, is very nice but always seems quite pricy to me. Although I haven’t tried the restaurant.
It’s nice to have a positive mention of Hull, though. I think this is the first time I have heard anyone suggest visiting Hull for the shopping.
It’s the first time I’ve ever heard “Hull” and “awesome” in the same sentence.
Topic: I agree that department stores are probably a bit oldfashioned, but I like House of Fraser and John Lewis, even though both are fairly expensive. Paris has some big department stores that aren’t going anywhere - Galeries Lafayette and Bon Marche are perhaps the most famous, now Samaritaine has closed - so I think there’s still scope for the UK department stores to modernise and compete with the shopping centres.
Would folks say that the mall is the modern department store? It serves a similar function - lots of different stuff all under one roof; the only difference being that it’s being sold by different businesses, not a single one.
I think that you’ve never heard of Marshall Field’s.
I heard somebody just yesterday say this–“Retail is dying a slow death.” There are just a few areas of retail that are doing well–very cheap; very expensive; and special niches–such as a very few locally-owned stores that provide really great service. Pretty much everything else is shifting online.
I don’t think that the store you visited could be built anywhere in the world today. There’s just not enough demand for something like that anymore.
