It's like a very small, discount deparment store (QS Group)

Member Name: worst_trip

Product:	QS Group
Date:	06/06/09 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice range of in some cases pretty good quality homewares and clothes, all very cheap

Disadvantages: Where does this stuff all come, who's making it and how much are they getting paid?

I'm not in the habit of saying I 'love' brands, goods or services in general, but it's true, I do sort of love QS. It's like a mini, slightly downmarket department store - it sells almost everything - admittedly, not a huge range of items in each range, but there're decorative and utilitarian homewares (ie ornaments & throws, bedding, towels, kitchen equipment, etc), trinkets for the garden, kids' toys, a bit of furniture, seasonal clothes for men, women and children, and shoes for everyone. Some of the stores have quite a 'bargain basement' feel - harsh flourescent lights, great expanses of stock on show on hangers with few fancy displays - but others are newer in style so this is quite variable in different places.

All right. So it's all pretty cheap stuff - sold at prices so worryingly low , in fact, that even the most fair-trade-oblivious customer has to think twice about the provenance of much of the material on sale (the factories and, presumably sweat-shops of China and the Far East, I expect). While QS doesn't make any claims to sell ethically-sourced material, neither, as far as I'm aware do the majority of the other clothing retailers you'll find in a typical high-street, including quite a few of 'higher end' shops there (though of course, there are exceptions to this). I severely doubt that this counts as a valid justification for shopping at QS, but there seems to be to be little real difference (on the surface) in the quality or workmanship that's gone into a basic t-shirt purchased for under a fiver at QS versus the pricer option on sale in a more 'expensive' shop. I don't know how much of the retailer's profit in each case is actually translated to the factory workers who've been involved in making it.

Provenance of the goods on sale aside, I went into a different, slightly snazzier branch of QS than my usual one yesterday, and seeing all QSs' wares through new eyes, it was a bit of a surprise to me to realize how much of the stuff in our house (the magazine rack; the red fake-leather storage box; the chintz-coverd white wicker bathroom baskets; the toys; the sofa throw, etc.) has come from there over the years, since I believed myself to only visit there occasionally.

I understand this shop used to be (or in some cases, still is) called 'BeWise' or 'BWise' (they had a distinctive yellow and purple logo, on a green square of background). I don't what the difference between BWise and QS (if any) noticed yesterday when I went into a QS in one retail centre, then a BWise just up the road and realized they were actually one and the same.

Summary: Surprisingly nice stuff at low prices