Dotty Rocks!! (Dorothy Perkins)

Member Name: star500

Product:	Dorothy Perkins
Date:	02/12/03 (958 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reasonable prices, Good range of clothes

Disadvantages: You get what you pay for

A familiar name on the high street for years, Dorothy Perkins has a reputation for being one of the less trendy stores for female clothing. In my opinion, this view is now unjustified as, in the past two years, Dorothy Perkins (or DP as I will refer to it from now on) has really improved their range, styles and quality of clothes.

Gone are the frumpy "old lady" styles and in are tops, skirts, jeans and trousers on a par with shops like River Island and Next. Ok, so it isn't designer gear but is stylish, reasonably priced and wears well.

DP is part of the Arcadia Group (which also includes TopShop and Burton) and a few years back Arcadia were facing financial difficulty and closed quite a few of their stores all over the country. Thankfully, the abovementioned stores survived and DP increased their range, dropped their prices and aimed at a younger age-group.

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Style wise you'll find strappy vests, classic t-shirts and slinky tops mixed among their denims, combats (yep - people do still wear them!) and casual wear. Don't panic at the thought of this as good old DP still have their range of suits, skirts and blouses, seasonal knitwear and jackets/coats. Larger stores may also have a small area set aside for bags, belts and shoes with most shops carrying at least a few underwear and nightwear lines and a display stand with several budget jewellery items (earrings, chains, etc). Maternity wear used to be a big seller for DP but I don't think that this is the case any more as their range is much smaller than it has been in the past.

The stores themselves vary from town to town with most large city centre stores having a well laid out, spacious area for clothes with plenty of room between the racks and a full range of sizes available. However, other stores (typically in smaller towns and cities) are more cluttered with the rails much closer together. You may also find more than one item range
on each rack and as a consequence there may only be room for one of each size to be displayed. Thus, when you are on the lookout for a particular size, it may not be there [Note: on many occasions, if you ask an assistant, the size you want might be in the stock-room or hanging up on the rails by the changing rooms].

Changing room wise, I have never had any problems with them. They are usually well lit and are of a decent size with at least two hooks for hanging your clothes and you'll also find a full (or 3/4) length mirror. Some stores also have a stool in each cubicle and a "help" button which you can press if you want any help from the assistants. In most cubicles, the curtains actually close the whole way over without leaving those annoying gaps at the side (that drives me mad!!).

As for sizes, hmmmmmm. Some of my friends are divided on this one - I personally have always found DP to be one of the retailers who have 'generous' sizing. For example, if you are between a size 12 and 14 then you may find that a DP 12 will fit comfortably whereas in other shops it could be a bit tight (well that's what I have found anyway but a few others will disagree). Many of their items are available in a good range of sizes and it is one of the few shops that have size 18 clothes as standard. Quite a few of their lines are also available in sizes 8-20 - something which other retailers should take note of.

Height wise, DP have a "petite" range for those people 5ft 3 and under and this is quite a broad range. For the taller ladies out there, many trousers are available in a long length and there is also a small range of clothes tailored especially for the taller women (unfortunately there are only a handful of items but at least they are making the effort and appreciate that there are women taller than 5ft 8 that shop there!!)

Their clothes seem to have quite a high turnover as their range is updated freque
ntly - I find myself popping in to browse every few weeks and there are always at least a few new items each time I've gone in.

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Price wise, I have to admit that they are very reasonable. I have picked up a few strappy tops for £6 and regularly buy trousers for work (usually black) for around £12 per pair. I will also admit to buying a grey suit there about 18 months ago which I still wear to work on a regular basis. Granted, not all of their clothes are going to last that long (you get what you pay for after all) but I certainly got my money's worth out of that suit (Jacket £30, Trousers £15 - both machine washable too!!). I've also bought a few pairs of own brand jeans there - ok so they aren't Levis but look just as good for a fraction of the price (best bargain was a pair of blue sparkly jeans for £15 that I got about six months ago!!) I've also bought a few t-shirts and tops there and have never had any problems with them.

As with many high street stores, DP also have their own account card. Usually the assistant at the till will offer it to you under the guise of saving 10% on your first purchase. I personally am not a fan of store cards as I find their APR (and monthly interest rates) are very high and much prefer to use my own credit card. However, some people do like using them even if it is just to save 10% on the original purchase and paying the bill off in full when it comes in. If you do decide to get a card, as well as paying the bill through your bank or sending a cheque off in the post, you can also pay it at the tills in store as well - either the full amount or whatever payment you want.

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But back to Dorothy Perkins itself. For customer service, as with most high street chains, this varies from store to store. You may be lucky enough to come across pleasant assistants, always willing to help but you may also have the misfortune to approach one of the sulky-lookin
g, couldn't-care-less people who never want to check if your size is in stock or answer your query. Thankfully, these people are few and far between (although one girl called my friend a fat moo for daring to ask if they had a specific pair of jeans in a size 16 - my friend explained she was 6 months pregnant and a finger was then pointed towards the maternity wear as the assistant flounced off!!) I personally have never had any problems with customer service in Dorothy Perkins but I'm the kind of person that hates to make a fuss anyway!! I have returned a few items in the past (y'know - get them home and realise what a BIG mistake it was to buy them) and have always been able to get my card refunded or exchanged a wrong size for the correct one. I even took back an unwanted birthday present (without a receipt of course!) and was able to exchange it for anything up to the value or have gift vouchers instead.

And one last thing I'd like to mention is the DP Sale!! Yep - their prices are reasonable enough as it is but at sale time many items can have up to 50% off. Granted, a lot of the time there are clothes that are basically a waste of money, but if you are willing to wade through the bargain rails, you can pick up quite a few things at a great price. (I recently got a denim jacket for less than 20 quid, a t-shirt for a fiver and two pairs of black trousers for £8.50 each). Their big sales take place in January and in the summer but they have regular mid-season sales and most stores have a sale rack lurking near the back of the shop for most of the year - definitely worth taking a look at!

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So would I recommend it then? Of course I would!!! Granted, it isn't everyone's cup of tea but I find it to be reasonably priced with a good range of clothes and definitely worth spending a while browsing around. Of course, you have to remember that you get what you pay for but DP clothes aren't as frumpy, cheap l
ooking or as poor quality as some might think.

Oh and if you can't be bothered getting up off the sofa, you can always check out their range and buy online at www.dorothyperkins.co.uk

Happy shopping!!

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