John Lewis - I fear a try harder approach would be better. (John Lewis)

Member Name: Ice Princess

Product:	John Lewis
Date:	21/10/06 (164 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great layout, good stock, brilliant in some depts such as haberdashery

Disadvantages: fashion depts dire, sorry

My nearest John Lewis stores are in Oxford Street and in Sloane Street, I've also visited the one in Brent Cross. I only go to the Oxford Street one after work occasionally and normally before I go to meet friends for a drink or for Christmas shopping. It is rare due to West End crowds that I'd go there at weekends!

My earliest memory of John Lewis was a now long-gone store called Pratts in Streatham. This was a boon for my mother, a 15 minute drive from where she lived and everything under one roof. My mother mostly used the haberdashery dept for buying material, patterns, threads and the like but also brought us there for shoes, clothes and to buy her mother clothes, and occasionally white goods or the odd vacuum cleaner/kettle etc... I recall one year for Christmas from us kids, she bought our aunt Louise a gorgeous pair of sheer black tights with a cat in diamante placed on the ankles, very pretty to a 10 year old girl but too old for me then!

I have gone to their store in Oxford Street though to buy material, patterns, thread, to get advice from their excellent haberdashery dept and also to their very good Christmas shop and to their greetings card/wrapping paper dept which I find to be very good. Christmas is also very good for me, for aunts/uncles one can always find reasonable presents - last year I bought my aunt a Crabtree and Evelyn travel bag with goodies inside -about a tenner and my uncle a bone china Dunoon mug with a Scottish flag on it (he's Scottish), also a tenner. In the past similar gifts have been bought, china, knick knacks, they do great bowls etc.

Also their section with hosiery is great too. They still stock tights with diamante cats (or similar on!) and nice knitted Italian tights in unusual patterns.

However and I will say this much, their fashion and beauty depts leave a lot to be desired, ok they do stock brands like L'Occitane but often not the whole range, I can shop for Guerlain etc just up the road at uber-modern Selfridges. Clothes, well the ranges seem as if not a lot is in stock and it all seems dated and targeted still at women of 40 or 50 plus!

Lingerie dept has always been very good though, I have often gone there to be fitted for bras and to get advice on various bra types, then again this is let down by their stock and somewhere like Selfridges often carry a wider range.

I have to say I have to agree with other reviews and say that John Lewis has to update its stores and move with the times, target younger shoppers too. Their china and haberdashery depts are unsurpassed, why can't they make more of an effort with the others?!

please try harder JL!

Summary: John Lewis - could do so much better if an update was in order