Utopia Here I Come! (Primark)

Member Name: GuruOnAMountain

Product:	Primark
Date:	08/09/04 (2362 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap prices., Spacious., Friendly Staff.

Disadvantages: Occassionally displays can get a little messy., Sometimes stock some low quality clothes.

Now us girls generally like to shop. I'm sure if you're a loving boyfriend and reading this, you'll have learnt this by experience already and now suddenly develop temporary blindness everytime your girlfriend approaches the high street.

You see, though, I have a battle raging inside of me. I am a girl, after all, and my shopping instinct is strong, but on the other hand, I'm Scottish and I'm therefore rather stingy. So what's a girl to do? Go to Primark...that's what!

I've been shopping in Primark for a few years now and rarely leave without making a purchase of some sort. The clothes are generally good quality but with a low price tag, which is ideal! Primark stores are popping up everywhere these days, so there's really no excuse for you not to have a little peek inside.

First of all, Primark stores tend to be bright and spacious. I know if there's one thing that puts me off shopping in the New Look closest to my home, it's the fact that I know I'll have to dodge buggies, teenagers and squeeze my rather ample frame amongst racks of clothes (usually taking a couple of hundred garments with me as I do so). Somehow, having to participate unwillingly in some kind of unholy obstacle course kind of takes the joy out of browsing. This isn't a problem in Primark. The aisles in most of the stores are wide, and you rarely find yourself bumping into people or moving out of the road of buggies.

Primark hangs clothes up, but also displays clothes on circular wooden displays placed strategically around the store. These, however, can sometimes get quite messy when people rummage around in them looking for a size, but staff are always on hand to try and keep on top of them (the displays, that is, not the customers!) and keep the place as tidy as possible.

Primark st
ores have the advantage of being so large you don't feel self-conscious when you're browsing around. You don't feel the eyes of checkout staff boring into you. The staff in Primark are of all ages. You see some younger staff members, but plenty of older staff, too, usually, which makes a change from most other clothes shops which are staffed by young girls who hardly look old enough to be out of nappies! I have always, apart from on one occassion, found the Primark staff polite, helpful and friendly.

The store stocks everything clothes related that you could be looking for. It stocks kids' clothes, mens' and womens' clothes as well as shoes, pyjamas, underwear, bags, purses, hair accessories etc.

So what prices would you be expecting to pay? Well, it varies depending on what you're buying, of course, but generally you could expect to pay around about a fiver for a pair of pyjamas, around a tenner for shoes, generally no more than a pound for hair accessories, generally no more than £3 for a pack of socks and around £5 for a casual t-shirt. I popped in yesterday and bought a nice pair of pink satin-type material pyjamas, with pretty and delicate designs of flowers sown on them for £5, a pack of 24 hair bobbles for £1 and my friend bought herself a long, padded winter coat for only £12.

Of course, quality is important, and I must say I've never been let down by Primark. I bought a fleecy lined winter jacket from Primark last year which is still going strong. I've found their clothes don't tend to shrink in the wash and they last as long, if not longer, than other high street clothes. The only problem I've ever experienced is that the seams on one pair of pyjamas I had from there split once, but I had had the pyjamas for about 9 months and wore them as often as I could as they were so comfy, and I must ad
mit that considering I was having a competition with my sister to see who could do the splits the best, I was probably to blame for that little seam losing its will to live!

Sometimes they have clothes on sale that look cheap and seem low quality, but I just avoid this stuff, and this only crops up now and again, anyway.

Primark is ideal, especially for students who are a bit skint or mothers who want to buy their kids some clothes to play in, but I think most people would find themselves bagging a bargain from a visit to Primark.
Capital letters courtesy of: http://www.chuckleweb.co.uk/fixit.php

Summary: