Birmingham for Shopping Delight
Last Christmas I was given some money to buy myself some new clothes. I decided to wait until the spring clothes were in the shops and for the day when I could visit a place with a really good selection of shops.
The opportunity to spend the money presented itself on a recent trip to Birmingham. Now if you haven’t visited Birmingham, my choice of England’s ‘Second City’ as a shopping destination may surprise you, but those in the know will understand my delight in having a chance to shop there. As well as a much better than average selection of the usual High Street chains, Birmingham boosts a branch of Harvey Nichols as well as Selfridges (shown in the photo).
My shopping day dawned cold and grey; it was a Monday morning with few people around. I found it hard to imagine that the weather could ever be warm yet I was in search of something cheering that I might wear on a nice spring day.
I started by venturing into an elegant-looking shop and found rail after rail of unrelenting neutral colours. Okay, I know that neutrals form the basis of a flexible wardrobe, but after weeks of grey skies I wanted colour.
I found what I was looking for at Jaeger – a coral-coloured shirt that should look chic with trousers. As I was browsing to see if anything else caught my fancy, I noticed a pile of Glamour magazines (the March 2010 edition). Next to the magazines was a sign that read “20% Off with Glamour”. The deal was that if you bought a copy of Glamour magazine (£2) you got 20% (that’s 1/5th!) off the full price of the clothes you purchased. Suddenly, I liked the coral shirt even more. The ticket price was £99, so by spending £2 on the magazine I got a reduction of almost £20 on the shirt, enough to cheer up anyone on a grey Monday morning.
With fresh enthusiasm I set out in search of the next item on my ‘want list’: a summer dress that can be dressed up with heels and a chic clutch bag, or worn with flat sandals and a beach bag. It was not long before I thought that I had found just the thing in Harvey Nichols. The dress in question was made from cotton broderie anglais (so it was machine washable), it was black (so not too girly) and it had short sleeves that would cover my upper arms. When I held it up against me it appeared long enough to cover my knees. I had only been holding it for a few seconds when a sales assistant appeared and asked if she could help (normal for Harvey Nics).
I followed as she carried the dress to the fitting rooms, feeling a sense of excitement. The dress cost at least twice as much as I should be spending, but if it met my requirements it would be worth it. It is so difficult to find a summer dress that will cover both upper arms and knees.
I slipped it on and admired myself in the mirror. The cut was flattering and the style neither frumpy nor too young. So, I moved onto that essential stage of trying on a garment: testing for room to manoeuvre. Could I sit down? Yes! Could I raise my arms? Oh no! There was not even sufficient give to get my hands up to shoulder height. Hailing a taxi in that dress would be impossibility.
So I returned the dress to the rack and walked to Marks & Spencer. In the face
of disappointment I always try to do something sensible, so I bought myself a very basic ¾ length sleeve top from their Portfolio range. The Portfolio range is aimed at women aged about 40 and upwards who wish to appear stylish while avoiding that ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ look. The top that I bought is a cream colour (more flattering than white). I know that I will get loads more wear from it than I would from a black broderie anglais dress that wouldn’t allow me to raise my arms. As a bonus, I still have the money that I didn’t spend on the dress, so have the anticipation of another shopping day.
What can I do with cardboard packaging and plastic hangers?
Pat writes: One day in January I enjoyed a shopping trip to 
Chester. Chester is one of my favourite cities for shopping. I love the Rows, the pretty black and white buildings, the lack of traffic and the variety of shops.
One of my first stops was Debenhams. In my opinion, the Chester branch of Debenhams is one of the best; this could be because I remember it as Browns of Chester. The interior still features an elegant staircase and dazzling chandeliers. The shop floor area provides space for a wide selection of goods, so I usually find something that I want to buy.
Most of the shops were in the last days of post-Christmas sales so I decided to concentrate on finding special offers in make-up
or toiletries. I was pleased to find a special offer on Lancôme mascara at Debenhams. This was actually an offer put together by Lancôme, with 2 mascaras packed in the same box and sold for £25. I was also given a skin moisturiser sample, always handy for travelling.
After purchasing the mascara, I spotted some gift boxes of l’Occitane toiletries reduced by 50%. I like l’Occitane products and it might have been a good idea to buy one or two to put aside for birthday gifts, but I was put off by the amount of packaging.
Now on the day of my shopping trip I was very conscious of having full dustbins and recycling boxes at home. The rubbish and recycling had not been collected since before Christmas due to a combination of holidays and ice on the roads. Any extra cardboard, plastic or paper would need to be stored in the garage for an unknown period of time, so I was more than usually aware of wasteful packaging.
Indeed, when I later unpacked my Lancôme mascara I was unhappy to find that inside the ‘display’ cardboard box there were two smaller boxes. This meant that I had acquired more than twice the usual amount of cardboard with two mascaras. Not much in itself I know, but it all adds up.
My other beauty bargain was a hand wash and hand cream set from Molton Brown. This was sold in a sturdy plastic carrier that
might have been useful for travelling. I do confess to putting it in the recycling box because I am already well stocked with water proof bags for travelling, and I have more than enough clutter. That said I am very pleased with my Molton Brown set. Their toiletries always make me feel special. I know they are expensive, but keep an eye out for special offers in Molton Brown shops or in branches of John Lewis.
Finally, I bought some knickers at Marks & Spencer. When I unpacked these at home I noticed that one of them had a sticker attached proclaiming that they had been made in an ‘eco factory’. I might have been impressed except that all 3 pairs of knickers were sold on little plastic hangers – which were put inside the bag when I paid for them.
Does anybody really use a little plastic hanger for knickers?
I felt cross because Marks & Spencer shops are full of notices about the eco-friendly policies and the plastic hangers seemed to contradict their proclamations of good intentions. I was moved to send them an email expressing my disappointment.
Marks & Spencer did send a prompt reply and I copy the core message: “It is clear that we have let you down with this particular packaging and I do apologise for the disappointment caused. We always appreciate any customer feedback which will help us to identify where we can improve a product, so thank you again for bringing this to our attention. Please be assured that your comments will be passed on accordingly to our Plan A Team responsible for maintaining all our products and the manner in which they are delivered. There they will be able to look into this further and see how this is something that can be rectified in future planning.”
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Spring Preview via online shopping
Pat writes:
I have signed up for the Boden email feed, which gives me alerts to sales, special offers and what they call season ‘previews’. The preview shows a selection of items from the coming season and allows about 2 weeks in which the items can be ordered at less than the catalogue price. The most recent season preview offered a 20% reduction with a 12 week wait for delivery.
The waiting period didn’t worry me as I wasn’t likely to be wearing spring clothes in the winter. I took advantage of the price reduction to stock up on tops that would go with what I call my ‘warm weather travel wardrobe’. This set of clothes is mostly pink, cream or brown so that I can mix them up to make a variety of outfits.
I know from experience that Boden tops wear well, so I ordered a pink top with a little ruffle trim, and a brown top with a twist effect. The photo shows them straight out of the package, not ironed. I have put them away in a box under my bed and am looking forward to warm weather so that I can wear them.
The printed Boden catalogue arrived in my post this week and is packed with tempting dresses and skirts. The weather is still far too chilly for such garments, but I feel quite satisfied that I have two new tops, ready for spring.
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