H and M

Had to have a rant. I was in London this weekend and my friend and I went to the Kings Road for breakfast and then on to see the Homelessness exhibition, Homelessness reframed at the Saatchi Gallery, which was bloody marvellous and totally thought provoking.

When we came out we popped across the road and nipped into the beautiful shop, I said to my friend - oooo swanky, what are you buying in here?

She laughed her head off and said what’s wrong with you? It’s H and M.

All I can tell you is it wasn’t remotely like the H and M in Meadowhall where the windows are dirty and the clothes hung up without even being ironed.

This was a retail merchandisers paradise with the old worldly architecture, beautiful gleaning bay windows full of pressed within an inch of it’s life product and shiny black paint on the wooden doors with gorgeous big brass handles.

When we actually looked closely inside, it was still the same clothes just so much more time and effort had gone into making the experience so much better visually for the customer.

I didn’t buy anything so all the extra effort didn’t work for me but it did leave me wondering, whether people in London just wouldn’t go anywhere near the offering we’ve got up north or if the people up north love H and M so much their shopping aspiration and expectation is so low, H and M just don’t have to try so hard.