Marks and Spencer Review

Overall Rating

Marks and Spencer good points: A wide range of high-quality products, including clothing and food. Plenty of large stores around, mostly with ample parking. Better and more varied designs these days. No-quibble returns.

The bad points are: They often have offensively inconvenient store layouts, where you have to walk right to the back of the store to pay - usually after queuing for quite a long time. I feel this is a stupid policy, particularly as it makes it highly unlikely that customers will nip back for an extra item that catches their eye on the way out. Outrageously expensive furniture even though some of the items I've seen on display have been damaged, which suggests to me that their quality doesn't match the price tag. I find the sizing in women's trousers totally frustrating and misleading. The size guide on the Marks and Spencer website is only the first indication of how confusing it all is, and very few of the garments themselves appear to be marked in the ways cited there anyway. I keep buying trousers labelled as 'medium' length in an effort to find ones that will fit me (29-inch inside leg), but they all seem totally different! And, unbelievably, 'regular' and 'short' in Per Una seem to be the equivalent of 'long' and 'medium' in other ranges. I think the cut of certain styles is poor too, with many of them far too baggy for me on the thigh. Also, while I'm at it, may I suggest that they stop providing so many pockets in their trousers (if you actually put anything in them it would ruin the shape of the garment, so why bother?).

Despite all these gripes, I'm a big fan of Marks and Spencer and am delighted that they've got their act together a bit better recently. But I would ask them to please rethink the store layouts with pay desks hidden away right at the back of the store. This makes life extremely difficult for people like me, and older shoppers generally. I have my 93-year-old mother in tow wherever I go because she loves to get out and about, but shopping at M and S exhausts her as there's so much walking involved, even just to pay for one's purchases. And as for the trouser sizing, I think all M and S need to do is go back to their original system of putting the inside leg measurement on the label. A no brainer, surely?

Members' Comments ondaisybee's Review

• Iris44 on 6th Dec 2008

  I totally disagree partly with what this lady says. I feel the quality of goods in Marks and Spencer since they came from the Far East (one country in particular) has gone downhill and so many women and men I have found totally agree with me that they will never buy clothing from there again. When the goods were MADE IN THE U.K. you could not fault the quality at all, in fact I have clothing that I wear often that was bought from M and S and MADE IN THE U.K. and I wear it with PRIDE. I am proud of items that I buy that are made in our country and more people to continue looking. I am thinking that a lot of the jobs that are going now and people being made redundant is that so many companies have taken their work stations to the Far East.
  
  I have even seen shoes, bags, scarves, socks (badly finished), belts MADE IN CHINA. Northampton was a Boot and Shoe County so it is awful to see an England based store having shoes from the Far East.
  
  I wish people in this government etc would realise what is actually happening to all the people in this country and the country. I bought a handbag yesterday and could not fault it and purchased it again with PRIDE and it has been MADE IN THE U.K.