Their sales increased over the Christmas period according to the latest news.
Although I do like to shop at John Lewis if I can afford to sadly it wasn’t down to me; but I am pleased this might mean they will not go under – not yet anyway.
Meanwhile Debenhams and M&S are still struggling with decreased sales.
If in fact Elton has been instrumental in helping John Lewis through a bad patch perhaps someone might persuade him to take over the Brexit talks after all we don’t seem to be getting anywhere with them at the moment.
A lady interviewed on the lunchtime news (from Barclaycard I think) said that they were looking at how they can get customer confidence back to spend more on the high street by introducing memorable ‘instagram’ moments through experiences whilst shopping. As an example she said such things as free coffees and Yoga mornings. I smiled thinking of my aging mum doing Yoga whilst shopping and then perhaps taking a selfie – not that she isn’t active still but I think when she needs a new dress she might just want to go and choose one without having to contort herself in the process!
I wonder too at the necessity to make the whole of life an instagram moment.
I don’t often mention the news but I am feeling more and more concerned over the things that I am hearing and the messages we are receiving through the media. Maybe the reason sales are down is just that people don’t want to buy so much stuff any longer or perhaps don’t have the means to keep on spending with prices rising on food and the basic essentials.
We seem to have got into a catch 22 situation now where we have to keep spending to keep everyone in a job. That is quite a burden for me as I don’t actually want to keep buying stuff any more – nor do I want to buy into these ‘experiences’ either – I can find my own by just having a walk along the seashore or a picnic in the country.
It has seemed quite strange not going back to work after Christmas but it is nice to have more time now to plan out the year ahead and set new goals. I will get back to chatting about my progress tomorrow. x
where the journey takes me 2 
The Tories austerity means no-one is spending, some because they dont have the money, some because they worry they wont have the money. John Lewis are considering not giving their staff the normal share out. Its bad. Lets hope someone, I doubt Elton, my faith is in Jeremy, sorts it out.
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I feel sorry for the staff as they do work hard and provide a good customer service. I think John Lewis and House of Fraser have just gone far too upmarket. At one time John Lewis had a good toiletries section but now they just sell the expensive brands – same with the kitchen ware department at one time you could buy a bottle of Stardrops or a hot water bottle.
Well it might not be Elton but at least it won’t be Trump!
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Everyday household items, mid range toiletries and habadashery may not have high profit margins but often once in store people spend money in different departments. I’ve gone in before to buy a ball of yarn and bought a handbag before. I liked you could get different brands of shampoo/shower gel that weren’t designer but not the same you get in the supermarket.
I also feel guilty for not spending but should our economy be built on constant consumption of goods that use the scarce resources and sometimes produced in an unethical manner.
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You are quite right about spending for the sake of it and using up valuable resources – as a country we have got ourselves into quite a predicament and I am sorry to say we don’t really know when enough is enough anymore. I am just as guilty as the next person for giving in to temptation though I am also willing to do something about it and stop spending on unnecessary items.
John Lewis do have the most wonderful fabric department though (what is left of it) just feeling the cloth is sheer pleasure for me!
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Some of it must be down to an ageing population. When you have a growing family, there always seems to be something needs buying but when I reached my 50s that need lessened and instead I looked at all the stuff I’d got and knew that I didn’t need any more.
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Yes I am definitely in that place now and our current circumstances demand we spend less too.
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I totally agree with you, I think the older we get we don’t need to spend spend spend! We enjoy the simple things in life.
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But I feel guilty at the same time if people are going to lose their jobs!
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But we are reaching that unsustainable point where we can’t, go on buying ‘cheap’ stuff to keep the economy going. I try to shop thoughtfully, supporting local employment as much as I can.
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I agree we can’t just keep on buying needlessly. I live in a village which is actually a small town but the centre now has few proper grocery shops it is mainly beauty and hair salons, pet groming salons, a tanning shop, takeaways and the like. So I have to go into our main town to shop for food.
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A well argued post. Some of the problems with High Street shops are lack of affordable car parking, terrible traffic jams, shop layouts, you go for a pair of black trousers and instead of going to a single trouser department you have to wander round all the different designer sections, communal changing rooms, lack of seating within the shop, no assistants to assist and complete failure to realise that an aging population wants modern clothes that flatter, oh and why are there always lots of size 6 and 8 but never any size 14 and 16. I don’t need free coffee and photos.
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Well said – why are shops spending huge amounts on doing customer surveys when they have a free one here!
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I don’t buy as much now and I don’t want to buy as much as, in addition to saving money, I believe that that’s the direction we need to go in for the sake of our planet!! However, when I do shop I almost always shop in shops and not on-line as I firmly believe that we all need to support our high streets. The other things I loathe about internet shopping is the huge amount of packaging that everything arrives in (awful!!) and making returns is a hassle I don’t need in an already busy life.
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I am with you on this one – I like to see, touch and feel the quality of what I am buying – even with a book I like to know what is between the covers. As you say the packaging is often excessive as I think most companies just have a few sizes of boxes to fit everything, so often they are transporting a lot of fresh air up and down the country with items that have been packed in oversized boxes. We travel a lot up and down the motorways here and I can say that there has been a definite increase in the amount of lorries on the road so much that even the middle lanes now have big wagons in them most of the time not just when overtaking and they form quite a convoy.
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It’s a tricky one. For me, the biggest thing is that the future is so unsure at the moment, I don’t want to go splashing out (apart from new bedding!!!) on stuff at the moment. If I were one of those trapped by the changeover to the new credit scheme or waiting to hear when (or even if), I’d be saving like crazy with absolutely no room for anything but frugality.
The country is in the doldrums and people don;t want to spend so much.
Combine that with the fact that online is just so much easier for many. Clothes I buy in both ways, depending, but other stuff is just so much less hassle online.
I can see why the hight street shops are suffering.
xx
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As I see it there is only so much money that people have coming in and if they spend it on one thing then you can’t spend it on another. So if our basic living and heating costs are increasing it leaves less disposable income for other purchases. I think most people will do a mix of online and high street shopping but maybe in a different percentage. We are probably only 10% online and that is only because the shops are carrying less stock than they used to and some things we want to buy are just not available locally.
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Just wanted to say “hello” and thank you for visiting my blog. Your blog is lovely and I look forward to reading it!
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Hi Julia – it is always nice to hear from new people – I enjoy reading your blog and I am always interested to see how people do things across the pond.
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I have got to the point where I can’t bear to hear the word ‘Brexit’ any more, lol
As for the shops, if its like here where I live I can never find anything different, it seems that all of the shops have the same kind of thing.
Briony
x
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Hello Briony and thank you for your comment it is always interesting to hear other readers views on a lot of these difficult topics we face these days.
I know what you mean about the shops having all the same. Maybe it is because a lot of the shops have tried to corner the market by dabbling in things they might not have once sold – like the supermarkets selling clothes (though I can vouch for the Sainsbury’s range) and Boots selling sandwiches and everyone selling Costa Coffee. Woolworths used to be the store that had a variety of everything or the old style department stores before concessions whilst other shops stuck to what they knew best whether it was clothes or books or shoes. x
We have hardly any independant shops here in our main town it is hard to buy a gift or something different.
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