Retail comfort
When you open the door to a changing room in a clothes shop the last thing you expect to see is a fully made-up bed.
In a fully furnished bedroom.
This haven for weary shoppers is Jack Wills, in Edinburgh's George Street. In the British class system which still seems alive and well, the clothes of this brand are associated with well-off, upper class university students, not least by the company's own advertising. Think rowing sweatpants, padded gilets, checked shirts, retro woolies. While there is a certain clumping of the brand in this sector of the population, the appeal seems broader than that. My daughter is now a university student, but I wouldn't put us in the well-off, upper-class bracket. How comforting it is in Britain to know exactly where you come in the social scale. (Should I have a little pop-up here to say 'irony intended'?) It should be said that well-off and upper-class don't always go together, so it's less of a scale than a complex matrix.
I know that the price of the clothes (ouch!) is paying for the sumptuous changing rooms, but there is a certain relief to encounter a bed while accompanying an about-to-be student on a big pre-university shopping expedition. And yes, of course I lay down on it. Apart from the price tag at the end, I wish all retail experiences could be like this.
This is certainly a first for me! I've never seen any changing room that looks like this one even in our most upscale shops in the US. Of course, maybe the few upscale shops that I've had the pleasure of going into for a "look around" aren't in the same class as this one because they sure don't offer this kind of experience. HAH
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful weekend! :)
It's very difficult to know how to classify this shop, Kristie. It's upscale in terms of what they charge for the goods, but not ferociously upscale in the European context of say Chanel in Paris. It's more quirky upscale. I'm sure they have teams of people working on their 'look'.
DeleteSome marketer realized the element of role-playing in clothes shopping. And provided the stage set. Too clever.
ReplyDeleteIt IS a stage set, Ron, I'd never thought of it like that before! And me an actor in it, playing the role of exhausted mum.
DeleteI have to say that I have never come across a bed in a changing room!
ReplyDeleteJust think, there must be someone employed by the company going around buying up old beds. Wonder if I can interest them in some of our junk?
Deletethis is new to me too
ReplyDeleteas long as you got to take advantage of what they have to offer, I see no problem :)
No Jack Wills in Belgium? That's refreshing - one gets tired of the same shops being everywhere.
DeleteI don't know if I would ever come out again! They would have to come wake me up.
ReplyDeleteImagine going into a changing room and finding someone's mum fast asleep in the bed...
DeleteHa ha, it could happen!
DeleteI haven't either, but what a great idea! After shopping with my fourteen-year-old daughter, I need a place to lie down!
ReplyDeleteHmmm... given the target customer group I would be concerned about what might occur... not least that stoodents might see it as a way to save on accommodation costs! has anyone ever squatted in a clothing shop, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteI went shopping with my granddaughter the other day and couldn't even find a bench to sit on!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid my mind went directly to all that could be part of the experience....R-e-a-l-l-y????