HERE AND NOW

[Clouseau]

I went around ten years ago to Dublin, and the shops were very nice. You could of course find the usual Debenhams etc, but they also have several local old Irish department stores really good, and interesting little shops, i remember a very nice and traditional shoe shop and another one who sold quality Irish knitwear.
Lovely city really.
I also liked Edinburgh a lot, but i went there a long long time ago and i don't remember the shops much.
Anyway the flavor of Scotland and Ireland is really different. I like that.

 

[cerneabbas]

tbh I dont like shopping in my city any more,getting to the shopping centre by bus or parking the car there are time consuming and frustrating.
There are very few of the smaller more interesting shops now and even the big stores always seem as if they are about to close.
We also have an out of town shopping mall and parking is easier but there is only John Lewis,M&S and Gap that sell mens clothes,the shoe shops are dire.

Even London isnt what it was imo,once a year would be enough,I think that I went twice last year and once this year before the lockdown,as Clouseau says when will we go again ? and which shops will still be open ?

I actually prefer buying online for the last few years,there is much more choice and its really annoying when you go 'real' shopping and they havent got an item that you like in your size,not such a problem online.
I can browse online shops at night and from the comfort of home,no transport issues and it saves time and money,and if you search you can find the cheapest price available. Delivered to the door,try on at home and on the rare occasion that something has to be returned thats usually easy too.

I think that in future there will be a lot more online shopping anyway but this virus is making change happen quicker.

When I bought my Cordings Blazer I bought it on a trip to London but I could just as easily bought online and I would now to save the train fare.
I saw a pair of shoes in London last year and I was tempted to buy,I already knew my size and I waited and bought in an online sale and saved £100 and got free delivery.
Both of my FP MiE Harringtons were half price and two of my Barbour jackets.
The last few years I have waited until Black Friday and bought shoes from Pediwear online at 30% reduction.
Apart from size issues I really cant fault online shopping,its saved me many hours of time and lots of money too.

 

[Clouseau]

@cerneabbas i quite agree with you, if i was not quite tall i would probably do online shopping more, but as i often have size issue i really prefer to try the items before buying them.
it's true that you find everything online and usually at a good price, but i don't find the same excitement as discovering items in a shop.
Here in Paris the lockdown already had a side effect on some shop who closed. Among them the C&J one who was near my house (they have two other shops in town), and one of the two parisian Fred Perry shops. I also noticed the disappearance of several food and pastries shops.
They want to avoid a new lockdown at all cost,as it is a catastrophy for economy, so now the face masks are obligatory even outside in the center of town, most probably they will be obligatory in the whole town soon.

 

[cerneabbas]

@cerneabbas i quite agree with you, if i was not quite tall i would probably do online shopping more, but as i often have size issue i really prefer to try the items before buying them.
it's true that you find everything online and usually at a good price, but i don't find the same excitement as discovering items in a shop.
Here in Paris the lockdown already had a side effect on some shop who closed. Among them the C&J one who was near my house (they have two other shops in town), and one of the two parisian Fred Perry shops.

I think that this virus crisis has been the final straw for some shops,I remember the last visit to London wondering how long J Crew,Brooks Brothers,Ralph Lauren and even Liberty would remain open,surely they must be in a worse situation now.
Can all the shoe shops in Jermyn street stay open ? it is all very sad.

tbh apart from sports clothes/shoes and underwear I will not be buying much else this year, apart from going walking or shopping once a week I only go out to go training.
I am sure that many others are the same and that isnt going to help the retail sector.

One strange thing that we noticed yesterday was people queuing up outside Charity shops with bags of clothes to donate !
A lot of Charity shops have stayed closed because of a lack of volunteer staff,now they have reopened there are a lot of people wanting to donate the clothes they dont want after reorganising their wardrobes.

 

[Clouseau]

I think that this virus crisis has been the final straw for some shops,I remember the last visit to London wondering how long J Crew,Brooks Brothers,Ralph Lauren and even Liberty would remain open,surely they must be in a worse situation now.
Can all the shoe shops in Jermyn street stay open ? it is all very sad.
tbh apart from sports clothes/shoes and underwear I will not be buying much else this year, apart from going walking or shopping once a week I only go out to go training.

Well BB and J Crew were in bankruptcy... BB is under perfusion now, i don't know about J Crew but they will probably soon shut down as they already had problems before the lockdown... I hope Liberty and the Jermyn street shoe shops will survive, i think they will...

Well i wanted to buy new shoes at the last sales, didn't find what i wanted in the sales at a good price, but i have been narrowing my search to the Bowen/Dainite brown Penny loafers and to the Sanders/Ithside black grain Longwings.

 

[Swampster]

Well BB and J Crew were in bankruptcy... BB is under perfusion now, i don't know about J Crew but they will probably soon shut down as they already had problems before the lockdown... I hope Liberty and the Jermyn street shoe shops will survive, i think they will...

Well i wanted to buy new shoes at the last sales, didn't find what i wanted in the sales at a good price, but i have been narrowing my search to the Bowen/Dainite brown Penny loafers and to the Sanders/Ithside black grain Longwings.

For shoes, I am close enough to Northampton to be able to get to the factory shops. The joy of discovery really works there. The danger is that when the shoes are reduced there is the temptation to get something that you otherwise wouldn’t. I’m still not sure that the monks I bought are really me.
There are at least two pairs I bought which I wouldn’t have bothered with online as they were theoretically too narrow. Seeing them in the flesh, I thought they were worth a try and their lasts were generous enough for me.

 

[am55]

To be fair many of these small shops repackaged the same mass produced stuff at a high margin which was fine during a boom and not so fine during a bust. I remember in smaller French towns especially it was that, or $800 Gucci chinos with nothing special. In Asia it was more hipster themed (breeches, saddle bags and of course an espresso machine to go with the moustaches) and street wear stuff.

Would quite like to pop over to Oahu and check out that giant series of malls in Honolulu designed for the Japanese and now Chinese customer to fly over and "shop in America". It must be absolute murder with an effective travel ban between the US and Asia, but that is not so bad for Oahu, it can return to something a bit closer to the other islands.

 

[Botolph]

Been to Oahu on the honeymoon some 14 years ago. Definitely plenty of well-dressed Japanese with a million shopping bags walking down the wrong side of the sidewalk!
I wasn’t impressed with the shops at all. It made for a nice walkabout but I only ended up buying the wife a couple subtler offerings from Burberry.
Looking back and contemplating your post, @am55 I got to thinking. Perhaps 1. I was a little narrow-minded and still immersed in maintaining the skinhead look to allow myself anything interesting, or 2. The shops have improved since then.

 

[am55]

When I say check out, I mean in the sense of seeing what's left of it with all the shoppers gone - like AirBNB in Australia with no travellers and an outright ban in many states!

It was interesting to me only in the sense of being American i.e. extremely cheap for things like RL compared to Asia or Europe. But I was struck by how much of it was big labels, building after building. The DHS dedicated building, which was allegedly built to service the Japanese flying to Hawaii to shop, given the high taxes and higher prices they dealt with at home back then, was particularly enormous (for a DHS).

 

[Clouseau]

To be fair many of these small shops repackaged the same mass produced stuff at a high margin which was fine during a boom and not so fine during a bust. I remember in smaller French towns especially it was that, or $800 Gucci chinos with nothing special.

It depends of which small shops we are talking of, in the case of the contemporary trendy "select shops" i agree with you.
But i was at first referring to the kind of shops (there are still a few) that has an interesting choice of quality items because the owner has a certain taste, that aim at a certain clientèle, not the "show-off" type. That's why i referred (as an example) to John Simons; American Classics in Covent Garden could be another one (even if i find them too expensive); or Jinji in Paris.

 

[Swampster]

I think the main small shops which are still found in many of the smaller UK towns which aim at a certain clientèle are going for the 'country gent' look which may appeal more to some on this thread than others. In fairness, the people who often shop their fit that description or at least would like to.
Some are a bit more adventurous - this shop isn't one I have been to, and most of the stuff isn't my cup of tea, but the town it is in is tiny. Not exactly high end names with the clothes, but they do stock Barker shoes which is a good start. It shows there is at least some effort to maintain the independent shops.

 

[Clouseau]

This kind of shops...

"Black Watch" in Venezia. An excellent choice of mainly Italian clobber. I don't know if they still exist, i haven't been to Venezia for at least 5 years. Very traditional.

"Ultrason" in les Halles area, Paris. Used to be my favorite shop, great choice of Brit and American clobber. They had rare and deadstock items. Sadly, the shop closed a few years ago.

 

[Kingstonian]

For shoes, I am close enough to Northampton to be able to get to the factory shops. The joy of discovery really works there. The danger is that when the shoes are reduced there is the temptation to get something that you otherwise wouldn’t. I’m still not sure that the monks I bought are really me.
There are at least two pairs I bought which I wouldn’t have bothered with online as they were theoretically too narrow. Seeing them in the flesh, I thought they were worth a try and their lasts were generous enough for me.uuu

Northampton factory shops are great. Trickers used to have a really informative chap running their shop. He is now retired and the factory shop has been repositioned on the outside of the factory. Still good though. Church’s are handy for the rail . Lobb were helpful but they jacked the prices up. C and J opening times are not great, unless you live in Northampton.

The shoe museum in Northampton is also magnificent. I particularly liked the shoes made for competitions in bygone days.

As for monk shoes I got some on a pointed last by Cheaney ( 11525 last) made for Martin-Stone a great independent shoe shop that used to be in Maida Vale/Little Venice. At the time, I really wanted a more traditional last but I wanted to make a purchase before the shop closed for good. I did not wear them that much - but years later I have started to value them more. You just need narrower trousers to show them off.

Size & Fit | Cheaney Shoes

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www.cheaney.co.uk

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[Swampster]

First time I went to Trickers, I went to the front door rather than the back - where the shop is - and someone from the office took me on a brief tour of the factory floor, which was nice. Didn't realise until later that I had seen it before - in the film 'Kinky Boots'.
I was a bit underwhelmed by the choice at Church's and C&J. I've had most luck at the out of town places - Barker's, Cheaney's and, over the border, Loake's. NPS seemed pretty good too, though the only pair I have from them are really too narrow for me.
As far as the 'shopping experience' goes, I think Cheaney's has the nicest ambience and the staff are quite friendly. Loake's outlet has some very friendly staff.

 

[Kingstonian]

First time I went to Trickers, I went to the front door rather than the back - where the shop is - and someone from the office took me on a brief tour of the factory floor, which was nice. Didn't realise until later that I had seen it before - in the film 'Kinky Boots'.
I was a bit underwhelmed by the choice at Church's and C&J. I've had most luck at the out of town places - Barker's, Cheaney's and, over the border, Loake's. NPS seemed pretty good too, though the only pair I have from them are really too narrow for me.
As far as the 'shopping experience' goes, I think Cheaney's has the nicest ambience and the staff are quite friendly. Loake's outlet has some very friendly staff.

I once walked in on a manager’s meeting at Trickers looking for the original factory shop. Last time, there were signs outside directing you around the block.

I only wanted plain black Oxfords in calf at Church’s. I would buy the big brogues in decent calf but I don’t think they offer them any more.