Shoppers underwhelmed by new M&S in Gloucester

“But Sandra Pee, we are not all short ****s who want to bend over for everything! I agree about the self service tills, I went to use one, all the hassle about using my own bag!, I was told to take everything out and then put my empty bag on the scales and then it would work or I could buy a carrier for 5p. I did not want to buy a carrier, I had a bag and did not want to pull everything out of my bag, so I could put something in it, just to have to take what I had brought out of it again so I didn't quash my food and then but my other things underneath.

I sad "f it" made a show of myself and went to the queue in the manned tills. What a palarva. That was on a day when begger boy must have gone to Sainsbury's!”

“I wasn't impressed .......... the food section doesn't seem to have the variety of items the old store had, and the shelving is darker and higher which somehow makes it feel dark and claustrophobic . Call me old fashioned, but, I don't like these self service tills ........ if I go into a shop I want to be served by a person . With growing numbers of older shoppers they risk losing customers if they don't cater better for them . We're not all tall enough to reach up onto high shelves !”

“Very disappointing, less space therefore reduced number of lines. The whole feel of the store is small. Obviously M&S are smart cookies and will have done their homework and the result is that they have designed the new store to fit the city. We would all liked to have seen them retain the Southgate store and incorporate it into the old Woolworth layout now that would have been a bold step and might just have given Gloucester the boost is so badly needs. As it is Gloucester City Centre shopping is in a poor state - too many closed shops too many cheap shops. The new M&S store just adds to the downbeat feeling and has left us all underwhelmed.”

“So true Thomas, the paper and others hyped this new store up to the point where people expected something very special. The news store is far from special and id say worse than the old.

In contrast M&S in Worcester did exactly the same as they have in Gloucester, with one key difference they remained in the original store and bought the one next door (the old Woolworths) creating a much larger better laid out store. The one in Gloucester feels more like a down grade than anything else.”

“So true Thomas, the paper and others hyped this new store up to the point where people expected something very special. The news store is far from special and id say worse than the old.

In contrast M&S in Worcester did exactly the same as they have in Gloucester, with one key difference they remained in the original store and bought the one next door (the old Woolworths) creating a much larger better laid out store. The one in Gloucester feels more like a down grade than anything else.”

“h”

“Slight tangent.....free parking.
It would not be full of workers, because no-one is advocating free all day.
I have in the glove box of my car, a 'disc' scheme that we use when we go to Ambleside, in the Lakes.
You are allowed a certain amount of time to park, less time the closer you get to the centre.
You 'dial in' your arrival time, and it tells you what time to leave. Wardens monitor the discs, and if you overstay, you get fined, quite rightly.
Cheltenham has this system many years ago, but succumbed to the greedy option.
It's extremely simple, and everyone one's a winner.”

“I have visited the store twice now, the first time within 10 days of it opening, and I wasn't impressed. Cramped and claustrophobic. So I thought I would give it another go a few weeks later. No improvement.

I happily visit the Cheltenham store, far better. I sincerely hope they don't "improve" that one!”

“SELINA30,
You are ABSOLUTELY right, how often have we seen sensational front page headlines about new retail developments that will turn around the city's fortunes? Too often. The paper with little else to report as usual builds up the M&S story when quite honestly there has been a better M&S before and after the new Gloucester store opened just 4 miles away in Cheltenham!

I have not bought The Citizen since the day it went up by THREE times the current inflation rate to 50p, I have a look at the first few pages in Tesco and put it back on the shelf, just like many others are now.”

“The reason shoppers expected a "better store"is that the Citizen made the new store opening front page news on numerous occasions. The paper made the new M&S the flagship of local regeneration. In reality M&S closed two stores and opened a smaller one. Like local regeneration a local M&S Superstore does not exist.”