Mary Queen of Shops-The horror of the Sales 'Assistant'...

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I love this show and I love Mary Portas. I just watched the first episode of the second series, you can see it here-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/it...l?src=ip_potpw


The description of the show

Retail guru, Mary Portas is back to save the boutique. Blinkz is a shop for the fuller figured woman. But owner, Amanda Collins has a negative attitude to her clientele.

Did anyone see this? I was watching with my jaw on the floor! The shop owner, a thin woman herself was very negative, commenting on her clientele with such gems as 'bouncy castle belly', 'bullet body' and 'no-hoper' whilst exclaiming every mishapen body part must be covered and all this said whilst pulling a face which can be best described as disgusted. Luckily Mary got to work on her, and I give her a full 10/10 for remaining composed whilst listening to the shop owner examine and define her customers using such derogatory terminology. I was pleased to hear Mary, whilst narrating a particularly gruesome scene in Harrods, say that she is shocked to see that the shop owner is '.....sizest', a word that's not often used in the UK media, the owner herself didn’t even know she was doing it so hopefully this show will result in the education of a few viewers.

It reminded me of my recent trip to America. We managed to check out a Lane Bryant whilst in Boston and I was impressed to see some pretty, fashion focused clothing displayed in a bright, simple store. As I'd heard so much about the new sizing method and I was eager to find out what 'colour' I was, I headed straight for the jeans section. I was browsing the display when an assistant asked me if I needed help, she looked very serious, so I assumed jean selection must be a very serious matter so I let her chatter on and look me up and down for a few minutes until she said, '...you carry severe weight in this area...so you must be 4’ (whilst stroking me up and down in the hip and bottom area, I might add). For a few minutes it made me feel a little uncomfortable and ponder the situation for a while. Such negative wording, said in such a serious, concerned tone felt a little like being at the doctor’s office. Severe, a word akin to dangerous, awful, terrible and grave, not a word I would choose when using words to describe someone’s body. I guess I should have said something? I know that she wasn’t being malicious in anyway, just blinkered but looking back I wish I’d gently let her know that I thought her wording to be inappropriate and unnecessary.

I guess in terms of persona and approachability, shop assistants can be a little hit or miss. Does anyone have any similar tales to tell?

[Ruffie]

When I was 75lbs lighter I could wear a ladies large or extra large top. I stepped into a clothing store that was not plus sized. The clerk a young gal immedietly came up to me and with her voice dripping with distain said " We don't have anything in here to fit YOU!" Now even if that were true I could be shopping for someone else, wanting to buy earrings, socks or a cute bag. I asked to speak to her manager and let her know of my disapointment and lo and behold never saw her in that store again so I assume she was fired.
Ruth

[Anna]

Ok I just watched this and I must say I wanted to slap the owner of the shop in her face. Even at the end, yes she learned not to say those things in front of the costumers, but you can tell on her face that she was still thinking it. If I was there I would not go into the shop.
Actually maybe I would just to say I did not like her attitude and would diffidently say she had a size issue.


Anna

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Originally Posted by Anna

Ok I just watched this and I must say I wanted to slap the owner of the shop in her face. Even at the end, yes she learned not to say those things in front of the costumers, but you can tell on her face that she was still thinking it. If I was there I would not go into the shop.
Actually maybe I would just to say I did not like her attitude and would diffidently say she had a size issue.


Anna

Yep, she has major problems. Imagine how she must make people feel in her aerobics class? I'm surprised she's still standing to be honest, when watching the show I had the strong urge to bop her on the nose.

I wonder if her shop will still be open this time next year?

[BeaBea]

This programme made me absolutely furious. I loved Marys attitude but I wish she had confronted the women head on about it all.

The thing that annoyed me most was right at the very end when Amanda was talking about her previous attitude. I was very sceptical that she could have changed but just when I started thinking that she might have she said...

'I cant believe I used to talk about THEM that way'

So she still referred to plus sized women as 'them' - ie not like her, not like a 'normal person' I replayed it several times to check and I'm afraid I thought it was a very bad sign. The shop was much improved and so was the stock but I give her six months before she's back being bitchy and snide again. If I lived near Ascot I'd definitely go and visit to test her out...

Tracey xx

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Originally Posted by BeaBea

This programme made me absolutely furious. I loved Marys attitude but I wish she had confronted the women head on about it all.

The thing that annoyed me most was right at the very end when Amanda was talking about her previous attitude. I was very sceptical that she could have changed but just when I started thinking that she might have she said...

'I cant believe I used to talk about THEM that way'

So she still referred to plus sized women as 'them' - ie not like her, not like a 'normal person' I replayed it several times to check and I'm afraid I thought it was a very bad sign. The shop was much improved and so was the stock but I give her six months before she's back being bitchy and snide again. If I lived near Ascot I'd definitely go and visit to test her out...

Tracey xx

You're right, Mary could have been more direct, I hope maybe, just maybe when the shop owner watches the show back, a little more might sink in. She's an odd one, considering her business could be a possible goldmine. I'd love to have my own boutique, making women feel shit-hot and fabulous. The show did makes me wonder if maybe she's just a 'kept wife' who just owns the boutique so she say that she 'works', almost as a hobby?

Aaaaaaaaaaaand on a side note to the all the anti-fat attitude, she didn't even know anything about fashion forecasting, latest trends or her customers basic desires......gaaaah. It made me so mad, she's a bloomin' boutique owner for christ's sake, pick up a copy of Vogue once and while woman!

[BeaBea]

Originally Posted by Red

Aaaaaaaaaaaand on a side note to the all the anti-fat attitude, she didn't even know anything about fashion forecasting, latest trends or her customers basic desires......gaaaah. It made me so mad, she's a bloomin' boutique owner for christ's sake, pick up a copy of Vogue once and while woman!

Lol. Ok, what I'm about to say next is REALLY bitchy - but the first thing I would do in an independant boutique would be to check out what the owner was wearing. The fact that she dressed very 90's to me was a bit of a pointer that she wasn't confident or creative in her taste, let alone on trend or forward facing.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong in dressing that way - and bear in mind I'm sat here is a denim skirt, turquoise and purple t shirt and a yellow cardigan so you'd need sunglasses to even glance at me - but when I'm working I have to consider what my customers expect, not just what fell out of the wardrobe first.

Ok, I've been nasty and personal in my remarks there but I do wonder if she could take the criticism half as well as she dished it out?

Tracey xx

[Ruby Ripples]

Originally Posted by BeaBea

Lol. Ok, what I'm about to say next is REALLY bitchy - but the first thing I would do in an independant boutique would be to check out what the owner was wearing. The fact that she dressed very 90's to me was a bit of a pointer that she wasn't confident or creative in her taste, let alone on trend or forward facing.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong in dressing that way - and bear in mind I'm sat here is a denim skirt, turquoise and purple t shirt and a yellow cardigan so you'd need sunglasses to even glance at me - but when I'm working I have to consider what my customers expect, not just what fell out of the wardrobe first.

Ok, I've been nasty and personal in my remarks there but I do wonder if she could take the criticism half as well as she dished it out?

Tracey xx

Tracey... nasty and personal???? NEVER, you are still being sweet about her! How about... after listening to her talk about her customer's bouncy castle bellies and the dresses she keeps for her "no-hopers" (keeping in mind NONE of the clothes are bigger than a UK 22 / US 20) I just wanted to punch her lights out. THAT's nasty Oh and that having a face like a troll doll, wrinkles as deep as the grand canyon, and dark brown blusher that was nowhere near her cheekbones, is all acceptable, but being anything other than slim is not, just made me want to rattle her. THAT's personal . But you see if I was say that to her, she wouldn't care one jot, because I'm fat, so my opinion means nothing. I bet my life if I was a size 8 and said it to her, she would be devastated.

Like yourself I fear she hasn't changed one bit. I think that was confirmed when at the end she said I've learned now to ... *insert zipping mouth closed here* . So what she has learned, is to keep her negative comments to herself, nothing else. I also felt that her "jokey" comment about the increased takings meaning she might only have to open the shop a couple of days a week, clearly illustrated the fact that she gets NO pleasure from the business or her customers, it's merely for the income.

I was ultra impressed with Mary the programme presenter, I liked her anyway, but she has really gone up in my estimation for her horror at the shop owner's comments.

[BeaBea]

Originally Posted by Ruby Ripples

I was ultra impressed with Mary the programme presenter, I liked her anyway, but she has really gone up in my estimation for her horror at the shop owner's comments.

Me too. I'm afraid in my own prejudice I assumed that such a high fashion Queen might look down her nose at plus sizes but she was all about getting good fit, flattering shapes, bright colours and not about hiding curves.

I love the way Mary herself dresses, she's absolutely cutting edge and although thats easy at 5ft 10in and a size 10 its not quite so easy at age 46. I dont want to (and couldn't carry off!) half the looks that she does but I love the fact that she's so damn fierce! If someone as seriously hip as Mary can understand it all AND speak out loud about it on TV then maybe the rest of the world might follow.

Btw - if you dont know who the hell Mary Portas is and didn't see the show theres a good article here.

Tracey xx

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OMG OMG OMG.......





Mary Portas went to Watford School of Art....so did I!!!






I love that woman, and want to have her immaculatly dressed babies!


*sigh*



Thanks for the article Tracy!

[Rowan]

It told me only available to play in the uk.,...jesus...get over the tea thing already lol

[BeaBea]

Ooops, sorry! Cut and pasted it below!

Mary Portas is listening to my latest tale of shopping horror. When I tried to return a chipped necklace (£130) to House of Fraser, the manager of the fashion concession turned on me. "It's your fault, you must have used hairspray near it." When I suggested it might make a good consumer debate in this newspaper, he went ballistic. "You are blackmailing me. I shall report you to your editor." Of course, I caved in pathetically.

But Portas - eyes blazing underneath a chic auburn bob - isn't impressed. As the consumers' champion, she knows exactly what the manager should have done. "You know what, my advice to him is 'take the damn thing and smile', because actually you've bought it in good will and you'll come back in good will for the next 20 years. People can forgive anything if there's trust."

Portas - dubbed the Gordon Ramsay of the fashion world - is sick of surly shop assistants and wants to put the joy back into shopping. "It should be like the best kind of theatre." Each week on the hit BBC2 show Mary Queen of Shops - which returns on 9 June - she takes on a struggling boutique and attempts to turn the business around in five weeks. Under her expert eye the owners are soon changing window displays, throwing out stock, even revamping their own wardrobes.

"On no account do I want to humiliate people. It's far too raw," she insists. On several occasions she has found herself in tears. "It really affects me quite badly. Their livelihoods are on the line. You can see it in their eyes, they're looking at you like: 'I have nowhere else to go but you.' Otherwise why would they put themselves on primetime TV? It really is the last resort."

A magnetic screen presence, 46-year-old Portas is one of those people you get a girl-crush on. Tall and slim (size 10) she is remarkably down to earth. Apart from Jane Shepherdson - a close friend since their days at Topshop - she says she has no friends inside the fashion business. "My best friend is a historical writer who buys her clothes from the sales at Monsoon," she boasts.

Mary Queen of Shops is filmed on a shoestring. The budget for each episode is less than £2,000. "It's not a makeover show," she says indignantly. "It's about the business of fashion." And she genuinely wants small shops to succeed because she believes the rise of the mass-market chain store is stripping the personality from our high streets.

Part of the problem is that most people think they can run a restaurant or little fashion boutique but they don't do the research. "They don't realise that competition is everything," says Portas, "so for me to be able to wake them up into that world is fantastic. I actually think it's the best thing I've ever done in terms of making a difference."

Which is saying something. Because Portas has pedigree. She's the woman who turned Harvey Nichols from fusty emporium to cutting-edge fashion destination (during the recession of the early 1990s). She was the first to have artists design the window displays and include a bar and restaurant - Fifth Floor - open outside shopping hours.

Today she jokes that she had a lucky break. A friend introduced her to Jennifer Saunders, who was writing Absolutely Fabulous. Portas said if she name-checked Harvey Nicks as the ultimate fashion store in the TV series, she'd provide the clothes and give her access to the store at any time. It worked brilliantly. Harvey Nicks became a byword for glamour along with "Bolly" and "Lacroix".

For years Portas was a well-kept secret, now she's public property. Her private life was blown out of the water when it emerged she had ended her 13-year marriage to her husband Graham, a chemical engineer, and was now in a relationship with Melanie Rickey, 35, the fashion features editor of Grazia magazine. Did she worry about the exposure TV brings? "I knew what was coming, but it's the way I live," she says simply. "I have an amazing, incredible life and, yes, there are people who have opinions on the way I am, but what can you do?"

She and Rickey live with her two children, Milo, 14, and Verity, 12, in Maida Vale. Last year she told an interviewer: "One of the best things I have achieved is getting through a divorce amicably. Graham was the first person I told about Melanie. And we have got to a fantastic place with the children. I think it helps that I have a glamorous job, so they see me as confident and fun."

Eleven years ago she set up her current business, Yellowdoor Creative Marketing, one of London's leading retail and branding agencies, which employs 40 staff and has clients including Thomas Pink, Oasis, French Connection, Clarks and Homebase.

In a world of fashion sycophants, she tells it like it is. How could you not love a woman who calls Abercrombie & Fitch "just Gap in a nightclub". But then it's not surprising Portas is fearless. "I was an orphan by the age of 18, so I had nothing to fall back on," she says, a rare moment of sadness crossing her face.

She grew up in a large family in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire. A natural show-off, she dreamed of being an actress. "I was fourth out of five children, I just didn't have a place. But at 14 I went on stage and found it was a way to express myself."

Then, when Portas was 16, her mother died and she became the home-maker for her father and younger brother (her older siblings had left home). She describes how their local butcher used to keep the shop open until she made it there from school, putting aside things her mother would have bought. It was a service she never forgot. "I didn't drive, there was no supermarket. It was a lifeline."

She won a place at Rada. But within two years her father died, and she and her brother were homeless - "That was the end of my childhood." She was forced to re-evaluate her future, and went to Watford School of Art and studied graphics and visual display. She hated the course, but it was the making of her.

Portas started out as a "floater" at John Lewis. She joined Harrods in 1982, dressing windows, then ended up at Topshop's flagship Oxford Street store. In 1990 Portas left for Harvey Nichols and joined its board of directors before the age of 30.

She kept up the acting until the birth of her first child - and dragged all the Harvey Nicks team along to see her on stage. Today friends who watch the TV show say: "Well, you're back where you should be."

There is a truly gobsmacking moment in her new TV series where Ascot boutique owner Amanda Collins, a trim size 10, confides her horror of fat people to Portas. "They have these big necks," she insists, lips pursing. Then, holding up a giant brown woollen sack dress. "It hides all the bouncy castle belly," she giggles.

Younger shoppers are starting to ask who is suffering to make it possible to sell a £7 dress

The irony is that Amanda runs a plus-size boutique. It's enough to make every curvy female in the country want to shoot her. But never fear - Portas is soon grilling Amanda about her "sizeist" attitude - and trying to work out the cause of this body hatred.

Portas strikes you as a human dynamo. But she is not, she stresses "that power-hunting business woman who works every hour God sends". When her two children were younger she employed nannies. But she has always managed to juggle work and home. "That sense of my own family unit was cut short when I was very young, so I don't ever want my kids to come back to an empty home." She has no meetings before 9.30am and leaves work at 5pm to pick up her daughter. She's missed meetings with clients such as Armani because it was Milo's sports day.

"The people who won't let you put your kids first, are not the people you want to work with," she insists. As a boss, she's blunt but good fun. Her mantra is: "Work hard, be nice to people". Her heroes are "visionary" retailers George Davies, Anita Roddick and Stuart Rose.

Portas isn't a snob. She just hates the fact that the British have stopped being great shopkeepers. To serve someone well takes skill. It's a profession. "I'm not saying 'buy more', I'm saying 'let's do it fabulously'. In a world where internet sales are growing 20 times faster than retail, humans want 'interaction and a smiling face'."

Shopability is her key word. She adores John Lewis ("no-brow brilliant retailing"). But Primark offends her. "It is cheap and horrible and done without style or even sex appeal." In fact, she believes we're tired of cheap tat and want longer-lasting quality. And that it is this ethical movement that will influence retail most in the near future.

"Younger shoppers are starting to ask who's suffering to make it possible to sell at that price? A £7 dress is the same as buying a battery chicken," she adds. "We'll start to see some of these very fast retailers, who basically are just selling landfill, go out of business."

Portas's dream night in with the kids is watching The Apprentice. "My son came home the other night and said, 'Mummy, the godmother of Theo in my class is Margaret [Mountford].' This is my 14-year-old son raving about a fifty-something professional woman. How fantastic!"

But she despairs of the female apprentices in their masculine suits. "Why do you have to dress like that for business? How deeply unsensuous. I love the fact that I can wear skirts up here [she gestures excitedly at her crotch] and high heels. I celebrate being a woman."

Would she ever bring out her own clothing line? "If I had the time, I'd love to do a really simple, beautiful collection for women in their forties. Most of the high street is aimed at 18- to 25-year-olds."

She was styled for Mary Queen of Shops but ended up wearing mostly her own wardrobe. Filming on location is hard work, she stresses. After getting Verity on the school bus, she jumps on the train slapping on makeup. And she's lost count of the jewellery she's lost changing in Costa Coffee during filming.

But it's all worth it because she adores performing. "Pitching is what I do best." And in a TV landscape where there is so little diversity, she's a brilliant, eccentric role model.

"People like to pigeonhole successful women. Are you an Anne Robinson? Or are you a Nigella? And you think, actually there is something in between. I never set out to be a ballbreaker, but to have a chance to be on TV in your mid-forties and start another career, how fantastic is that?"

MARY'S GOLDEN RULES OF SHOPPING:


1. If you don't get good service you are effectively being ripped off. Remember,it's part of the margin built into the ticket price.

2. If you're not being served, walk out. There are few stores selling things that can't be found elsewhere. These shops won't improve their standard of service until their sales figures give them reason to.

3. Never shop on a Saturday. By the afternoon the merchandise can be all over the place and the staff are flagging.

4. Dress the part. Wear flat shoes, jeans and vests so you are as comfortable as possible when you are walking up and down the high street. And go shopping on a good hair day.

5. Demand individual fitting rooms. Who wants to parade in their bra in front of skinny 20-year-olds?

6. Go online first. Use the internet to do your research before you go to the shops. Log on after the major catwalk shows to get ideas.

7. Don't buy in haste. If you've got time and don't mind taking the risk, put everything back - except really exceptional items - until the end of the day before making a choice.

8. Forget January sales. Remember, they may not just be last season's clothes, but the leftovers from previous years - and always remember, however big the discount appears to be, a store almost never sells at a loss. Early February is the best time to buy new outfits because the shops are full of new stock, but there are fewer shoppers.

9. When you find good service, support it. Write and congratulate the store - vote with your purse.

[Red]

Originally Posted by Ruffie

When I was 75lbs lighter I could wear a ladies large or extra large top. I stepped into a clothing store that was not plus sized. The clerk a young gal immedietly came up to me and with her voice dripping with distain said " We don't have anything in here to fit YOU!" Now even if that were true I could be shopping for someone else, wanting to buy earrings, socks or a cute bag. I asked to speak to her manager and let her know of my disapointment and lo and behold never saw her in that store again so I assume she was fired.
Ruth

Well done for speaking up Ruffie!