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Good For The Christmas Rush and Others
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Recommendation added: 04/06/2007 21:18
By: katygriff (YSUK rating +352)katygriff has been thanked 0 times for this contribution
"One of my favourite and most reliable shops to go to is Debenhams because it is big, has so many options and most of the time you can always find one so I don't have to worry about people taking things back and travelling miles as they are found everywhere. Anyway enough waffling and to the review.
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What is Debenhams?
Debenhams is a department store which sells clothes, pottery, gifts, perfume, makeup and many more things.
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Where can I find one?
Well you should be able to find a Debenhams in your nearest town as they are an extremely popular store to shop in. If you get stuck just go to www.debenhams.co.uk and do a search for your nearest store.
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The store:
Right now I will stress at this point that I will be mainly be referring to the Debenhams in the Bullring in Birmingham as this is the nearest one to me and the one I shop in most of the time. The stores do differ in size though and what they have depending on where they are, for example big cities will usually have bigger stores than in towns.
The Bullring store is huge and is split into four floors. Each floor contains different products which basically go as follows:
Floor one Pottery, Weddings, kitchen supplies.
Floor two Men's clothes, children's toys.
Floor three Women's clothes, perfume, jewellery.
Floor four Women's clothes, restaurant.
There are of course many more products but we will get to that later. Wherever you go though Debenhams will be split up into sections like above and I should know because I worked for the company for five years but again that's a different story. Anyway as you walk into the store you will often see a planner which will tell you exactly what is on each floor. As the stores are often very large, this is a great idea so that you do not waste time looking for where you have to go. You will recognise Debenhams stores by the huge signs they have above the stores and they are also often signposted first if you are in a shopping centre.
The thing I think you will notice about Debenhams stores is that as soon as you walk in they are very clean. I mean by this not just the fact that the floors must be cleaned daily but every surface always looks freshly polished and the products are always neat and it never looks like a jumble sale. Seriously I don't know how they manage it because even in the mad January sales the place still always looks perfect.
If you are visiting the store with a pram or in a wheelchair then you have nothing to worry about as the store actually have walkways so you can just saunter around the store at your own pace and only venture into the aisles of products if you really have to. This is good because the store does not get too cluttered with people and usually everybody can get around the store peacefully. Also all stores do have stairs, lifts and escalators so all floors are accessible to everybody.
A good thing about the Debenhams stores as well is that most of them will have different services such as a personal shopper service. Now this is great as if you have an important event to go to then you can get them to recommend things to you and they will stick with you until you are happy. Also because it is Christmas if you go into stores now there is a gift service where you can tell somebody about the type of person you are buying for and they will help you find gifts for them. What a great job it must be to be a personal shopper. Another service you can get from Debenhams is a free makeover by the staff on the makeup counter. These are fantastic and me and my mom have had one, they assess your colourings and recommend products and it turns out really well. You do have to book these in advance though sometimes so it is best to go into the store and ask.
The final thing I will tell you about the actual store is that there should be a restaurant in there so you will be able to have some food, a drink and a relax for a bit if it is needed. Depending on the size of the store you may get a cafι and a restaurant but it does depend which store you are visiting. The prices in the restaurant are reasonable and you can usually get a big meal and a drink for about £5.
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Clothes:
Now if you are female then this store is a godsend as it has a load of styles and basically clothes for every price range and occasion. The clothes sections will be separated into designer or concession so you can find the style and price range to suit you. Debenhams ranges of clothes are as follows
Debenhams Classics Great for the older ladies as they do some lovely traditional styles which are casual and at times quite formal. The price of these clothes are reasonable with a shirt being in the value range of £15 25 so very affordable.
Trader Trader offers us females a bit of casual wear and my favourite items to get from them are jeans which are so comfortable. I think I paid about £15 for them in the sale but the prices are great and they do some nice jumpers and t-shirts too.
Red Herring My favourite part of Debenhams. They do some very casual but also funky styles so you will find bright coloured clothes which can be used for a night out or in the day. The prices are great and at the moment in stores they have a collection of scarves and hats which are great.
Designers at Debenhams These include designs by John Rocha, Matthew Williamson and Jasper Conran who design unique clothes which are great for every shape and size. The prices are a bit more expensive and often double or triple the price of some of the other clothes but they are worth it for a special occasion.
As well as Debenhams styles, you can choose from a whole host of concessions who sell clothes in the store. I won't go into detail but you can usually find concessions such as Principles, Oasis, Jane Norman, Warehouse, Pineapple, Bay and Coast. These offer a lot more variety in price and style within the store.
Now for the men I am not too sure about everything obviously as I don't usually buy men's clothes for myself but they have a great selection of clothes;
Suits They do some very suave suits which you can get tailored to meet your needs. The prices are what you would expect really and the quality is fantastic.
Designers at Debenhams Men can choose from Jasper Conran, John Richmond, John Rocha and Nigel Cabourn designs. The designs are great for guys and very sophisticated with prices being a bit expensive but you could not get better quality.
Casual wear Now the names of this section varies in each store but you will usually find a small range of casual clothes such as jeans and jumpers at very reasonable prices.
It is just a bit unfortunate that the men's clothes section is quite small but hey you guys cant complain as if you shopped as much as us girls I am sure they would give you more choice.
There is also a very big range of clothes for children but to be honest I have never had to buy anything from there so I am not sure what the ranges are or what the prices are like.
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Lingerie:
Girls there are a great range of lingerie ranging from sexy to sporty and the prices are as reasonable as ever. A word of advice though about the lingerie is that it does get slashed in price during the sale so it might be worth waiting till then. The lingerie section does not particularly follow many designers but they do a great range of wonder bras which are cheap and cheerful.
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Jewellery:
The jewellery is a small but fantastic range of Debenhams own and also they do mood jewellery which is cheap but very tasteful. I was in Debenhams today and they sell the hot diamonds range which is fantastic as there are things for men and women and also I noticed today that there is a large range of watches for men and for women.
If you do buy some jewellery from the store then you will be able to get it repaired in the store. They have staff that are trained in repairing so you should not have any problem.
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Perfume and Makeup:
They have a huge range of perfume at the Bullring store with it taking up half of one floor. You will find all sorts of perfume from all sorts of designers including Anna Sui, Elizabeth Arden and Britney spears for women and then Joop and Ultraviolet for men. The perfume all have testers so you can smell before you buy and you also have the choice to buy just the perfume or after shave or they do gift sets for men and for women at around £25 a gift set so good for Christmas gifts.
The makeup counters are split into designers too so you will find Elizabeth Arden or clinique counters which are all separated from each other and you will find a large range of products at each counter. You will always find a member of staff at each counter who are specialised in the makeup so you should have no problem finding something that suits you.
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Handbags and Shoes:
Ok now we know handbags and shoes are most girl's favourite things so you will be pleased to know that Debenhams do a great range of both. The handbags that they have include their own range, the Fiorelli range and the Radley range. The Bullring Debenhams is fantastic for this as there are so many to choose from. My favourite is the Radley range which is very expensive at about £40 for a very small bag but they are so cute and feel lovely. Do not worry though as they do have bags for all price ranges and they differ in size and style so it is well worth going to have a look at them for any occasion.
The shoes that they do in the store from what I can always tell stem from three collections. The first is the Debenhams own collection which provides a small range of shoes for men, women and children. Within the stores this range will be spread out into the different sections for example mens shoes will be found with the mens clothes. The next range is from The Shoe Collection which is fantastic. Some of them are very expensiv thoughwith a price rnge of £30 150. They are of fantastic quality though and you can find designers such as Nine West and Roland Cartier. Then the final section is the high street shoes from Faith which are very affordable and stylish.
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Gifts:
You should be able to find other gifts in the store such as the following. The pottery section now in stores features ornamental figures and kitchen utensils from designers such as Portmeiron and Royal Doulton. Also you can buy things such as bread makers and vases so decorations for the house.
For children you can buy a whole host of board games, jigsaws, picture frames and much more.
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The Staff:
Staff are always polite in every store I have ever been in to so cannot fault them really. They are always willing to help and do not even mind you just asking them a question outright. I have even seen staff take people to where they need to go and stand with them for ages helping them make a decision. What I will tell you though is that staff in purple shirts are Debenhams staff but anybody else may be concession staff. I know it is strange but sometimes the concession staff do not know about the Debenhams own products so it is probably a good idea to get the right person to ask.
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Debenhams offers:
When you shop in the store you will get the option to open up a Debenhams card and usually whenever you buy something from the store you will be asked if you want to open one. This card does work like a credit card though which you have to pay back each month so do not open an account if you do not want this or are like me and rubbish at monthly payments. If you do open a card you will have to present a proof of ID and some basic details which takes around five minutes so not long.
The benefits of having a Debenhams card are endless though as when you open one you get 10% off all of your purchases for a week. You then are a cold holder and will be invited to exclusive cardholder evenings where you can be first to see sale items and special offers. Occasionally you will find that Debenhams offer cardholders discount which is annoying if you are not one.
Other things that Debenhams do apart from the normal sales at sale times during the year are the occasional megaday. Now these are great as they are at random times in the year and offer great discounts for everybody for just a day or two. If you were in Debenhams last Wednesday and Thursday you will have seen that it was a megaday and you could get some great bargains.
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Returns:
The store is generally very good on returns and have the average 28 day policy on full refunds if you have your receipt. If you have had the item over the refund date but it is faulty then if you take it back to the store with the receipt then staff will help you out. I have found people are very good with returns in this store and genuinely want to help you out and send you home happy.
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Verdict:
When I first got a job at a store when I was sixteen I actually had never been into a Debenhams store but since that moment on my first day I have always loved the store and shop there whenever I can. I think the way I would describe Debenhams is an up market department store because they always look so nice compared to other stores I go into and I always have a very pleasant shopping experience from there.
One reason Debenhams is good for shopping in is because there are so many products there that you can spend hours in there getting what you need. For the girls reading this, it is a good way of getting your guys to go shopping. My Dave hates shopping but because he doesn't know what the shops are called I always say I promise it will only be one shop. He usually agrees and therefore has to stay with me the whole time while I shop for a few hours in there.
The one thing I will warn you about in Debenhams is that during sale times the store can get extremely busy and the queues are horrendous. Last year me and my Mom spent about forty five minutes just waiting to pay for something which is mad but hey what we girls do for a bargain. The sales are worth it though and I usually spend a lot of money there buying things that I have seen and wanted that are now 50% off. It's great.
In conclusion I will probably always shop in Debenhams because I love it there and I find the prices are great and most of the time I can get what I need from there. The staff are very nice and there are always plenty of them around to help and the fact that the stores have proper walkways keep people moving and the stores looking less cluttered.
A great shopping experience and especially good for Christmas gifts. Sorry this review was so long but it is one of my favourite stores in the world.
Thanks for reading.
xxx"
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