Come back John Lewis – I miss you

Wednesday 12th September

But John Lewis hasn’t gone anywhere I hear you shout.  Oh yes it has.  It has gone downmarket, down the dinosaur way, down the trash bin that is Selfridges and Debenhams.  It started with those central escalators and open Atrium, then they carved out half the basement for the Food Hall, and now the shop is completely ruined as the Cosmetics and Beauty section had trebled in size and relegated gifts and stationery to the basement, and reduced it to about a quarter of its former size.  I know that stores must change to meet changing demand, but honestly who buys this shit.  The perfumes and lotions and potions and so-called Beauty treatments.  Oh, of course I forgot, young women buy it, spending an ever disproportionate amount of their wages on trying to look beautiful.  And for what end?  So that guys will look at them and want to shag them, so they will get married and pregnant, and have kids and not be able to ever afford that rubbish again.

I know I am an old curmudgeon, but the very reason I used to shop at John Lewis was its unchanging-ness.  The fact that when you wanted a birthday card you knew exactly which door to go into and on autopilot could avoid everything else and rely on an excellent selection, and quick service.  Now like all the other stores you have to hunt for and then give up and ask an assistant and then queue up at the very few tills.  I did complain, the response. ‘I know, we get loads of complaints every day, all our old customers hate it.’

But that won’t stop those marketers and PR people who design these shops to look just like every other store everywhere else.  But in my book, they have thrown the baby out with the bathwater, so come back John Lewis – I miss you