I always used to wonder if the buy-1-get-1-free and half price discounts on moisturiser/hand cream/shower gel etc really counted, because they were always on offer and I always went into town specially to take advantage of them rather than pay 30-50% more in Tescos.

However in recent months I more and more often simply can't be *rsed to go into town just to save £1 on moisturiser, and have been paying the Tesco price. So I think that means the discounts do count after all.

If traipsing into town to risk the hordes of the great unwashed means you may save 0.2 of a tuppence over the course of a year means your quality of life is reduced by a fleck of an iota then I fully endorse paying £4.29 for a pint of semi-skimmed milk at the corner shop.

Yes, that's very much the way I'm thinking. I spent 2 hours in town this morning and there was constantly someone in my way wherever I went.

Mind you, if I hadn't had that series of dreams (as described in the dreams thread) I might not have woken up an hour late at 7am, and got into town a bit earlier when there'd've been fewer humanoids obstructing my access to the goods.

Fangirl Three wrote:

On the bargain chiller shelf today I found 30p worth of corned beef offcuts, reduced to 15p. With a couple of slices of my home-made bread they made probably the cheapest tea I have ever enjoyed.

I repeated this today with a liver sausage offcut priced at 4p. I believe that is the ultimate cheap tea.

Your reductions are so much better than ours.

I'd been to Aldi, and had been so good...passing by all the junk food as part of my giving up junk food new yrs resolution that I started about a week ago.
And then I went to Tesco and the marked down section of the fridge with yellow stickers called out to me.

There was a 6 cream cake selection, gone from €5 to €3.95.
There was 2 donuts, gone from €2.50 to €1.98
There was another 2 donuts, from €2.50 to €1.98.

I shouldn't have bought them, but I forced myself to, just to be able to contribute to this thread. And they do say that fresh cream is good for stamina and typing, don't they ?

Oh and also I got veggie spring rolls, were €3 .....down to €2.67, and a milano margherita pizza which was €2.84 ...down to €1,36.

All in all, a grand saving of something cents. 8)

I make that a saving of €3.90, or £3.42. Or indeed NZ$6.42 if flibbers is reading. Particularly good work on the pizza.

In other news, I saved 80p on a massive tub of Sudocrem.

I got another massive tub of Sudocrem today, also at 80p off. And earlier I received discounts totalling £3.85 on a basket of groceries including organic UHT skimmed milk, ready rice, those tuna salad meal pots and lentil cakes.

Yesterday I saved a massive £5.15 on face wash, cranberry tablets and one of those little variety bags of mini French cheeses.

I was going to boast about how I got 20% off a tote bag in Debenhams today, but there's always at least 10% off everything in Debenhams so perhaps it doesn't count.

Debenhams are going down aren't they, much as I love them, there's an unmistakeable atmosphere of doom about them now.

All department stores are doomed.

Marlboro Touch are practically exactly the same as Marlboro Lights, and cost over £2 less. I think they might be slightly slimmer but that's the only difference I've noticed.

The Call of the Wendigo wrote:

All department stores are doomed.

I hope not, because I've always been my best self in department stores.

They are my happy places. When my mother had a boyfriend I couldn't stand, I used to read magazines and do my homework on a sofa of my choice in Harrods furniture dept, and only return home when I knew they'd have gone out.

I am worried by the demise of Barneys.

Fangirl Three wrote:

Debenhams are going down aren't they, much as I love them, there's an unmistakeable atmosphere of doom about them now.

On my last few visits they seem to have rallied a bit - the tatty, torn visual backdrops have been removed, the designer stuff has been given more prominence, the bra area is being regularly restocked.

I'm not a big Debenhams lover, but I'm very glad they're surviving. A think a department store is an essential thing for a large town/city to have.

I'd like to see M&S be much more proactive with their estate and have a proper relaunch. As is so often commented, they don't know who their customer is when it comes to clothing.

It needs to be back to a place known for quality underwear, cashmere sweaters without sequins, respectable workwear, and items that anyone between 30 - 90 would think looks decent. It's lazy, but I suggest Zara as a template.

I appreciate their efforts to bring in other brands in beauty and scent - Roger and Gallet, Fragonard, etc. That should be scaled up to a proper beauty department.

The food hall remains excellent. The in store cafes should move to a restaurant with cooked own brand meals and wine. The cafes shifted into the food hall spaces themselves for workers etc to access conveniently. I think they used to do furniture. I'd suggest a department of Ideal Homes style mock up rooms displaying a quality range.

Like Debenhams, they also need to jettison population centres under 100-125,000. Stand alone food halls to remain in more upmarket towns or if the turnover is especially great.

As for their men's wear I have no idea. Their kids stuff is borderline ok but H&M is much cheaper and more fashionable.

Without a major expansion of Sephora and/or Douglas into the UK (and I think we can rule that out now) the beauty and perfume departments of department stores are vital. You can't buy that stuff on the Internet, it all needs to be tried on live.

Once you know exactly how it looks, you can reorder online but that's the limit of it. Space NK can't ever take over the mass market or its products. I like the Beauty Mart concession and the great pink/orange neon logo but again, that's not mass market.

I am surprised to see Harrods rolling out standalone beauty stores. I notice the first are to be in the jaw dropping locations of Lakeside and Milton Keynes so if that works it could be great. It's certainly a vote of confidence that the model will thrive.

If the likes of Debenhams fails, I suppose the larger and richer towns could see something like Harvey Nichols Beauty Bazaar concept opening. Let's say in places like Brighton, Nottingham, Cardiff, Cambridge. Not much scope to cater below that level.

I think Designers at Debenhams was a great idea in 1996, but Jasper Conran, Ben di Lisi, etc mean nothing now and should be ditched. Perhaps for actually desirable diffusion ranges (such as See by Chloe, Emporio Armani, DKNY, Marc by Marc Jacobs) that aren't done especially for Debenhams, and have their own aspirational appeal. Maybe a seasonal two or three product range for the shoe department by Jimmy Choo, with matching bag of the season. Change the designer every couple of years.

Swimwear is a weak spot of UK retail generally. Debenhams would be ideally placed to own that space. There's virtually nothing between top designer stuff in Knightsbridge, and whatever Primark is selling. Holidays themselves along with fitness are things that people want to look great doing, and aspire to do, so their failure to move fast to become one of the first names to come to mind for affordable and fashionable swimming stuff (or impulse buys based on 'when I'm beach ready I'll wear this) is very mysterious.

cosmictanya wrote:

I think Designers at Debenhams was a great idea in 1996, but Jasper Conran, Ben di Lisi, etc mean nothing now and should be ditched

Fascinating - I discovered DatD in 2001 and bought lots of Red Herring stuff, and everyone I knew immediately started saying 'Ooh, that's a nice jacket, that isn't Marks, is it? where did you get it?'

Fangirl Three wrote:

cosmictanya wrote:

I think Designers at Debenhams was a great idea in 1996, but Jasper Conran, Ben di Lisi, etc mean nothing now and should be ditched

Fascinating - I discovered DatD in 2001 and bought lots of Red Herring stuff, and everyone I knew immediately started saying 'Ooh, that's a nice jacket, that isn't Marks, is it? where did you get it?'

You should've laid them out.

Do you concur or dissent from my estimations of the department store brands and directions of our great nation?