Worst Stores to Shop In?

[Guy]

Basic idea, the worst stores you've come across to shop in.

 

My first vote goes to Games Workshop, a hatred I touched upon briefly in another thread. My rage has spilled out into this one, I'm sorry. I type this with clenched teeth and balled fists... with much use of the delete key.

 

Why Games Workshop? Because the people who work in there are too enthusiastically pushy. They always want to sell you expensive glue you can get cheaper elsewhere or encourage you to have just one short game, which probably ends up lasting seven years of your life if previous short games are anything to go by. These people are playas, in the saddest possible sense.

 

They are also incredibly mean to the armies of worshipful children who paint in there with them. I once witnessed a eight year old boy brandish some purple lump of clotted paint that was probably once a Tyranid to one of the staff in triumph, only to have the staff member tell him it was uneven and disgraceful. He then rolled seven dice and told the kid the combined number was how much he had to spend on glue to make amends. The kid did as told and later killed himself.

 

Games Workshop stores are the absolute worst thing about the hobby.

 

 

My second vote goes to Primark, because it is the high street store equivalent of a Spanish Bull Run. Messy, violent and a top ten contender for places in the world nobody ever wants to be.

 

Nothing is ever in the right place, staff don't know a size 11 shoe from a size 12 sweater and worst of all the queues. The fucking queues. The lines to get off the Earth at the end of the world wouldn't be as long as your average Saturday Primark queue.

 

Conclusively, prices are amazing in Primark but nothing ever fits properly. The arms are too long or wizard sleeve after a single rollup, or the legs on the jeans are always too long for the size waist that length is paired with. Anyone who has been walking merrily along only to have the backs of their jeans suddenly get pulled under the soles of their shoes, causing them to be violently flipped backward in a reverse Home Alone knows of this misery.

 

---

 

Share yours. I want to know what stores to avoid next time I'm in town.

[Dog-amoto]

I hate shopping full stop, but special mention goes to BHS. It's just so dated nowadays. Woolworths bit the bullet last year, and I predict that BHS will fold within the next five years.

 

And I don't know why, but I always feel dirty after coming out of Gamestation, no matter which store I go into. I don't know what it is about the place - maybe it's the amount of old (PS1 era) stuff and the amount of not-rights who frequent the place.

 

I prefer to shop online.

[Ashley]

Next during the sale is always madness.

 

And CEX simply because there seems to be a rule that states that they must "play shit music loudly".

 

But overall I'm okay in most places. I find chaos calming. Only once do I recall ever thinking "I CAN'T STAND IT IN HERE, I NEED TO GET OUT!" and that was a random department store in Osaka (and then I had to fight my way down 9 floors to get out).

[Goafer]

Went into my local Kwik Fit ages ago in my old beach buggy to get the rear tyre fixed (it was one of those big bastard off road tyres with the white letter writing, so too expensive to replace). Now before I begin, imagine a beach buggy. Not much space to store anything out of sight right? So I pull up and ask them to repair my tyre. Come back an hour later and they say "couldn't fix the tyre mate, you've used Tyreweld* on it". I really wanted to tell them "How the fuck did you think I got here? Hopes and dreams won't keep a tyre inflated". Dumb fucks. And it's not like they hadn't seen the buggy pull up, it tended to attract an audience. The one saving grace is that they didn't try to sell me a new tyre. They just told me that Tyreweld is a good repair and won't need any extra attention (which I'm sure is massively dangerous, as it was designed as a temporary replacement).

 

I haven't been back since.

 

 

*Tyreweld is a foam you spray into a tyre and it glues it from the inside. It's really good.

[Guy]

And CEX simply because there seems to be a rule that states that they must "play shit music loudly".

 

CEX used to be pretty awesome when they first opened with all the imports and stuff, now they're the very definition of scummy. Cowboy enough that the entrance should have a set of saloon doors.

 

Every time I buy from them I instantly regret it because I just did my part to keep them in business.

[Wesley]

All of them.

 

Full of filthy fucking humans.

[Serebii]

Anywhere where people work on commission.

[Nintenchris]

All of them.

 

Full of filthy fucking humans.

 

Internet shopping FTW, unless the ROYAL FAIL get hold of your purchases

 

Our Asda is a shitty place to be, the aisle's go from back to front with no gap in the middle and since the back of the store is quite some distance your stuck in that aisle even if it doesnt have whatcha want.. oh and the aisle's arnt very wide either so you cant get round the old grannys that cant decide which packet of biscuits they want.

Edited August 31, 2010 by Nintenchris

[Fierce_LiNk]

Yes, I'm glad I'm not alone with my hate for Primark. It's a horror show.

 

Plus, they try really, really hard to fill every single inch of space with clothes. I've been to many overcrowded shops, but Primark takes the piss. So many aisles, so many of these clothes "islands" just in the way. And, the smallest walk-space in the middle of the shop. I'm getting angry just talking about eet.

 

Gamestation is not a pleasant place to go anymore. At one time, it was my favourite place in the world. There would be decent music playing overhead, you could actually see where you were walking inside the store thanks to the lighting (do they just use black bulbs now or something?) and the atmosphere was a lot better. Everybody felt nerdy or geeky, but it was the right kind. You could go in, buy a game or two, have a laugh or a joke.

 

It's not an awful place now, but it's not the same Gamestation that I remember. It definitely has changed over the years. Sadly.

[Jimbob]

Oh Primark, how much i hate thee. You can never find anything in the size you want, and since Woolworths has ceased to be is now staffed by the same nut-cases who ran Woolworths. You ask them anything, and they seem to give you something different. For example, you ask them for jeans and they tell you where the lift is. Not that the staff before were any smarter or wiser.

 

Gamestation has become worse than ever, the one in Newport is run by stoned teenagers or mid-aged adults thinking they are 20 or something. They always try and sell you something you don't want, like a PS3 game instead of the 360 version. And it always plays some crap music. And i swear the shop got poorer and had to pawn the carpet(s).

 

HMV in Newport seems to be run by goths. The only stuff in order and easy to find is depressing crap like "Spice Girls" or worse, "Aqua". I know these are old, but they are the only things you can find that are not on the "New Release" sections.

[Goafer]

Oh Christ, I forgot about The Car Supermarket.

 

I went with a friend to help her pick a car. She wanted a Vauxhall Astra. She clearly said what she could afford. We spent the best part of a whole afternoon "haggling", which basically involved her telling the salesman that she literally couldn't afford what they were asking. We would have walked out, but the salesman had put her debit card behind the counter (she handed it over when it seemed like she would be buying one/test driving one, only to find out later it was way over the price she said she could afford).

 

The guy also spent most of the time trying to sell the car to me, despite me clearly saying over and over again that I was only there to give advice and that the decision was completely out of my hands.

 

I genuinely hope the place burns down. Literally a whole afternoon spent trying to convince them to let us go. In the end, she walked over to the counter, demanded her card back and we left. Pricks.

[Jimbob]

Oh Christ, I forgot about The Car Supermarket.

 

I went with a friend to help her pick a car. She wanted a Vauxhall Astra. She clearly said what she could afford. We spent the best part of a whole afternoon "haggling", which basically involved her telling the salesman that she literally couldn't afford what they were asking. We would have walked out, but the salesman had put her debit card behind the counter (she handed it over when it seemed like she would be buying one/test driving one, only to find out later it was way over the price she said she could afford).

 

The guy also spent most of the time trying to sell the car to me, despite me clearly saying over and over again that I was only there to give advice and that the decision was completely out of my hands.

 

I genuinely hope the place burns down. Literally a whole afternoon spent trying to convince them to let us go. In the end, she walked over to the counter, demanded her card back and we left. Pricks.

 

I hate stores like that, never letting you leave until you buy something way out of price range. Does my nut in to be fair.

[Emasher]

As much as I like Apple, I HATE going into their stores. The last time I was in one of them, at least 5 different staff members approached me and tried to sell me some random thing off the shelf I was looking at. As long as you don't want to demo something, you're far better off going when its busy, or just using their online store.

 

Also, this:

 

Anywhere where people work on commission.

 

For the same reason. I understand why they're constantly bothering you, but the stores need to learn that a lot of people hate 10 sales people asking them if they need help finding anything, other than what they're already carrying to the till. The sales pressure and outright lies the salespeople tell you to make a sale are ridiculous too. When I was in Future shop with my parents who were buying their first HDTV, the salesperson told us that we shouldn't worry about television shows being in 4:3 as the TV could apparently reconstruct a 16:9 image without distorting anything, live. To put this in perspective, a new version of Photoshop was coming out soon that was just implementing such a feature, however it took a computer much more powerful than have ever been used in TVs Minutes to reconstruct a single image this way, and it required a lot of manual help from the user to do it properly. I didn't call him out on it, but my dad and I were laughing about it latter.

[dwarf]

Any suit store. You go in, they're overstaffed with smarmy looking pricks and they stand in a little circle, eyeing you, judging you, whilst laughing within themselves.

Then they hunt you.

[ReZourceman]

I don't have toooo huge of a problem with the local Primarks, but the one in Oxford Street is.....oh god. Its a terrible terrible experience. Serious....just...death inducing stuff.

[Murr]

I agree with all the Primark comments, but at the same time i do love that shop so much heh. got some awesome t-shirts from there.

 

and again i agree with the Apple hate, i just went in to get a new charger for my iPhone, and was approached so many times asking what i was after, did i want to try the iPad, had i thought about getting iPhone4, this iPod classic would be good for your large iTunes collection etc etc...

 

nooo fuck off.. i want a charger and that is it!

 

 

 

I also really really hate people that have them temporary booth things, like Sky or BT in the middle of a crowded place. like at the mall near us, there is a Sky Booth, a photo studio's booth and a like beauty product booth, so walking past it with Heather, and the Sky people pretty much start shouting and running towards us like "oh hey there guys, Sky's awesome.... you want right?" (obviously they had a better sales pitch then that) but we're like "no we have Virgin!"

 

then walk a little bit further then the photo people are like "oh guys you could get such a great photo together, for the price of £99,99,99,9999999 you'd get a free frame worth 60p... what you think :grin:" (again not an accurate sales pitch, but you get it!)

 

so we fob them off then get approached by the beauty people trying to get Heather to try this eyeliner, that mascara, this foundation....

 

all we wanted to do was go to Game pushy people.

[nightwolf]

CEX used to be pretty awesome when they first opened with all the imports and stuff, now they're the very definition of scummy. Cowboy enough that the entrance should have a set of saloon doors.

 

Every time I buy from them I instantly regret it because I just did my part to keep them in business.

 

I used to love CEX, I thought it was brilliant, finally a place I can buy all the dvd's I wanted from hmv for next to nothing.

 

Then I took a monitor in, one they already had on display, I asked them how much they'd give me for it, baring in mind I'd paid a good £100 for it only a couple of months before (I'm talking less then 3/4 months here), they offered me £7, £7, I was so utterly shocked because the guys were selling it for more than it is in argos (they were flogging it for £110 when it's only £100 in argos.)

 

Rage did I! The people in Sheffield are so lazy, there's always a queue, they never know where stuff is and when you do finally get to the till it's like they've been smoking weed continuously since they were 6.

 

Primark is a whole different ball park, there's christmas temp jobs, my dad wants me to apply, annoying given I don't think he realises quite how bad primark is, but when I applied to maccie d's several months ago he objected, weirdo. Maccies at least pay better!

 

It's no wonder the staff are useless though, they are underpaid, overworked and let's face it when are you ever going to get a store like primark clean unless you live in a smaller town where it isn't as popular.

 

My other gripes tend to be places like topshop, I hate places where if you aren't the norm of girl to go in there you are instantly dismissed, I can fit perfectly well into topshop's sizes, but if I so much as try something the girls give me funny looks. I still go anyway but it thoroughly irritates me.

 

Oh and size discrimination in evans too, I'm a 14, 14-32 is their standard apparently, but if I so much as walk in I get the evils, yet they have skinny girls working in there!! My friend did once apply and got told she was too skinny as an 18, I tried to tell her to contest it, but she didn't.

 

In essence clothes places are the devil, but its such a pain to buy online.

[Will]

Any suit store. You go in, they're overstaffed with smarmy looking pricks and they stand in a little circle, eyeing you, judging you, whilst laughing within themselves.

Then they hunt you.

 

Totally agree with this, buying my recent suit turned into a nightmare due to utterly incompetent or rude staff in the stores. So glad I don't have to do it on a regular basis.

[Charlie]

Morrisons

It's a great supermarket but they NEVER have enough tills open so you have to queue for ages at the end! As its the closest one to me I tend to go in for small items etc but its not worth while as you have to wait for ages at the end.

 

TK Maxx

Oh dear God, I can't handle this shop. There's just too much stuff! You have to rake through everything and rarely find anything good. It's like a sale, all the time.

[Raining_again]

I also really really hate people that have them temporary booth things, like Sky or BT in the middle of a crowded place. like at the mall near us, there is a Sky Booth, a photo studio's booth and a like beauty product booth, so walking past it with Heather, and the Sky people pretty much start shouting and running towards us like "oh hey there guys, Sky's awesome.... you want right?" (obviously they had a better sales pitch then that) but we're like "no we have Virgin!"

 

OHmyword. thos people are awful. My sister and I were in the town once, and there was like a nails stall up. One of these companies selling a nail file/cream set thing. This girl basically grabbed my sister "you want your nails done yes!!" (she was foreign) and started attacking her with a nail file, without waiting for a yes!!

 

Granted she polished up the nail and it was all shiny... but later on Kate (my sister) said her finger actually HURT. Half of the nail was filed off! That's nearly freakin assault!

[Mundi]

Those booths are terrible, I decided never to go to Vodafone because of them.

Used to work part-time in a shop at a local mall and they had one of these booths.

I went to work there 1-3 times a week and they pestered me every time.

 

To make it even more annoying, I would also get a call from them once in a week or two trying to get me to switch and a guy from my instant messenger list worked for them and tried to get me to change over it.

 

It was borderline stalking.

[Mr_Odwin]

My worst store to shop in is any store I go to with my wife. I browse the entire massive long shop, and wander back to find her about 4 foot from where we started.

She touches everything. Instead of immediately dismissing an item that is clearly foul, she gives it her full attention for a minute or two. And then, worst of all, when she buys an item she often returns it a week later after deciding that she doesn't actually like it. I don't know how she can do such a thing given the amount of time that she puts in before a purchase is made.

 

I could have made this post in the drives me insane thread too. Does my head in.

[Ganepark32]

OHmyword. thos people are awful. My sister and I were in the town once, and there was like a nails stall up. One of these companies selling a nail file/cream set thing. This girl basically grabbed my sister "you want your nails done yes!!" (she was foreign) and started attacking her with a nail file, without waiting for a yes!!

 

Granted she polished up the nail and it was all shiny... but later on Kate (my sister) said her finger actually HURT. Half of the nail was filed off! That's nearly freakin assault!

 

These people really, really annoy me. Mainly because one of them grabbed hold of me last year and did the exact same thing to me. I think the long hair may have confused him at first but needless to say, I was less than amused at the situation seeing as he literally pulled me towards his stall while I was merely walking through the shopping centre and while I was wondering what the hell was going on, he started filing away at my nail and tried to sell me something that is clearly for women and not men . Bastard.

 

I don't think I've ever been in a Primark. Out of principle, I just refuse to go in one really.

 

Although I'll agree with Gamestation being a terrible store. My local one used to be alright but the people that work there think they're God's gift to the world and look down on everyone who goes in there. I've stopped buying from there completely but the last few times I was in there, they've been incredibly rude and thrown games that I've just bought at me over the counter. And then there was a deliberate scratching of a copy of The Saboteur that I was buying. Just hate the store. No point complaining as it just falls on deaf ears really.

Edited September 1, 2010 by Ganepark32

[Mr_Odwin]

it just falls on death's ear

 

Falls on deaf ears. Unless you want to look silly for the rest of your life.

[Ganepark32]

Falls on deaf ears. Unless you want to look silly for the rest of your life.

 

Quiet you. It's early-ish......... not really but I can't think of a viable excuse for the mistake. I'd say I wasn't bothered but I already editted the damn thing .