Flannels — Local services in Blaby

Where do I begin. My sister and I walked in and were not greeted by the person standing at the door which is fine, we were left to our own devices to browse the perfumes. Barely 30 seconds went by when we got to the make-up counters and were asked if we were ok twice by the same person within a couple of minutes. After the second time I said loudly when the lady left but was standing nearby that staff always feel the need to watch us closely when we were just browsing and taking our time with purchases, all innocent enough, not like we were about to steal anything for goodness sake.

We then slowly made our way to the back of the ground floor to the skincare, again taking our time to browse as we like to when shopping at high-end brands as in stores like these. Again, we felt watching eyes from the security guard and two separate members of staff asking us again if we were ok, pretending they were rearranging products on the SKU directly next to us. It felt too much, almost like the staff needed training on basic customer service. We like to spend time on purchases but the constant surveillance made us feel uneasy and not comfortable to shop in the slightest. We then thought to buy the items we had to make the staff feel comfortable with us (!) and the older asian lady that served us was pleasant enough and what we would expect, making conversation and making us feel at ease again - unlike all the other members of staff to that point that were barely out of school and obviously needed basic training as mentioned.

After this we headed to the stairs to make our way to the first floor when the security guard exclaimed to us "You finally finished then and found what you were looking for?!" For a staff member to say this to us considering how much we spent is unacceptable, almost like we were not welcome to shop there. It felt like we were in a pound shop with this sort of comment and level of service, not a department store where we had just spent approx. £150 on make-up and skincare products! Surely they to have our money and custom? Evidently not.

It continued on the first and second floors, with members of staff continually asking us if we were ok, checking their radios immediately afterwards which made us think the staff were talking about us on their radios. One of them couldn't even be bothered to interact with us after asking the same scripted question, the teenager then got distracted with something shiny & forgot to finish her sentence. This actually put us off making further purchases totalling to £800 (pair of shoes and a gents' belt) and we promptly left, feeling unwelcome and leaving a bad taste in our mouths.

Considering the price point of brands in Flannels, you would naturally compare it to other department stores such as Selfridges and it just does not compare. In Selfridges we feel welcome, appreciated as customers and not like we're criminals from the point we step in the store until the point we leave.

Shocking customer service, even staff in the next door Sports Direct shop have better customer service and just general people skills. Having both worked in retail, we know what it is when specific people are being marked & how to discreetly shadow them. There is a eay of doing thus which evidently is beyond the capability of the staff here. We regularly shop at department stores and will not return to any Flannels store purely for this experience and staff in this specific store.

Needless to say, this is solely a place for those interested in cashing in their latest paycheck on the regurgitated, unimaginative spewings from Palm Angels & similar distastes. I think they've failed their mystery shopper experience & "at least one of you, if not all, will leave...

According to the Fosse Park website, Flannels is reviving in-store experiences. Unfortunately, the average customer is likely to have found that it has flat-lined.

The first impression on entering the store was slightly strange. Walking into the expansive Beauty area (note the capitalised B!), the olfactory experience was not one of luxury, but the distinct smell of fish. It was as if someone had microwaved last nights salmon stir fry at work and wondered what the fuss was about. Perhaps though, this was all part of the experience of "taking luxury beauty to the regions".

Moving deeper into the store I looked for evidence of its super inclusivity and found it in a pair of £249 sliders. I appraised the quality of the plastic and found it be rather superior to those sliders that could be found next door in Sports Direct.

It was at this point that I anticipated being overwhelmed by the customer service. It wasn't as if there weren't any staff available. They were everywhere, huddled together like Emperor Penguins (which would explain the smell) in a David Attenborough documentary and about as distant as the Antarctic.

I must admit that I'm not perhaps their target audience and do not exude the sense of refinement that brings luxury to everyone. As Marie Antoinette supposedly said when hearing about the French peasantry experiencing a cost of living crisis, "let them eat cake". Which is what I did at the Dunkin' across...

I usually shop at flannels in Leicester city centre however today I visited fosse park, went to the lift and went upstairs where my little girl was looking at a handbag and she picked it (she is only 2), she loves shopping with her Mummy, considering the amount of money I’ve spent this year alone in flannels I would have expected a different reception from staff here, they all followed me to the shoes, I stopped a staff member to ask for my size in UGG boots, they all gathered around me, beside me, behind me, where they blatantly read out my description in their ear pieces, at this point I am hugely uncomfortable, as I waited for staff member to return with my uggs the handbag was left near the shoes, one of the staff asked “is that yours”, I said “oh no my little girl picked it up” to which he replied whist looking at me disgusted “you need to leave NOW” I asked why and he said “you know why”, I’m absolutely none the wiser, a considerable amount of staff gathered around me, completely intimidating me, security guard arrived up and respectfully tried to defuse the situation,but I will NEVER shop in flannels again, I left and got in my car and went home and cried, that’s how they made me feel! Avoid this shop at all costs unless you want a wrongful insinuation of shoplifting from staff members that are very much in need of retraining in...