John Lewis isn’t Jessops anymore…

A few weeks ago I blogged about my invisible cloak I sometime don when I go into John Lewis – especially in the cafe.

We went in again yesterday. At around 10.00am. There was a queue – fair enough as the Christmas-Mentalists have emerged to do the shopping, all at once. But the queue I discovered was not because of the volume of people – it was because there was one member of staff on the till on his own. The other one was in search of jugs (first) and then milk (second). I did wonder if they could have sorted this before they opened? So two members of staff – and one wandering around looking for stuff they need.

It took 15 minutes to get a cup of coffee, cheese scone, biscuit and diet coke. Thank goodness we didn’t want breakfast – as that queue was much longer. This is where the word “brunch” originated – a man went into John Lewis for breakfast and by the time he got his breakfast it was lunch…

When I was in the USA with the Sheriff of Nottingham looking at world class attractions we found that a food offer was a really important element of the attraction – good and bad food experiences ‘stuck’. Sorry John Lewis you are not at the good end of the scale at the moment.

In the old days – when God was a boy, the Jessops was a great shop. You had a debit card that was brilliant in its simplicity – now I have a Partnership Card – which is so sensitive that if I scrape snow off my car with it they know and ‘block it’. Last month they stopped it because I used in the Apple Store – where there is loads of fraud according to them after I had to call them to say yes I had bought a magic mouse (which is excellent).

Today in John Lewis there was a ‘competitors event’ and some items were reduced by 20% – which in its self sounds great – except that the stuff I wanted wasn’t in the sale (Crew Clothing wasn’t in but Gant was). And it’s a one day event -so prices go up tomorrow – which is an admission tacitly that they are ripping you off? Surely if they are ‘never knowingly undersold’ the prices could go down by 20%? But I know this not to be that case as we bought some goods last month and then had to exchange them – when we went back the prices had gone up. And the reason – well never knowingly undersold means they check their competitors prices – and they sometimes put them up! This may be commercial reality – but it’s not really cricket is it?

When we needed more refreshment we decided not to patronise them again and headed off for The Walk – at the top of King Johns Arcade – a European style cafe bar – where the service is much better than John Lewis. The food is great too – and if you are a fan of tea – it’s the place for you. The cheese board is great! And the Walk are providing the cafe at the new Nottingham Contemporary – where I had great food in the week!

So, in future we’ll go to The Walk for breakfast. And maybe the Contemporary for lunch? And they are at the good end of my scale!

p.s. I still hate the Nottingham Contemporary building!