Wickes Building Supplies

Yes, yes I’m writing a review for a building supplies store… I do lend my hand to the odd bit of DIY every, erm, 5 years or so.
Yes, I felt like a bit of an outsider walking in, dodging the palettes of timber and pipe and bags of cement. For one thing, I didn’t know what half the stuff Wickes sells is — bathroom fittings, kitchen wotsits, flooring… But anyway, it was easy to see where all that stuff was, so the signage is good.
But five stars go to the man who told me very helpfully about how to go about stripping and wallpapering a room. 3 hours later, with 3 walls out of 4 done completely in record time, it was clear his advice was good. He even told me not to buy some things I wouldn’t use, which is very generous since presumably, Wickes wants to sell them to me regardless.
They have a new range of paint out — very nice it is too, and cheaper than Dulux — which for me actually meant I could get a load of their old paint on 70% off. Bonus!
Parking’s easy even on a Saturday afternoon, but they lose a star because of the debacle at the tills. The tills broke — fair enough, annoying but not their fault — but the crazy woman who apparently worked there stomping around screaming about it didn’t make me feel any better about being in a building supplies store on a Saturday afternoon. Although it does have the bonus that I eventually looked forward to stripping wallpaper after 15 minutes in a queue to pay…