BHS

We visited this store yesterday and the selection & service were great. I bought a pair of pants for a terrific sale price, and the two women at the cashier’s & the woman in charge of the dressing room (changing room-​?) were *very* friendly. Also, we encountered several other sales women in various sections of the store and they were equally friendly.

Very poor service café on ground floor. Have staff just come from agency with no training or was I just unlucky to get a cocky member of staff who referred me as mate on 12 occasions and never seem to make ordering clear to me and others. Have noticed many tables which never got cleared in 30 mins I was in their. FORGET the mate & get your house in order.

Ah, British Home Stores. The department store in its most down-​to-​earth incarnation. It used to be a place of dread, chockfull of the beige and the decrepit. Now, to be fair, Manchester’s BHS hasn’t updated its décor in the last three hundred and twenty-​seven years, so often you don’t even get to the goodies because you’re put off by the polystyrene tile walls and the threadbare, static electric shock-​inducing carpet.
Pah! Fools. BHS is alright these days didn’tcha know. Okay, so maybe the fashion elite wouldn’t want to spend the most special day of their life saying ‘I do’ in a BHS frock but to be honest, it’s far better than Berketex Brides. I thought some of the dresses were quite cutting edge. The fashion can be very hit and miss, it’s really more of a Country Casuals vibe, but for basics like vests and T-​shirts it’s really worth a check, especially when it comes to grabbing those last minute holiday bits.
I nearly bought a mini-​fridge for my uni days from here. True story. There’s luggage, there’s chocolate covered raisins, there’s gifts, there’s rather swish designer evening wear and there’s everything you need to kit out your home rather nicely. It’s geared towards a less affluent market than those who browse the shelves of Marks or John Lewis, but that doesn’t make it bad. And now that fashion-​botherer Sir Philip Green has taken over, we can see where its new cutting edge direction has come from.
Still, I go for the cutesy little café with toasted teacakes and some of the most scrumptiously calorific hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted. But then again I’m old skool.

Situated in the one part of the Arndale that has not been modernised, BHS (or ‘the home stores’ as my octogenarian Grandad calls it) has no appeal whatsoever to me.
Maybe it’s because I’m still in my 20s, but then again, I do shop in M&S from time to time. The store itself is stuck in a time warp, which immediately makes it look as if the clothes it sells are as outdated as the exterior and interior of the shop. However, I did once find quite a nice shirt here which I wore to my graduation and several interviews. I think this was a one off, as I’ve never bought anything here since.
However, the one redeeming feature of this BHS is the café. Not the small coffee shop overlooking Market Street, but the big café selling sandwiches and greasy fry ups. These fry ups were a life saver for me when I was collecting money for charity in the centre of town (not an annoying person who follows you down the street, just one in fancy dress with a bucket) and are really good value.
It seems that the BHS website has been somewhat influenced by the M&S website, maybe the store should follow suit.

Come now people. Lets not forget. They do sell pick ‘n’ mix.
And unlike every other pick and mix stand in the whole world (I’ve been to them also so I’d know) they are really good value. The weighing your sweets system irritates me so much. The whole system works by you making a purchase that you know represents an absolute rip-​off because you’re too embarrassed to take it back. Even knowing that these places always rip you off, the total cost of the sweets is always at least double your highest estimate. You then ruefully pay and eat the sweets, with a bitter taste in your mouth. That’s the meaning of bitter sweet encapsulated in a double pun. So you’ll have to give me that one, no?
Here there is no weighing system. You get a cup, large or small, for £2.50 or £3.50, and you stuff as many sweets into it as you can. Its not a bargain, but at least you know what you’re getting.
The rest of BHS, its rubbish. And its got a rubbish café selling rubbish coffee. SO just treat it like a sweet shop.

My dear mother still calls this place BH Home Stores. My big question; whats with the extra H mum? What does it stand for? Here’s some educated guesses:
‘British Hellhole Home Stores
British Horrendous Home Stores
British Helpless Home Stores’
Need I go on or do you you get the picture? This place should have died out in the nineties but continues unbelievably… probably due to the cheap and nasty school uniforms or wedding entire.
Don’t go here, even for the cheap café its all a trick to lure you into their world of unfashionable tat.

Ignoring the tosh on the website about the ’12 000 talented individuals’ working there (talented? really?), BHS is still an ace store if you can stand a little bit of realism on your shopping trip.
Lets be honest Britain is drab, to the point and lacking the pizazz and salesmanship of some other countries and BHS doesn’t do an awful lot to keep the dreariness from outside leaking in.
To some, this beige mentality may prove a little to overwhelming on the wrist slitting stakes but I just appreciate the wool being left away from my eyes so I can get on with doing some honest shopping.
For homes wares and gifts for the over 65’s you can’t go wrong with BHS, you know where you stand, you’re left to get on with it and you can expect a bargain or two– that’ll ding dang do for me.

Terrible customer service shop. I normally go to M&S but I needed to get something for my wedding. None of the workers fancies to serve customers, they seem to enjoy chatting themselves. When I went to the till, I feel as if I am disturbing their nice conversations. the woman who was in the till never said thanks you or price of the product. I wonder why they do the job for? I rather prefer to be served by friendly robot.
I went to a few times for my wedding items but needless to say, after that i never go there again. I am happy to be back to friendly M&S shop. It is shame as some of their products are all right but the workers really ruin the atmosphere.

i used to work here but still shop for a bargin. they are very good at christmas for bargins they usually reduce the stock quite early on at christmas so you can get a few last minute presents and they do the teddy offer as well. they also do some good bargins on the jewllery section if you can catch it on the sale they do really good reductions. the last area to look for a good bargin is the underwear and nightwear, there is usually always some reduced that you can get quie cheap. they also do some good home offers but there not reduced as often.

This branch of BHS is situated inside the Arndale in Manchester so occupies a prime location. It’s a large store taking up several floors and stocks clothing and home wares and is especially good for gifts and stocking fillers for all the family at Christmas.
Clothing ranges cater for Woman, Men, children and infants and are in the mid-​price range for the highstreet.
The store is well lit but can often be very warm, uncomfortably so in the basement floors.
Being an older more established department store they also have a café so you can put your feet up and grab something to eat and drink midst your shopping trip and as always they have the ever needed public toilets for you to use.

This is a great place for home stuff. I would recommend going when they have a sale on cause you can get goo quality stuff like towels and bedding for bargain prices! They sell clothing, mens, womens and childrens and they have a Tammy Girl shop inside which is great for younger girls aged between about 11 — 15. The christmas gift shop is their best feature (obviously its only at xmas!) you can get all sorts of cool gift ideas from here! Highly recommended as they even have a café upstairs!