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How to Shop with Mary, Queen of Shops
 
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How to Shop with Mary, Queen of Shops (Hardcover)

by Mary Portas (Author)
2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
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How to Shop with Mary, Queen of Shops + Smart Retail: Turn Your Store into a Sales Phenomenon + Visual Merchandising: Window and In-Store Displays for Retail
Price For All Three: £32.95

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 224 pages
  • Publisher: BBC Books (17 May 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 184607214X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1846072147
  • Product Dimensions: 24.6 x 19.4 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 21,974 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #4 in  Books > Reference > Consumer Guides > Shopping

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Product Description

Glamour

'The BBC's Mary, Queen of Shops shares her essential tricks, tips and advice, making this the 21st century shopping guide you simply can't be without'


Product Description

By 2008 the clothing market will be worth an estimated 22.2 billion. Womenswear accounts for over 60 per cent of the apparel retail market in Britain. Where you shop is more important than ever to the high street, but how you shop is even more important to you. "How To Shop" looks at shopping through the other end of the telescope: from the consumer's point of view. Mary lets us in on the tricks and tips she's learned from her years at the leading edge of fashion retailing with the ultimate insider's guide to how to get the most out of shops. When to hit the sales, how to read a shop window, who you are as a shopper in the eyes of the retail trade, and how to transform arrogant shop assistants into willing slaves. "How To Shop" tells you everything you wanted to know about shopping but were too afraid to ask. Mary Portas is the woman who turned Harvey Nichols from the place you went to get your Barbour repaired and your tiara polished to a modern powerhouse of fashion and style. Today, she's one of the most respected figures in the fashion industry, she runs her own retail consultancy, Yellowdoor, and writes a regular shop review column for "The Saturday Telegraph". What Mary doesn't know about shops isn't worth knowing. Combining must have tips and tricks with a fascinating insight into the inner workings of the world's top fashion retailers, "How To Shop" is the ultimate 21st century guide to shopping. Don't leave home without it!
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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
2.7 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Really Disappointing, 1 Jul 2007
By vivsy (rural hertfordshire) - See all my reviews
I really like Mary Portas and enjoyed her tv series, so when I saw her book in the shop I bought it thinking I was in for a treat. It's an attractive book with some good photos of covetable merchandise but I was really disappointed with the content. The tv series showed her helping boutiques raise their game but this accompanying book doesn't seem to know if its aimed at retailers or shoppers. It's a bit of both but not enough of either in my opinion. It's as if someone at the BBC decided they felt they should do a book but thought making it a self help book for retailers wouldn't attract as many readers so extended it to the shopping public.

I can't say I learned anything much about being a canny shopper. It just seemed superficial and constatntly states the obvious with information about various things like when the sales are on (january's a popular time for these), what to do if you receive shoddy service (complain to the manager or write a letter) and wear flat shoes when shopping. It mentions visiting warehouse sales for designer bargains but no information on how to find them.

Much of the book is description. It provides lots of statistics about shopping habits such as the percentage of women who are wearing the wrong bra size which I've heard many times before, but no real advice on how to shop for underwear other than get yourself measured. Some other figures are quoted, such as the age profile of internet shoppers which strangely is in the middle of a section about storecards and their pitfalls. The whole book skips around, without any particular journey so you don't know what is going to come along next or why.

If you're a boutique owner who has just come over from a remote island then there may be lots of useful advice in here to tempt buyers to part with their cash but for the rest of us I don't think it's let us very much into the secret world of fashion retail.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Very poor excuse for getting cash from TV programme fans, 7 Jul 2008
This really is a very disappointing book indeed. I have read it from cover to cover and have not found a single point which is new or enlightening. Like many people, I am a fan of Mary's TV show and enjoy seeing how her expertise and contacts in the field can turn around the ailing boutiques of this country. However, this book is really a very poor companion to the programme. I think it probably took about a day to write it, there is so little information contained within. She says the book is for shoppers not shop keepers - well, as someone who is both of these, I can say there is very little to be gleaned by either. For example, why does the book contain a section on how shops dress their windows? What use is this to a shopper? Most shoppers pay very little attention to windows, except maybe when in a traffic queue... I think it is simply there because Mary started out as a shop window dresser. Please don't waist your money buying this book - if you are still interested, order it from your local library. Now my problem is - how do I get rid of it?
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars perhaps the most useless book ever written on this subject, 1 April 2008
Please don't waste your money on this book. It's just full of useless statistics and useless advise and it doesn't teach you anything about how to shop. I just feel deceived by the title and the book's description. If the book is intended for the shopper, do I then need to know that a blue light is sometimes used to make a black dress look more luxurious? Or that the shop window is like the shop's face and then to go on and on and on about it for the next ten pages including the window shop dressing crimes. E.g. autumn leaves decorations in autumn. Now how is this information going to be of any use to me? Have I learnt anything there? What if I don't think it's cheesy to have autumn leaves in the shop window and indeed I like it.
And then there is the author's high opinion of herself which is impossible to be missed thoughout the book. E.g. Jean-Paul Gaultier started as a window dresser and then there's also me of course.
Aarrgh!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Some insights
Some insights, but nothing more than common sense really.Not sure it will help store owners and really don't think it will help any shopper spend better?
Published 4 months ago by C. Hartwell

4.0 out of 5 stars More Please
Feel Fab at 50

As an image professional who spends time shopping with and for clients, I get to know which shops look after their customers and which do not. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Sue Donnelly

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a must for anyone with a shop
I bought this book on the strength on the tv series which is excellent. The book is even better. It fully explains all aspects of selling, how to position things within a shop,... Read more
Published on 11 Jun 2007 by shop girl

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