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Books Related to How to Shop with Mary, Queen of Shops Mary Portas - ISBN: 184607214X
perhaps the most useless book ever written on this subject - Rated
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!
Really Disappointing - Rated
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.
This is a must for anyone with a shop - Rated
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, lighting techniques and so on. My only complaint is that there aren't enough pictures of the independent shops on the high streets(interior or exterior) that she is trying to save.
