Next (Shop)

...availability.

Next always strikes me as a rather odd store. Caught somewhere between high street fashion and designer cool, Next never seems to quite know what it wants to be, but it certainly has its devotees. Whether it’s during the phenomenally popular seasonal sales or just when a new range hits the stores, Next never seems short of customers or admirers. I have friends and colleagues who are virtually addicted to the place. ...
...I am focusing solely on Next as a menswear outlet, as per the category.

CASUAL STYLE

Personally, I very rarely buy casual clothes from Next. For me, there is something a bit too safe about the designs on offer at Next and I can browse from one end of the store to another without being inspired in the slightest. The colours always seem fairly neutral to me, and whereas the trendier shops in town seem to have eye-catching ... more

When it comes to buying clothes I’m not loyal to any particular brand, any particular store or any particular price range. I sometimes spend a lot and sometimes I don’t spend all that much at all. If I’m honest, I don’t really like clothes shopping at all and these days I’m more motivated by good service, easy shopping and consistent availability.

Next always strikes me as a rather odd store. Caught somewhere between high street fashion and designer cool, Next never seems to quite know what it wants to be, but it certainly has its devotees. Whether it’s during the phenomenally popular seasonal sales or just when a new range hits the stores, Next never seems short of customers or admirers. I have friends and colleagues who are virtually addicted to the place. I can never really see what all the hysteria is about, but I am a devoted buyer of business wear here and over the years have been impressed by whatever dealings I have had with the shops. For the purposes of my review, I am focusing solely on Next as a menswear outlet, as per the category.

CASUAL STYLE

Personally, I very rarely buy casual clothes from Next. For me, there is something a bit too safe about the designs on offer at Next and I can browse from one end of the store to another without being inspired in the slightest. The colours always seem fairly neutral to me, and whereas the trendier shops in town seem to have eye-catching designs and logos, Next seem to be catering for Mr “Doesn’t really want to stick out”. I wouldn’t say that the buyers at Next set or dictate fashion. Rather like Marks & Spencer, they generally seem to follow a trend and provide fashionable styles and designs some time after the demand has been met by the big labels. To be fair, this does give them a fairly widespread appeal and Next’s customers seem to span a huge range of ages.

They sell plenty of jeans, T-shirts, casual shirts, jumpers and the like, often with their own branding and often without. Their NX range of sportswear has been around for quite some time now, but has never really been able to take off against competition from the likes of Adidas and Nike. Next clothes seem kind of pretentious in a rather strange way in that they clearly want to attract people who emit a certain lifestyle. Their casual range always seems targeted at people who like being on expensive boats, or wandering through the countryside and there is nothing edgy or exciting about them. The clothes are a popular choice with housewives, however, who are often to be found in Next desperately trying to get their scruffy husbands into a smart pair of cargo pants. Generally, though, the Next style is not for me. Whilst their stuff is probably slightly trendier than Marks & Spencer it’s all a bit bland for my liking and lacks any sense of mischief.

Overall score – 3/10

BUSINESS STYLE

For business clothes, it's an entirely different story. As far as I'm concerned, Next business suits are second to none when it comes to style, quality and value and I'd be more than happy if they concentrated solely on this segment of the market. Next stores stock a multitude of suits, separates, shirts and ties all of which look great seem far more fashionable to me than any of the competition. I particularly like the shirts and ties that Next sell, which are available in all sorts of style and colours. Once again, the appeal of the business wear range seems to span the age groups. Whilst I was in there a couple of weeks there were teenagers buying suits for their first job interviews alongside guys in their 50s buying new business suits for the office. Most of my friends and colleagues buy all their business clothes in Next too, although Marks and Spencer also seems a popular choice for the suits.

One of the things that I've always like about buying my suits at Next is the completeness of the whole thing. They always have the style that I'm looking for, and they always seem to have the right size too. The suits, shirts and ties all co-ordinate really well, and you can pick and mix easily too. There are nice finished details on their products too - the shirts have quite dressy cuffs and collars as well as unusual buttons or cuff links. My waist size is just under 32 and they also have this lovely lady that comes round once a week to do adjustments, so I usually get my trousers taken in slightly for a perfect fit. It's great to be able to buy everything in the one place and have alterations done by the same people too. The only disadvantage I can think of is that you have to get used to seeing other people wearing the same stuff as you all the time, because it's so popular.

Overall score - 9.5 out of 10

STORE LAYOUTS

Shopping in Next is easy and generally stress-free. Admittedly, I tend to lurk around at antisocial times when there aren't so many crowds, but it runs much deeper than this. It doesn't matter which store you choose, everything is easy to find, well laid out and there is plenty of room to move. Although there is music playing in the background, it doesn't deafen you and the lighting isn't so harsh that you feel as though you are being interrogated. Needless to say, the men's wear is normally laid out in one place and the casual sections are clearly separated from the business suits. One really good thing about Next is that they don't over stock the racks. I hate trying to look for a particular size and having to search through fifty garments of one size to try and find the one I'm looking for. Next stores seem to put out only one garment in each available size and, provided someone hasn't gone and mixed up everything before you, they start with the largest at the front or back and work the other way towards the smallest. The tags on the hangers are colour-coded too, so you can differentiate between regular, short or long lengths in certain items. These things all seem like very small details but they REALLY help customers and I appreciate the way that Next takes the time to do this, due in part to the efforts of the shop floor staff who keep their eye on things throughout the day.

My only gripe would be that some towns and cities have two or more branches, all of which seem to sell the same things. It would seem to make a lot more sense to me to have one for men's wear, one for the ladies and one for the household stuff. You can end up traipsing around three stores trying to get a certain size in some cases.

Overall score - 9 out of 10

QUALITY AND AVAILABILITY

I'm always very confident that when I buy something from Next it will last - because their stuff always do. Their business suits are hard wearing and practical, as well as stylish, and their shoes definitely last much longer than some of the other high street chains. Next clothes are definitely more expensive than their Burton or Top Man equivalents, but to be fair, they probably last twice as long as a result. The quality is easily on a par with that of Marks & Spencer and often superior than that of much more expensive designer labels. I can honestly say that I have never bought something from Next and had a loose thread or some dodgy stitching, which is certainly not true for some of the competition.

Generally, Next always has what I want, when I want it. I guess I'm fairly non-typical when it comes to the size of clothes that I wear but nonetheless they always have my size in stock. If an item isn't in stock, they always offer to order it or secure it from another store and in some cases they have even offered free home delivery. This, again, is very important to me - I hate going into shops and seeing something I want only being told that they don't have my size. The only thing I do struggle with is shoes. They never seem to have my size (11) in all the styles that I like. There must be lots of other men with big feet out there, I suppose.

Overall score - 9 out of 10

SERVICE

At the risk of getting boring, I'd have to commend Next on the customer service level too. Their staff members are always really smart, helpful and pleasant to deal with. They're not pushy, but will always offer that extra bit of assistance that makes the difference. They had a tie in the window that I wanted but it turned out to be the last one in the store, so without prompting they offered to break down the store display, steam the tie flat and sell it to me, if I didn't mind waiting. The last time I was suit shopping, some poor guy followed me round the department carrying all the things I needed, without complaint. There have been one or two occasions when I have needed a refund and this was always handled without issue.

One interesting thing about Next that I really like is that they employ men in the men's wear departments. I hate to sound sexist but I HATE being served by women in men's clothing shops. They never seem as helpful as the men are to me and I never feel as though they treat me as well. What do the guys reading this think?

Overall score - 10 out of 10

VALUE FOR MONEY

This is another key area of satisfaction for me. You can pick up a really good suit in Next for between £100 and £200, which compares favourably to lots of other places. You can buy cheaper, but for the same money - and often for a lot more - you don't get something that lasts as well or looks as good. The casual wear is also competitively priced but doesn’t offer good value for me because I don't really like any of it! The sales are, of course, legendary with huge savings up for grabs. Unless you're really quick off the mark you miss the really good stuff though - I'll be arsed if I'm going to get up at 5 a.m. to get some cheap shoes, but each to their own.

Overall score - 8 out of 10

SUMMARY

Final score - 48.5 out of 60 - very good!

The overall score generally reflects how I feel about Next. I like their stores, I like their staff and I like their products - well, the business wear anyway. I think they have the right attitude towards retailing and this is evident in the way that they do business. At the end of the day, I keep going back there, which proves to me that they've just about got it right. I'm not keen on their casual clothes and a lot of their accessories are pretty pointless but otherwise - I think they're fab!

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