WE all know women love shopping, men love football, and that’s that, right? Well no, it’s not really that simple, and some fellas are getting a little bit sick of it.
Part of the problem are these customer surveys that boldly announce findings such as: ‘75 per cent of women browse before they buy, compared to only 33 per cent of men’ (Journal of Consumer Research, 2007).
Or women list 'lack of help when needed' as their top problems with stores compared to men who list 'difficulty in finding parking spaces near to the stores entrance' (Men Buy, Women Shop, Wharton's Jay H. Baker Retail Initiative, 2007).
"They’ve simply given up on the boys, and stuck us away in the basement. Out of sight, out of mind."
These kinds of findings may be representative of our species as a whole, but in urban areas things are a little different. Bob, 52, of St Helens, may want a good car parking space when he does his yearly chords shop, but his son Jason, 23, living in Manchester city centre, wants a bit more love from his high street department stores than providing easy access.
Harvey Nichols, Manchester
It seems as though department stores are so hung up on the clichéd Saturday afternoon behaviour of this country’s gender groups that they’ve simply given up on the boys, and stuck us away in the basement. Out of sight, out of mind.
Here at Body Confidential, we’ve devised a little test to see who the biggest man-detesters and man-devotees of Manchester’s department stores are.
The field consists of four runners: Debenhams, House Of Fraser, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges. Stores will be marked against their female departments, not each other, in the interest of fairness.
Debenhams, Manchester
Location and Ratio
A simple but telling test. You can tell a lot about a department store from the size and location of the men’s department, so who gives the lads centre stage, and who doesn’t?
Debenhams – Basement. Turfed downstairs with no natural light whilst the women get the ground, first, and second floors to wander around. 1/5
House of Fraser – Basement. Like Debenhams, HoF sends the boys south. The Annexe does increase the size of the range though, and is some comfort to the women’s first and second floors. 3/5
Selfridges – First Floor. An entire floor just for me? Ignoring accessories, the clothing sections for men and women are almost identical. 5/5
Harvey Nichols – Second Floor. It’s the boys who are the kings of this castle. Although they do have to share with the restaurant bar and brasserie, and the menswear section is only about half the size of the women’s lair. 4/5
An all too common sight, Debenhams, Manchester
Free Fragrance?
Women can’t get more than five yards inside a department store without getting offered a squirt of perfumery goodness, so why give men the snub? No messing about here, it’s a score of 0 or 5, half-sprays don’t count.
Debenhams – Snubbed. Not even a raised eyebrow. 0/5
House of Fraser – Snubbed. Despite a reasonably long walk through the perfume department to get to the escalators. 0/5
Selfridges – Snubbed. Although I’m tempted to give a sympathy point as it’s not really a practice that seems to be carried out much here. Still, rules are rules. 0/5
Harvey Nichols – Snubbed. Despite having to walk through two floors populated by perfume vending assistants just to get the escalators, Harvey Nichols doesn’t waste any sprays on men. 0/5
Saving grace? House of Fraser, Manchester
Online Range
A quick test of the stores online shopping new arrivals range. Most new garments wins, it’s as simple as that.
Debenhams – Women’s: 249, Men’s: 650. A landslide victory for us chaps. More than double the choice. Have that. 5/5
House Of Fraser – Women’s: 1423, Men’s: 853. Not quite the mismatch that we saw at Debenhams, but a comfortable victory for the women non-the-less. 2/5
Selfridges – Women’s: 232, Men’s: 222. A real nail-biter over at Selfridges – the women just nicking it with a slight advantage. 4/5
Harvey Nichols – Women’s: 270, Men’s 182. Another victory for the girls, a solid display of favouritism. 3/5
House Of Fraser, Manchester
The Final Scores
Let’s add up the scores and find out who’s the winner.
So there you have it, metrosexuals of Manchester, if you’re sick of the lack of love the city’s department stores are giving you, Selfridges is the place to ease your pain, followed by Harvey Nichols.
You can follow David on Twitter @DavidPMcCourt
Selfridges, Exchange Square, Manchester
