Question on London Shopping
 

Quick question... I am going to London for a week and would like to do some shopping...one of my favorite past times. Being a plus size woman, I would like to know what stores would be best to check out for plus sizes...or do the major stores (Harrods, Harvey Nichols, etc) have a good inventory of clothing...thanks!<BR><BR>

Harrod's does have a department though it's similar to Bloomingdale's or any other major NY dept. store selection.<BR>Harvey Nichs got rid of their department last year, but Marks and Spencer has a broad range and there is a shop on Oxford St-can't remember the name, but it's the first half of Oxford St. from Marble Arch, near John Lewis and a Monsoon store.<BR><BR>

I think the store Jenny mentions is Evans. My mother used to buy there many things when she went to London. It has large sizes with nice clothes, also bras, nightware.<BR>

One store that I try and get to for a treat when I go to London is called Base - it's at 55 Monmouth Street, near Covent Garden. (they have a web site: http://www.base-fashions.co.uk)<BR><BR>They're a little bit pricy (but no worse than Harrods), hence the "treat" part of it - I would come home with everything in the store, if I could!<BR><BR>Another place that looks interesting, but which I've never gotten to, is called "1647", allegedly, I think, for the 47% of all women who are size 16 or larger! It's a block or two north of Oxford Circus, on a side street. Their web site is http://www.sixteen47.com.

Marina Rinaldi has very nice stuff. It is owned by Max Mara. Their shops are all over Europe. Cheaper than Max Mara but not cheap...

I have seen the sites for Evans and Base...both look like good stores. I have also found a store called Debenhams. According to their site, they are on Oxford street. Has anyone been there?

Debenhams is also a large store in Oxford Street, but not as large as Selfridges or Harrods. I like going there, I can remember that during Christmas time I bought there some nice packed gifts to offer. Don't know if they have large sizes though.

Ann Harvey makes good quality, stylish, moderately priced plus size clothes. Marina Rinaldi makes very good quality, stylish, more expensive plus size clothes. If you're only moderately "plus"--say a UK size 16 to 20, Alexxon also has some plus sizes, but be careful about quality--some of it is very good, some not so.<BR>

Marks and Spencer sell larger sizes - they've got 2 branches on Oxford Street - one near Marble Arch and the other near Oxford Circus. Hennes is another one - they're also near Oxford Circus.

1647 Ltd. <BR>69 Gloucester Avenue <BR>London NW1 8LD <BR>0171 722 1647 <BR>0171 483 0733 <BR>Catalogue 1 pound. <BR>Open 10-6, Mon-Sat. <BR>Owned by Dawn French, the comedy writing partner of Jennifer Saunders, she co-wrote Absolutedly Fabulous. She's a champion for larger women.<BR><BR>Base <BR>55 Monmouth Street, <BR>Covent Garden <BR>London WC2H 9DG <BR>tel. 0171 240 8914 <BR>Small shop with expensive clothing, but not <BR>just for the "middle-aged" look .<BR><BR>Beige <BR>5 Hoop Lane, <BR>London <BR>NW11 8JR <BR>tel. 0181 4551122 <BR>small shop, expensive.<BR><BR>Etam Plus <BR>Chain: branches within Etam shops. <BR>Jubilee House, 197-213 Oxford Street, <BR>London W1 tel. 0171 493 4004 <BR>sizes 16-24 .<BR><BR>Evans <BR>Chain. Web page at http://www.evans.ltd.uk/ <BR>stocks cheap clothing size 16-32. <BR>Lots of casuals, some office-wear, some glamorous <BR>things around Christmas. Also stocks tights and swimsuits. <BR><BR>House of Fraser (upmarket department store chain)<BR>Schneberger range <BR>within D.H.Evans, Oxford Street, London <BR>within Dickins and Jones, Regent .<BR><BR>Street, London<BR><BR>Ken Smith Designs, <BR>6 Charlotte Place, <BR>London W1P 1AQ <BR>tel. 0171 631 3341 <BR>sizes 16 to 30+ coasts, dresses, separates <BR>and evening wear. also make-to-measure<BR><BR>Ronnie's <BR>25 Margaret Street, <BR>London <BR>W1N 8LE <BR>tel. 0171 436 9967 <BR>mix & match day wear, sizes 14-32 <BR>they claim to have the lowest prices in the West End <BR>with blouses 9 to 20 pounds, skirts 7 to 15 pounds.<BR><BR>You can probably tell that I stole all this off a website. Remember that British sizing is different to US. I think it's something like a US size 8 is a UK size 12.

Very cool...thanks for some ideas...always open for suggestions. Another question...anyone know of a site that has the size conversions (US to UK)

Size conversions:<BR><BR>http://www.realcurvy.com/sizing.htm

faith, <BR>sorry but i'm going to hijack your thread for a moment in the interest of keeping the clothes/shopping threads to a minimum to ask when in the month of Jan do the stores throw their sales? Is it usually right after the new year or later in the month?

Marina Rinaldi in Bond St - its a division of Max Mara and they have the most wonderful 4 floors of elegant, well designed 'larger' styles. The service was great too. I found the dept stores selections a bit ordinary.

Kate - great list, thank you! Just a note: from their web site, the 1647 store seems to have moved from the Gloucester Avenue site - the new address is at 41 Great Castle Street, north of Oxford Circus (At least, I know that they have a store there, because I've seen it - I've just never managed to get there during opening hours! :-) )<BR><BR>And Kim - why would anyone want to keep clothes/shopping threads to a minimum? What a silly idea! (:-) )

Hi there! Info was great Kim...too many threads? But no biggie...hijack away. =)

Kate-- on your list you put down a store called "Beige". Do you by chance know where it is? I am not having much luck finding it online.

Hi, Faith -<BR><BR>As an interested party (:-) ), I also looked up "Beige", or at least the address. Hoop Lane seems to be near the Golders Green tube station (which is consistent with the NW11 postal code).<BR><BR>A really good site for finding addresses on a map of London is: <BR><BR>http://www.streetmap.co.uk/

Any other suggestions???

Kim - most of the shops usually start their sales straight after Christmas - 26th or 27th December - when a lot of people are still off work and looking for somewhere to spend their present money!