H&M Canal Walk: An Institution for Reform

H&M Canal Walk is an institution that reforms you from expecting good service.

The first impression of this store perfectly explains the experience you’ll have in it – it is cold and clinical. All that it’s missing is padded walls.

Sales assistants lurk around like ghosts. It’s hard to spot them and even harder to get them to assist you. They are reluctant to help and your questions are abruptly answered. They point you in the general direction of what you’re looking for and then vanish into thin air.

One thing that was very surprising for a store with such an institutional feel, is the state in which the store was maintained. You’d expect not a hair to be out of place but, that is certainly not the case with H&M Canal Walk. Clothing racks were dishevelled and the folded tables looked like clothes were just dumped there. Every time you’d turn around you’d spot more and more mess as if The Addams Family had hosted a soiree there the night before.

The two points of sale (POS) in this store are world’s apart – one is efficient and the other will teach you patience. The POS on the second floor is energetic, has a great flow and moves quickly while the other has taken on the mood of the store – cold, lifeless and disoriented.

Although H&M has an institutional feel, I believe they should lay down the doctors coat and become the patient. They need help and lots of it.