On Saturday Randalls of Uxbridge will close for good. The shop has seen better days. Its art deco exterior is worn and only five letters of the red sign bearing the family owners’ name are lit.
Inside, the wooden fittings, strip lighting and yellow walls are like something out of the 1970s. That is how John Baker, 61, likes it. He and his wife Pauline have been regular Randalls customers. “It’s all part of the charm of the shop. They concentrated more on the customers than the look of the place,” he said, looking through the racks of cut-price menswear.
Baker argues that Randalls’ service ethos would not have survived if staff had been on zero-hours contracts. “That doesn’t create loyalty and enthusiasm with the sales staff. It means they are just getting a low wage and they have to be there for eight hours. Here, they go out of their way to make sure you get the right goods and the after-sales service is fantastic.”
But he adds that good service comes at a price. “It’s expensive, but it’s good quality.”
Compared with chains such as Next and Ikea, goods seem pricey, even in the sale. A pair of Viyella socks is reduced from £9.99 to £4.99. A teak veneer console table is £157 down after several reductions from £589.
Rob, 28, has sold menswear there for eight years. He also blames the area’s redevelopment for Randalls’ decline. “Footfall has been dying for years in this shop. Rather than look around, people go straight to the shopping centre.”
He has a new job selling clothes by designers such as Armani and Hugo Boss. By contrast, Randalls’ range is closer to that of Grace Brothers in the 1970s sitcom Are You Being Served.
“A lot of office people would come and buy their shirts, suits and shoes. We had that niche in the market, but those customers are getting older,” he said.
Sir John Randall is in the store, checking how things are going with one day till the doors close for the last time.
“In a way we probably are trying to keep a model going of a shop from the 1970s. Have we moved with the times? If moving with the times meant a lack of service and courtesy then we probably haven’t moved.”
