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Mary Portas: Secret Shopper, Channel 4

Mary Portas: Secret Shopper, Channel 4

The Queen of Retail still reigns

by Wednesday, 19 January 2011
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Still fierce and fabulous, Mary Portas wages war on poor service in her new series

She’s back: the retail guru and style icon, with her sharp red bob, sharper tongue and enviable sense of style. In two series of Mary, Queen of Shops on BBC Two, she whipped ailing businesses into shape and established herself as one of television’s most striking and engaging personalities. If online message boards are to be believed, she also – thanks to her much-discussed mid-life divorce, relationship with Grazia fashion editor Melanie Rickey and sexy combination of attitude, intelligence and eye-catching elegance – inspired happily married women up and down the land to fantasise about enjoying a sapphic interlude with her.

She’s back: the retail guru and style icon, with her sharp red bob, sharper tongue and enviable sense of style. In two series of Mary, Queen of Shops on BBC Two, she whipped ailing businesses into shape and established herself as one of television’s most striking and engaging personalities. If online message boards are to be believed, she also – thanks to her much-discussed mid-life divorce, relationship with Grazia fashion editor Melanie Rickey and sexy combination of attitude, intelligence and eye-catching elegance – inspired happily married women up and down the land to fantasise about enjoying a sapphic interlude with her.

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Submitted by Sue Culpan (not verified) on Thu, 20/01/2011 - 11:29
Brilliant programme Mary! Could I have seen Chris George on another TV programme a couple of years or so ago? His face looked familiar.

Submitted by vinesh mistry (not verified) on Thu, 20/01/2011 - 13:39
Can't believe I watched this. Mary Portas really needs to get a life, there are dying children out there that don't have any money for food or drink and she's crying about a member of staff not saying hello to her in a shop. The British public are so stupid why can’t people just go in to a shop get what they want and go home. If you’re in a queue and you have to wait a long time before you get severed then so bloody what. We are all human and because I’m spending money it doesn’t mean I’ve got the right to talk to people like there nothing. I can’t believe Mary Portas went to Primark and complained about the service, if your shopping in a cheap shop then expect cheap service fact “you get what your pay for in life” Mary Portas needs to go out and get a life, my advice to her would be to switch on the news and look at all the bad things that are happening in the world.

Submitted by Me (not verified) on Mon, 24/01/2011 - 09:42
I worked at the Primark she went to and can't believe how she acted. She went on a Saturday, the busiest day of the week, and in the summer, the busiest period of the year. You can't base it all on one visit, 1 question, and of all the items to ask for, hareem pants! These items were in and out of stock so many times its impossible to keep ontop of. And with the thousands of items how are employees suposed to know where they all are, escpecially the way stock gets moved about day by day. She asked a guy, he didn't know, he went to find out, what else could he do? Training has nothing to do with knowing where stock is. Would she rather be dragged about the entire store looking for it?

Submitted by Pete Cross (not verified) on Thu, 27/01/2011 - 22:51
As a memebr of the retail trade the thing that I find a complete no,no is the lack of care and often rudness that come with the service of the product. Gone are the days of good service!!!! So well done Mary for highlighting something that is mostly shocking. There should always be the time for the customer no matter how busy a shop or store become.

Submitted by matt (not verified) on Tue, 08/02/2011 - 21:24
What a load of rubish. 25 peopple in a que? I guess there were about 12 tils in operation meaning you were effectively in a que of 3. She moans about que's at a fitting room and then thinks its a good idea to create a fiting room which customers will spend even longer in, great idea! That will get teh que's down! £1m spend for a business that turns over £16m. How long will that take to pay back? Years? Guess prices will go up to pay for the crazy fitting rooms. Yes, service is poor but as with everything, you get what you pay for. More staff equal more cost to the business, which in order to generate the same profit will mean prices go up. A Programme create for effect on TV rather than reality!

Submitted by Elie Homes (not verified) on Mon, 30/01/2012 - 00:14
I agree . She has to got to work in retail in couple years so we can see how much she can smile

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