Halfords

I pride myself on being a modern woman. I like to think that I can at least attempt to do most things for myself, and this particularly applies to my car. I love my car, and I resent the popular opinion that women don’t know anything about them, so when one of my brake lights went, I grabbed my Haynes car manual and prepared to change the bulb myself. Imagine my disappointment and shame when I found that I wasn’t physically strong enough to remove the light cover. I needed a man after all.
So, I swallowed my pride and drove over to Halfords, hoping they wouldn’t judge me too much when I asked for help changing a light bulb. However, instead of being laughed out of the shop as I was expecting, the man I asked couldn’t have been happier to help me. He went straight out into the rain and got to work. He didn’t make me feel like an idiot for needing assistance; instead he was friendly and respectful and spoke to me like I knew just as much about cars as he did. It didn’t cost too much either: the service plus spare bulbs cost me little more than a fiver.
It’s comforting to know that if I have a problem with my car again, there will always be a friendly face just down the road, ready to give me a hand when I need it.

As I’m not a driver (I have horrific tales of the days when I was learning, trust me), I’m not really a regular patron of any car parts and bits and bobs kind of stores.
But I do cycle, and this is where Halford’s part comes in. They have a really great range of bicycles and gear, and it’s all at acceptable prices. In particular, their range of helmets and safety gear is unsurpassable by most other shops.
However, as quite often seems to be the case, the staff are somewhat wanting. At this branch in particular, the staff all seemed to have a great amount of difficultly even talking to me. Even after I’d approached them in the first place.
But to be fair, in the end they did prove to me that they knew their stuff; it’s just that it was like trying to get blood from a stone. This will be a top-​notch store once the staff have a few sessions in confidence. Bless them.