House of Fraser

So quickly they fall…
I actually thought I had written this update already, but it must have been a case of thinking the review through in my head all day without physically typing it out. As hard as it is to imagine a place falling from a 4 – 2 star in 20 days, this actually happened in a span of 48 hours. Within two days of my first review, House of Fraser went from a fan favourite to a spot to avoid.
Why?
All my previous statements ring true: the sales are legit, the sizing is accurate, click & collect is simple and it’s a good place for basics. The experience with the online shopping procedure is quick and simple… the experience with this store in person: a reputation changer.
The ladies that helped me when I came in to collect were nice enough and quick to get my order. Like I said, everything about the online ordering process, including in store pick up was a breeze. Where things got complicated was in the returns.
I had two items that I didn’t really like, so dutifully the next day, I popped them into my bag and made my way into town to do the return. Now, I stopped at Jenners first (review already written) and after an exasperating adventure there, where I was told I could not return the online purchases at this store, I got pointed in the direction of my original pick up address: this House of Fraser.
So I took more time out of my day, arrived at the counter, only to be told that again, I couldn’t return the items at the store. Now, this place gave me more information as to why: I had paid on PayPal, which meant I had to be processed through the online department. Fair enough. Where I get my back up is:
1. Nowhere on my order did it note that I could not return this to a store.
2. It took going through FIVE people before I actually got a straight answer as to why.
3. It’s a little silly that they don’t process PayPal at this store, especially since they have a dedicated Click & Collect FLOOR. I’ve processed paypal returns — it’s not rocket science.
So i’ll keep my eyes out for sales in the future, but this process wasted enough of my time that I’m not going to be jumping up and down to visit again any time soon.

I give this 4 stars for 3 reasons, one of which is a bit weird. Firstly I like Frasers for its lovely range of Biba items, here the Biba section is almost hidden away but when you find it it’s a treasure trove, as are the Biba household items (like bed spreads and espresso cups). Secondly I enjoy the Vin caffe selection and Valvona and Crolla deli food and drink items (on level 5). Frasers in Glasgow doesn’t sell food, and this Edinburgh institution is something I seek out in various forms each time I venture East. The last reason I like this store is a bit odd, but it is the handy Art Deco style toilets in level 5… They’re clean, with Art Deco mirrors, and have a fab view over the whole of Edinburgh if you can sneak a peek out of the window!

I’ve come to HOF multiple times over the past couple months for many house staples.
It has a pretty good selection, and I would recommend checking it out when you need something, but it certainly shouldn’t be a go-​to as I’ve often found the items I wanted at a better price.

I bought a revellation suitcase for £120 from this store about 18 months ago and it fell apart on my last journey, No problem i thought it had a lifetime guarantee — well thats what i thought.
I phoned the store and spoke to a very unhelpful staff member although i was trying to be very nice and tell her the problem, if that was she had let me get a word on edgeways, she constantly interupted me by keeping almost shouting do you have your receipt, over and over i apologised and said no i had in fact lost my receipt but as it was a house of fraser own make item i didn’t think this would be a problem,
oh how wrong i was. This member of staff who sounded around 60 years of age had not attended the customer care training she was suppose to have gone to,
she was so horrible and nasty i ended up asking her if by any chance the store could as a goodwill gesture exchange the faulty item as it was their own product and not one bought in from another company, she said NO! quite plain NO. so,
I then got the stores details on the web and emailed them telling them i expected to have this sort of treatment from poundstretcher but not from House of fraser and in this economic climate as it is i would have thought they would have wanted to keep their loyal customers (to which I am) and not shout at them, I explained that i had had an extension bought and all the paperwork from the are it is kept was decanted into the garage and this is where it must have gotten lost, and I requested that they would possibly think about helping a customer instead of making them feel they had been a bother to the staff on what seemed a very bad day.
I had a return email apologising and offering to exchange the said case and also to allow me to choose a luggage item up to £10 in value as an apology, that’s better house of fraser, our relationship is intact. When of course i went to have it exchanged the look from the upset and very annoyed member of staff was enough to put me off my dinner (but thankfully didnt).
I will continue to shop at the big stores such as HOF, John Lewis and Jenners as i do feel they look after you a bit better (or should)

When I think of House of Fraser, I think of a few things.
–Middle aged housewives spending their Husbands wages.
–Prissy old ladies having a browse around the perfume counters before stopping for a ‘cup of tea’ at the café.
–Young teenagers who come in here to buy the cheapest item in the Benefit make-​up range so they can get the fancy bag to carry about.
But I have to say that, as I have got a little older (sigh) I have grown to really enjoy a wee look about Frasers!
It might be a sign of my laziness that I like having everything under the one roof so I don’t have to go out and brave the hustle, bustle and often pouring rain of Princes Street. The perfume section is great, I actually much prefer it in here to Jenner’s scent floor, and the fashion is, as always, lovely and usually quite pricey, as are the handbags with names like Fiorelli and Radley making an appearance on the shelves.
The store also has a beauty department which includes eyebrow threading, a very painful but incredibly precise way to get perfect brows for around £13−15 which is pretty pricey. You will never get a better shape or finish with any other method though so if you can handle the pain for 10 minutes then go for it!
Fraser’s is Fraser’s regardless of where you go, this one offers much the same shopping experience as any other.

Standing on the same street as Edinburgh’s staple department store Jenners, this House of Fraser is a bit of a wallflower in comparison. It doesn’t boast the ornate fronting of Fraser’s in Glasgow, or the glorious façade of Jenners through here.
But you don’t go to a shop to look at the front of it for hours — you are presumably there to spend money.
Inside, Fraser’s is very easy to get lost in. When you emerge from the fragrance and beauty section blasted in perfume (not quite, but you can ask for a sample), you can wander up to the designer clothing sections.
It’s lovely and the staff are great. It’s a bit too pricey for me at the moment since I am rooted in my poor pauper postgrad student status, but one day I aspire to be able to buy some pretty frocks from here. And to be overly indulgent on perfume, and not feel shy to get one of those make-​up makeovers that they offer in store because I will be able to afford the products by then. Their products are of great quality, hence the price, but for folks like me, we’ll just have to make do with the immense 70% reductions in the mid-​season sales.

I don’t really understand all the bad reviews about this branch of Fraser’s, but perhaps it’s just because I happened to have the best shopping day EVER when I popped in here last week.
If you’re looking for get a bargain or two, then I’d trot yourself along to House of Fraser’s as they have a 70% off sale just now. I love Marc Jacob’s Daisy fragrance and I found it in the bargain corner in a gift set with a 50ml bottle of daisy, a small handbag sized roll on perfume and a body lotion. This gift set retailed at £45 but because the bag it was in had a broken zip it was reduced to… £15! I couldn’t believe my eyes, I usually just buy the 50ml bottle for £45 on it’s own but I got the bottle plus extras for less than half the price. I couldn’t believe my luck. The day got better when I popped into the handbag section and got a grey quilted handbag for £5 from Fraser’s Therapy range.
When the sale isn’t on, I’m still a huge fan of Fraser’s, they have an excellent range of cosmetics with friendly and helpful staff, there’s always an excellent range of clothing including Coast and French Connection, their home ware is great and there’s even a Paperchase! If you’re feeling tired out after all that shopping then there’s a Costa Coffee on the ground floor. Phew!

Someone, somewhere in the planning section of House of Fraser is a very nice person. Don’t have the energy to trudge all the way to the other end of Princes Street to go to Jenners when you need a department store? No problem, they put their other branch at this end so that our shopping-​weary feet don’t have to suffer too much.
I love this place for the young fashion department. Yes, it’s a bit like a rabbit warren with all of the small rooms linked by passges, but that’s Edinburgh’s architecture for you. Fraser’s is, to my knowledge, the only place in Edinburgh city centre that has a Mango in it so there’s a good chance you’ll find something here that you won’t get elsewhere

Small and low profile, this branch of House of Fraser couldn’t by any stretch of the imagination be called a flagship, but with Edinburgh City Centre being fairly generously strewn with large and luxuriant department stores, I doubt that’ll pose much of a problem to anyone.
Confusing, difficult to get around, and addictive, it’s all a good department store should be, even if it lives somewhat in the shadow of Jenners, which is just a rebranded Frasers’ store anyway.
I still feel a bit irritated walking through the aftershave bit and getting sprayed from all directions by fake-​tanned, sale hungry young metrosexuals, but nowhere’s perfect.

Am I missing something? I LOVE House of Fraser!
They have everything you could ever like in here. If it’s raining, come straight here and you won’t have to leave until 5pm. They have all the big names and all the small ones — they have Topshop, Warehouse, Oasis and lots more! They have a great little café here too, it’s got a really traditional feel to it and you sit and watch people come up and down the sweeping staircase.
The main thing I like about this particular House of Fraser is the size of it. It’s really big, but all the areas are quite small. So although you’re in a huge department store, you feel like you’re in a collection of small wee shops. It’s nice!
Their handbag department has lovely staff — particularly Hazel and Lizzie (if they still work there). They helped me choose my mum’s 50^th handbag., and were absolutely brilliant!

After trekking the length of Princes Street I eventually came up to the famous House of Fraser. This particular store seems a bit tired and in dire need of a makeover. The assistants in the linen department must have vanished as soon as I turned up and when I eventually found someone she was helpful yet unhelpful at the same time. Have you ever had that sort of experience? She showed me where the stuff I wanted was but didn’t really help when I asked her about alternatives etc.
The kitchen stuff is a bit in a random order although this might have been because there was a sale on. Whatever the case expect to find mostly the big brands here rather than individual pieces of clothing and despite the overheated room take your time to browse.

I had great troubles getting in this shop one day, it has some sort of automatic doors which didn’t open when I walked up and wouldn’t open when I pushed/​pulled them. So I went to another door and the security guards pointed and laughed.
Then you get in the blimmin shop and you are likely to get lost because it is a complete maze. Full of random staircases and rooms leading to other rooms. And there never seems to be any staff anywhere! Much prefer Debenhams, even though I really dislike Debenhams.

I really do believe that with a bit of snazzing up and redoing, House of Fraser would be a pretty cool department store. It’s not that there’s anything much wrong with it, it has many floors of items and fulfills most retail needs, it’s just looking a bit tired around the edges.
House of Fraser is in a really handy shopping position right at the west end, so I do often pop in here and head straight downstairs to the women’s fashion section, where there is a small, but brand populated area of clothing. The best bit about this store is that they stock Therapy, a funky little brand, which is both on trend and very reasonably priced. So for impulse buying purposes, this floor is very useful. Other brands in the same section include Warehouse, Oasis, Kookai, and the reliably decent Mango. One floor up you’ve got perfume and cosmetics, stationery, a small amount of jewellery, handbags, and a newly opened Caffe Nero. The perfume and cosmetics are pretty organised, but the rest is a bit of a random hodge-​podge. Otherwise, there is a menswear section, two more floors of ladies brands, which are either designer or just a bit pricier, and then on levels further up, there are items for the home. There used to be quite a standard café, which was just fine, but I actually think that’s recently ceased to exist, maybe because of the new Caffe Nero downstairs.
I really think with some careful and trendsome updating, House of Fraser has the potential to be a brilliant department store, considering where it is and the space it has. For now, I shall continue to get my Therapy fix here, and perhaps have a small coffee and a browse, but that will be all.

Although not nearly as bad as the Debenhams in Edinburgh’s city centre, House of Fraser is a strong contender for second prize in the terrible department store stakes. The ground floor houses the ‘premium’ cosmetics counter, but browsing is not a luxurious experience that makes you want to buy into the glamour of the brands — the place is badly lit and the assistants either don’t seem to be interested in serving you or are so desperate to sell you things that you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d been starved of human contact for days on end. The basement which houses the young fashion section (Oasis, Ted Baker, Warehouse etc) doesn’t fare much better, again it’s badly lit, the assistants seem disinterested and it always seems to be a bit of a mess. The shopping in Edinburgh has improved vastly in recent years, so I don’t see why anyone would ever have any cause to enter this nightmare of a shop.

A great meeting point, being at the beginning of that end of Princes Street and a department store meaning that there’s something here for everyone. Be warned though: once inside phone signal can be temperamental, making finding people inside difficult at times. I personally treasure the excellent range of women’s/girl’s clothing and come here whenever I need to purchase a dress for a special occasion. The make-​up and perfume counters are also very good and the staff are friendly and helpful.

House of Fraser in Edinburgh on Princes Street is properly the next department store to visit besides Jenners, Debenhams and John Lewise. I do think they could update there interior a bit more and make it not so dull looking inside but overall they do sell lots of products which some other department stores might not sell. They sell designer clothes, home and beauty brands and some are reasonable priced, some rather pricey. The quality of there products last a long time, just like Marks and Spencers.

House of Fraser is a really nice department store found on the West End of Princes street. I dont visit it very often as I find that it is a bit far out of the way. However it does have a great range of products. The ladieswear is great as they stock a wide range of designer and high street brands. They also have a great beauty floor with all the well known makes including Clarins and Benefit. There is also a good menswear department including makes such as Ralph Lauren Polo. There is a café for refreshments which is a welcome port of call after a days shopping

Probably my favourite clothes store for a couple of reasons. One being the fact for me it is on the edge of having to go into town and another is the quality of the items they stock. Generally very well set out with different brands being set out in usually the same place every visit which is very good for the male shopper i feel. I have seen me go in there with a specific item of clothing in mind and also brand and being back out 5 minutes later having tried it on and paid for it. That is how shopping should be in my opinion!

House of Fraser and Jenners became one last year, I was a little disappointed as I thought it was a bit pointless having 2 of the same department stores so close to each other. However they have managed to keep both stores as they were before the merger which if great. Both stores have so many departments, covering men’s wear, women’s wear, childrens were, homewear. I have a frasers card which means I get special money off days or double/​triple point days — definitely worth taking out a card to get invited to these days, even if you one use it in Frasers store.
The cosmetics dept is wonderful (although Frasers Glasgow is much bigger) and I always shop here for my Aveda products as they give you a nice cup of Aveda tea to drink while you browse.

House of fraser is at the west end of princes street, and like jenners at the opposite end is an alladins cave! The ground floor is home to the cosmetics, moving up through mens wear, womens and home and café on the top floor. The homeware on the top floor is generally pretty nice and if you can afford to wait until one of their sales, they quite often reduce things quite significantly