Earlier this week, I went and discussed with fashion retail managers in Plymouth’s Drake Circus, to see whether all this commotion over the Student discount is really worth it.
With so many students joining university every year, many will always have the general worries of being the new starter, and face the Fashion conscious phase at ‘Freshers’. One of the first shops I called into was a personal favorite. Yes you guessed it, River Island.
I asked Hayley, 23, who was the Sales and Service manager, on how it benefits the store holding the student discount. Hayley first explained to me that it benefits students.
‘[River Island] gets a lot of new customers… who can benefit from the new styles and fits that they don’t even know about’.
However, she went on to say that It can also benefit River Island by gaining more loyal customers who will ‘come in here every time they need a new pair of jeans’.
As well as River Island, I went into another shop that is popular with students – New Look. Sandra, 47, who is the Deputy store manager was in full support of the Student Discount scheme, and told me more or less the same thing- that student discount means more customers.
With this in mind, I asked which item of clothing is mostly bought when students saunter into the stores. Sandra emphasized ‘Its normally the higher priced items in the store, such as the boots’.
River Islands response was similar; however, Hayley had previously explained to me that this changes through the seasons. An example of this is during the Autumn or Winter phase, the most sought after product for students were Mainly coats.
As well as this Hayley also mentioned that the winter stock ‘starts anything from when the summer sale begins, so August onwards, as the stores are always one step ahead. It’s always next season the stores are looking for’.
This settles it then. We all should use the Student Discount, as it not only saves us money, but can often entice us into new stores and can open our minds to new trends, fits and styles.
If your worried about spending however, you can keep ahold of your old clothes as the styles always circulate.
Take it from Sandra, the New Look Deputy store manager.
‘We will always recycle the old styles, you can see things that were out years ago are coming back through again’.
Or, you can take it from Hayley, the River Island Sales and Services manager. ‘You go back from your 70’s or 60’s through to 90’s fashion, with your sport luxe look, so anything from your polos to stretchy waist bands, track suit bottoms and trainers, that’s very Puma season’.
‘We are also looking forward to the Velvet for the Autumn to Winter 2017. So we will have Velvet boots, embroidered denim and things like that, things that are looking very plush and very expensive’.
