" You buy your best clothes in Dunnes Stores up yours. "
Well, thats no longer my opinion.
Dunnes Stores is one of those traditional, cheap department stores. I remember it when it was a bog standard supermarket, however in my town they now specialise in clothes and other household utilities.
It is December, and feeling a little cold and unenthusiastic about Christmas, I popped into Dunnes Stores to see if I could pick up a bargain. TK Maxx is ten miles away and everybody wheres they latest stripey jumper from Tesco, so I needed something cheap but different. Dunnes Stores didn't disappoint!
I had once before looked in Dunnes and was taken aback by the shleves upon shelves of mens clothing that was simply for chavs, spides, scallies, whatever you want to call them. Pink and yellow, all that. This time however Dunnes had definatly hit my Christmas feelings on the head. Simple, plain, neat fitting red jumpers. No logos, no drawings. And, fully wollen. Sexy! This jumper was £17 and felt really really comfy, a cheaper version was available for £10 less, however this one was a little frayed and wasn't such a pure red colour.
I moved on around to find simple nice cream coats, also available in navy. These fitted lovely, most cheap coats don't. They priced at £25, however my mission was for jumpers. Beside these was a brown jumper with a rugby styled collar and buttons, with a thin dark orange and green stripe horizontally. This jumper fitted perfectly and was very comfortable. A definate buy.
Then, came more wollen jumpers. I wanted something Christmassy. The first one that caught my eye was green, but it was a kind of farmer fabric, so it was a green / brown mix of thread. It had a pattern in the middle which gave it that pringle feel but kept it low profile. I tried it on and was very happy, and too my discovery, it was £10! I jumped with joy, almost.
Jeans lay around the shelves too, however I didn't try these on but they did look decent, so too did the teeshirts, ranging from plain ones to more labelled ones. The hoodies they had in were all zipped with small designs, not the usual large 'class of 87' or something like that. The accessories to didn't dissapoint. Large, cool glasses. £3. Off season buying definatly is worth it. Hats and gloves, cheap too. The socks looked festive and thick along with boxers, the good old cheapies that everyone except rich kids and business men wear.
The store also had an extensive kids department which looked really good. I didn't notice a female section but I'm almost sure it existed, maybe that was what was upstairs..!
Dunnes Stores have been a label known for their cheesy low budget advertisements, however the clothes this Christmas didn't meet that standard, although not as cheap as the likes of Primark, Dunnes Stores offers a happy medium of quality and price for the average customer. Plus, in my area I can't think of any many other guys who would be buying there, so that saves any embarassment when you realise your friend has your jumper too, and it looks better on him.
So all in all, if you have a Dunnes Stores near you, check it out. The clothes might suprise you, if you're open to have a little peek about. I actually left with too much choice! If you live in mainland Uk however, you may find it a slight struggle to find a Dunnes near you. Northern Ireland / Ireland... happy days :)
