OK, a very quick question to my Chit Chat Chums this evening: have any of you ever managed to successfully purchase something from Urban Outfitters?

I very rarely shop on the high street, so I may simply be out of practice, but today honestly, I was well and truly…OutWitted?!

I always go in to Urban Outfitters thinking it looks just the ticket but then traipse around the endless (empty) floors of what I can only describe as ‘merchandise’, without so much as the desire to touch anything, never mind try it on.

So, I think I’m missing the concept, or the concept is missing me?

I guess it’s aimed at the urban-hipster type, which I am definitely (thankfully) not, but it just seems to promise so much and deliver so little. I feel like I’ve seen the whole offering within a 10 metre perimeter of the door and the rest is just filler.

And what an offering it is. I tried really hard today too. I swiftly identified the ‘sports-luxe’ section and the ‘faux-vintage’, yes…but also the hint of ‘kawai’, ‘retro’, ‘outdoorsy’, ’emo’…the list goes on. Where else can you simultaneously browse Calvin Kleins, cookery books, Stan Smiths and nail varnish? A supermarket?

Don’t get me wrong: I love a rifle through knick-knacks as much as the next shopper, but then I want it to be genuinely random, Car-Boot-Stylee.

I just think Urban Outfitters feels a little forced nowadays, like it’s got a little lost in its own identity. I definitely think high-street retailers can (and should) nod to multiple styles, but to be legitimate in this pursuit, there has to be volume of stock – take H&M as a classic example – not just a few sorry examples of each.

Urban Outfitters seems to be only dipping its toe into many many styles and as such the offering is diffuse and confusing.  It is at risk of becoming a parody of itself, like the very hipsters it is aiming to please, perhaps…

Answers on a postcard please (or in the comments below)!