Hollister Co. - Manchester

Charlotte B.

My experience at the Manchester Arndale store was awful and resulted in me losing my items and nearly £90 for over a week.

I spent nearly an hour in the store on 29/10, trying to return two items (totalling £90). The system failed, incorrectly claiming the jeans had already been returned.

I showed the staff proof on my phone that my order was still marked as 'awaiting return'. Despite this evidence of a system error, the store manager proceeded to take the jeans off me anyway, as if she didn't believe me. She provided me with NO returns receipt and left me to fend for myself with online customer services.

This action was effectively theft of my property. I had to waste over a week of my time, chasing emails and demanding phone calls, as customer service claimed that the jeans haven't been returned and that I need to do so! How can I when the manager had taken them off me?

I only got my money back thanks to the PayPal Resolution Centre. The company failed to resolve this internally, forcing me to use a third party to retrieve my own funds.

I understand if systems go down sometimes and I'd have to try again another day, or even via another method (returning online), but why on earth the manager had to take the unreturned jeans off me I have no idea, causing me so much unnecessary stress.

Summaiya A.

Really nice staff, Kiera helped me as soon as I stepped in the store. The store manager and other staff on the tills etc were really sweet and friendly. I came in saw some jeans, tried them on got staff approval and then I purchased them!! Always a positive environment in there and I’ve never had a bad experience.

Phil S.

Awful, basic and cheap feeling. I get Millenial and Gen Z's could not understand the details in the old store but really?! Was in briefly yesterday, young girl thinking she was 20+ hogging a mirror to just take selfies ( i feel she was more 17), general chaos of customers and clothing in an overbright store. Welcome to 2025 I guess. Problem with the lighting is you now clearly see everything. From a carefully crafted store, it's now a basic box. Queuing for the fitting room, only place there was a queue, your staring at the till point. A sorry and sad forgettable pale blue with a 90s style wooden counter top finished in light wood. It somehow looked dirty. Behind some non descript glass blocks, also looking like junk was stored behind, and a basic LED screen above, apparently displaying waves, but just looked more like pixels. The tills had an uninterested girl at them, and were covered in clutter with 2 half full boxes of stock left proudly on the floor. Gone are the days of pride for working in a Hollister. The fitting room was equally basic, bar a light panel to change lighting, don't get excited though, the functions are basic. Staring up you see the sensor counting the minuites the room is used for throughout the day and some concrete. A sorry state of affairs. Bring back the piers. You should have left the till points and beyond the same, and done this awful basic shop design at the front, made it feel you came out for the shop and onto the pier. But hey. Here we are. I think Matalan looks and feels nicer. I won't be back in a hurry, and clearly not will many others. You used to queue for hours to buy anything in a Hollister, now, the uninterested girl will serve you immediately. How to ruin a brand.

Juliette H.

Really lovely experience here. Staff extremely helpful. One member of staff went above and beyond to help me find new clothes. Had a great selection of clothes which were high quality. Staff friendly and kind to approach. Would highly recommend to anyone.

Tiffany N.

Broken photo booth in store, asked a staff member for help because the machine took my money. They just told me to contact the company myself and walked off. Had to find the company details myself and took so long to reply. When they did finally reply, they couldn't even find my 'purchase' yet had no problem taking my money straight away.

Stood around for 20 minutes until i found another staff who just said the same thing. Surely if a machine is broken in your store and continously takes money you'd at least put a sign on it?

Roy-Andre T.

Nice store and great service. Ordered online for pickup, which only took three days, with pickup ready at a Sunday even!

Abigail F.

Extremely disappointed with my experience. I was given conflicting information about my order — first told it hadn’t shipped, then that it had been delivered and lost at the Manchester store. My refund request was ignored, and Hollister initially blamed Royal Mail, only to later admit it was their fault. I was told a complaint had been raised and I’d hear back in 2–3 days, but when I followed up, I found out no complaint had ever been logged. Despite asking for a reference number and the complaints email, I was ignored. The customer service has been misleading, dismissive, and unhelpful at every stage. Will be escalating to the Retail Ombudsman if this isn’t resolved properly.

Nick B.

I always visit Hollister when in the city centre, great if you time it with one of their sales! The shop is well laid out and has a relaxed vibe. I like how they have some 'pop up' tills at the front of the store when busy.