Whittard of Chelsea is quite a nice, high end store, they have 78 stores across the United Kingdom,…read morethis is quite a nice store, which is in a way well hidden, and does not stand out as much, being opposite Marks and Spencer on Market Street, I was drawn in through a woman outside sampling their Lychee and Mango Iced Tea.
I came in later on, and all the staff seemed really nice, they all seemed helpful and friendly, the staff seemed happy and actually enjoying themselves, sharing jokes among each other.
When I came in later, they were sampling a different flavor, Mango and Passion-fruit which I also enjoyed, but not as much as the first.
The staff seemed really nice with a good knowledge of their products, I had flavors recommended to me on the Iced tea powder, and I was even told how to make it, so it is better and the fact that you can make it hot as well.
I asked about certain flavors, they recommended Turkish Apple to me, their original flavor and I decided to buy this one and the Lychee and Mango flavor, it cost £5.50 but with a "Buy one and get one half price" which brought the two pots to £8.25, which did represent good value for a high quality, high end good at an average of 4.125 each, however I was upset to find out it would have been cheaper online, as they had a better 3 for 2 offer there, so I could have bought three tubs for £11, working out £3.66 each, albeit there isn't a huge difference it was still disappointing.
Most products did seem a little expensive, but it is high end goods and they did seem good quality with great selections of teas, coffees, hot chocolates etc and even flavoring syrup for coffees, it seemed they had more of a focus on tea. It would have been great if you could buy some bottles premade of Iced tea, while out and about in Manchester city center, perhaps even expanding to iced coffee drinks would be good too, similar to what Starbucks sell in supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury's.
The staff did seem quite nice and friendly, but I was upset that they spelt my name wrong, hence my email, despite me telling them how to, after signing up to the loyalty scheme, meaning I would miss out on the prize draw to win a holiday in Alabama, which was a shame.
The loyalty scheme isn't really rewarding, and it is more of just a prize draw, where you can win a different holiday every month, and get an entry for purchases.
Overall, this is a really nice high end store, perfect for a gift or to treat yourself as coffee or tea lovers, the staff are nice so I feel it deserves 4 stars here!
UPDATE: A recent visit sadly indicates the quality of this store is declining and should be demoted to 2 stars, on a recent visit I was upset with a lack of offers on, with the already small range stocked here lacking a 342 offer or anything similar, which they normally have on as the products are a little expensive and over-priced here, the staff seemed to be going out of their way to be unhelpful sadly, and it made already a small cramped store, with a smaller range which isn't the nicest of places to shop in, even worse really so sadly only deserves two stars, and no longer four.
