Wild reason why some Aussie women have given up shopping in-store

There’s a sad reason behind a major shift in behaviour from shoppers at Australian shopping centres — and it’s starting to get awkward.

Despite the body positivity movement, Australian shopping centres are still letting plus-size women down.

While the representation of plus-size women increases in advertising, a quick stroll around an Australian mall reveals how far we have to go.

Westfield Bondi Junction is one of Sydney’s most prominent shopping centres, and while there are hundreds of women’s clothing stores, plenty aren’t size inclusive.

Popular brands like Glassons, Zimmerman, AJE and Saba offer a size range that only extends to a size 16.

Meanwhile, Sass and Bide, Suboo, Viktoria & Woods and General Pants Co’s sizes come to a screeching halt at size 14 or XXL.

These brands all have stores at Westfield Bondi Junction and are meant to be an incentive for women to bother shopping in-store.

Westfields Bondi Junction clothing sizes map reveals the problem many women face when shopping.

If you were a plus-size woman looking for a dress at Westfield Bondi Junction you’d struggle to find a brand that caters to your size.

So what’s the point?

A local retail assistant who works for a non-size-inclusive brand in Bondi Junction’s famous shopping centre explained to news.com.au that the brand’s exclusivity makes things awkward. “We do try and train staff to offer people that don’t fit into our standard sizing options from our range that are stretchy,” she said.

Offering customers only stretchy options doesn’t always create the best customer experience.

“It can still led to some uncomfortable conversations with customers if they don’t fit into things and creates an unhappy customer,” she explained.

These ‘unhappy’ customers are often giving up on in-store shopping altogether.

Author and renowned comedian Rosie Waterland hasn’t bothered shopping in-store for years due to the inconvenience.

“I shop almost exclusively online. This means if there’s an event, I have to plan way ahead and think about shipping times and all that. You can’t just ‘pop in’ somewhere and pick something up,” she explained.

Waterland says that when she does find something in her size in-store, it usually isn’t her style.

“The plus size stuff available in the store is so sh**, bordering on offensive.

“Why do they think we only want to wear baggy t-shirts with ‘PARIS’ or SHINE?”

Rosie Waterland exclusively shops online. Source: Instagram

Rose Waterland loves fashion but it isn't easy to find. Source: Instagram

Similarly, plus-size Instagram influencer Bec gave up on in-store shopping yonks ago.

“I haven’t shopped at a mall for many years now because I know I will definitely not find my size in many stores, as many stores/brands don’t carry my size anyways. I’m a size 22/24,” she said.

Bec’s very aware of the issue because she spends so much time playing with fashion.

Her social media feed is all about inspiring other plus-size women to have fun with fashion but she doesn’t bother looking for garments in-store thanks to the lack of options.

“There is also a lack of stores/brands that carry trendy/fun plus size options. A lot of the time, there are only very basic, boring and frumpy options at the limited stores that do carry plus sizes.” she told news.com.au.

“Even though online shopping can be unreliable with sizing sometimes, there are many more trendy and fun brands that carry my size, so I’m happy to shop online for myself, pretty much 99 per cent of the time.”

Plus, she shies away from the in-store experience because it makes her feel bad about herself. “Just spending so much time trying to my find size and coming up with nothing or even finding something cute and seeing that they don’t have my size did make me feel disappointed but also just bad about myself,” she said.

Bec's whole life is about fashion but she doesn't go in-store. Source: Instagram

Bec is living her best body positive life. Source: Instagram

While some brands are extending their range — including Gorman which recently expanded from a size 16 to 20 — plenty have yet to make the jump to make their brands more inclusive.