Give The Dog A Bone - York

Beth R.

Long time customer, came in yesterday and just wanted to leave some feedback on a staff member who made the experience excellent from beginning to end. I didn't get their name but they had dark floppy hair. As a Customer Experience Manager myself this was 5* service, felt like a VIP! Couldn't have been more friendly and helpful (even though I ended up spending far too much!) I'll certainly be back for more jellycats in the future!

F

For the most part this store is one of my favourites in York, every Christmas, Birthday and Valentines it’s my go to and with my partner originally being from York we make a point of visiting whenever we are back to see his family.

The last few times we have visited however we have been made to feel nothing but awkward, uncomfortable and profiled. For reasons I’m unsure.

We’ve visited maybe 3-4 times between October & February. The first time we noticed a member of staff following us around, organising items wherever we were stood and just blatantly watching us a little too close - we shrugged it off, because times are hard, small businesses aren’t cheap to run and people do steal right?

The second time we noticed this again - we once again ignored this as we try to understand where staff may be coming from, however we made our way upstairs this time as we were looking for a very specific snoopy gift for a friend - this time we noticed the downstairs colleague call the upstairs colleague to do what i can only presume was alert them of our presence and note to watch over us, this was once again made obvious by the sudden organising of items near us (by organising I mean walking behind us very slowly, watch our every move and occasionally touching an item) which as someone with huge anxiety on any given day anyway, was insanely embarrassing and inducing - resulting in us leaving without purchasing the intended item.

The third time, this weekend, we were in the store a total of 2 minutes - my partner picked up an adorable bath mat (the cutest frog) & folded it up to carry around while we continued browsing (why would we let it flap around and potentially nudge other items off the shelf, right?) only for us to notice a colleague in a bandana mimic the folding movement to her colleague at the till, and then to proceed to awkwardly follow us around the first floor, even as far as peering through the spinning card display at what we were doing.

We’ve tried to put this off as paranoia, believe me, but given the number of times staff have allowed this atmosphere be created and been blatantly obvious about it all while following us around the store has me thinking this is just unfortunately the case.

I totally understand precautions have to be taken at times, but surely there are approaches that avoid creating such an awkward, uninviting and generally embarrassing shopping experience? I can see previous reviews have noted similar behaviour, so maybe it’s just a case of not making it as obvious?

Hope my concerns here are appreciated and that this doesn’t come across as unjustified - this is just something I’ve not experienced before.

Anna R.

I ordered two Jellycat plushies online from this shop to Austria and I received my order within just a few days! There were no problems, amazing experience! 🙂

Liam S.

A must stop destination for any movie fan while in York!

…Give The Dog A Bone sells an array of items with the theme of movies and pop culture. Some of their main items I saw included Gift Card, T-Shirts, Bags, Posters, socks, tote bags and I can assure you many more things!

Some of my personal favorite Franchises they sell the items for are Stranger Things, Studio Ghibli, Scooby-Doo & Jaws but again there’s plenty more than that!

The staff were really lovely, I spoke to 2 people working there and they were both very smiley which to me goes a long way when you’re in a shop. The shop itself inside is very bright which lends itself to the colourful items in there that are ready for purchase. The shop is also an independent business which is always a positive for me!

On this occasion I left with a Minecraft Nano Metalfig for a gift.

H

I can’t get over how amazing this store is. So much great stuff - Snoopy, Moomintroll, Wallace & Gromit, Rilakkuma, and studio ghibli stuff and so much more! I’ve never seen Howl’s Moving Castle merch anywhere before until I came here. The staff were friendly and it’s a spacious store with so many treasures. Telling everyone I know about this shop!

M

I've been coming here a long time and have never had an issue before the recent incident. Firstly, I do actually like this shop. I think it sells some lovely items. However, it is basically a shop full of overpriced tat, but it's fun in the way a flying tiger is fun. However, my recent experience was quite possibly one of the few times in York I've genuinely felt uneasy. The member of staff in the shop was sort of lingering around, I didn't think too much of it. I was taking my time (and this was at a perfectly reasonable time at around 11-12ish fyi) wondering around the store. I would say I was in there maximum ten minutes at a push. I'm then coming back to have a look at an area I'd missed as another customer was looking at the area before. I hear the person who worked there then suddenly move too, but then they muttered something under their breath? It sounded to be a curse word directed towards me and as if they were complaining about me? Maybe something along the lines of wanting to serve me and get me gone? It felt very aggressive and rude. It was also only me at this point, the other customers had left. I felt really baffled and quite uncomfortable at this point as I'd truly done nothing wrong? And it wasn't as though I'd come in five minutes before closing time to disturb staff, it was a very reasonable time and I certainly hadn't been in there long. I then could hear them huffing and puffing and sighing a number of times. They muttered a few other things angrily under their breath that I couldn't make out. At this point I had an item in hand and really wanted to buy it, but I felt really awkward? I did buy the item but even then they acted odd and gave the usual customer service talk but this was very much underlined with contempt? I'm genuinely not sure what I did to upset the member of staff but I probably won't come back as I genuinely felt uncomfortable.

Lauren H.

I came in and was served by a guy with dark hair and maybe a red tie (?) - I didn’t get his name but he was so super helpful which means a lot. I get really anxious asking for help, but he was so sweet and understanding (and knew so much about the products!?) It was a really wonderful experience! Love this shop & can’t wait to come again 💕🥰

Mike B.

The perfect pop culture hub. So many different fandoms represented. Take note, person reading this: if you know me and are looking for a gift I'll like, literally anything from here would be great!