Meet 'Instagran', Westquay's new personal shopper with a twist

Lynda Green, 70, has been given the peculiar role at Westquay Shopping Centre as a modern twist on a personal shopper.

The Instagran will help social media-conscious shoppers with their outfit choices and provide them with old fashioned and honest advice typically given by grandmothers.

Southampton pensioner Ms Green, a retired ballet dancer and performer, is on hand at Westquay this week and shoppers have benefited from the unusual service by receiving advice their friends were too afraid to tell them.

The service is being trialled at Westquay throughout the week to mark World Senior Citizen Day today.

Shopper Natasha Buchanan, from Southampton, said: “What a fantastic idea to bring Instagrans to the centre, I’ve never seen this before.

“Your mates might tell you that you look good in something although they secretly don’t want you to upstage them.

“Instagran told me exactly what I wanted to hear, and I was delighted with the service.”

Andy Collyer, general manager at Westquay, said: “We are delighted to have Lynda here at Westquay.

“We all know the pressure that people face now to look good on social media so Instagran is very topical but also highly practical in helping our shoppers pick the perfect outfit.

“This service is perfect for those wannabe style influencers on social media whose outfit choice is all about ‘doing it for the gram’.”

Westquay, in Southampton’s city centre, attracts thousands of shoppers every day and has around 130 shops including John Lewis, Apple and Zara.