Shopping

Should I have known better than to go into the Centre for some essential shopping on a Sunday? Well, Spanish dictionaries don't just turn up you know (Oh yes, Amazon). The circuit included WH Smith, Superdrug and BHS (and a wander through Boots).

I love books and I came to hate WH Smith when they seemed to pull back from being a bookseller, but that has reversed and it has a useful and OK laid out library of tomes. Still facing the challenge of buy it now at full cost or online later. They stock a wide range of magazines and must be praised for that. The rest of the store seems to be decorated with random displays of knick-knacks and cheap junk. With lots of primary colours again. I think this repulses the older people so must be aimed at youngsters. Do they really use their significant buying power in response to bright colours. Is our youth really so stupid, or just marketing people?

Superdrug is that brightly lit cornucopia of all manner of household necessities such as polish and cleaners and perfumes. Except now it is a hopelessly laid out, brightly lit, not that cheap also ran. With a cheap name. It wasn't busy and it didn't deserve to be. Lord knows what motivates their buyers.

BHS. A decent store I think but desperately schizoid. Own brand walking style shoes at £42; is that a bargain? In the crowded market place, no. The range of things on offer are not graduated but seem random and overlapping. The use of space is thoughtless beyond 'sections'. Sight-lines could be better but are not as bad as Boots.

How do Boots survive? What are they known for or do well? It is a mess, you cannot understand the layout and sight-lines are non-existent. I hate the place and only use it as a thoroughfare to somewhere else.

Oh, I mustn't forget The Works. You have to love this place. They have some very interesting stock, it is reasonably laid out around a compact store and everything is easy to find. And they do live up to their promise of attractive prices. With quite a bit of tat.

Retail does give you the impression in these especially stressful times that the big decisions are not well founded, that stores could do better by standing back and looking properly at their business (metaphorically as a construct and actually in their stores) and thinking around the subject of people buying their wares instead of trying to be 'clever', with bright colours.