Tony Grist (poliphilo) wrote,
Tony Grist
poliphilo

Woolies

Woolworths has gone into receivership. The news shocked me slightly.  It had always been there. It was a fixture of the British high street.  Not that I'm sorry- except for the staff, for whom its a bummer- because I never loved it.  I had my reasons. One reason is I'm a snob, another is I don't like my shops brassy, ugly and fluorescent and a third is that in 1959 one of their shop assistants grabbed me,  told me I looked a mess, straightened my collar and rolled my sleeves up neatly- and if there's one thing I hate it's being fussed over by mother hens.  Ailz's pa says it's her fault for doing all her shopping online and- while we've never ever done our real-life shopping at Woolies so can't be accused of deserting it- he does have  a sort of a point. Woolies is the lazy store, the one that that refused to move with the times. It was the prototype of both the budget shop and the supermarket, but stayed exactly where it was- continuing to offer the mid-century shopping experience- cheap, cheaper, cheapest- whilst the fully-evolved budget shops and supermarkets under-cut and outstripped it.  When you think about it ,"The wonder of Woolies" (remember that slogan?) is that it lasted as long as it did .
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  • 44 comments

  • Sundog Over Eastbourne

    We went to have a second look at the Eastbourne house, check a thing or two and show it off to my sister and bro-in-law. We understood it to be…

  • Angry

    I get angry when I feel I'm losing control of a situation. It's similar to the instinct that makes me stretch out my arms when heading off…

  • Scammers

    The house phone rings I pick up the receiver. (Once we move we won't be having a land line.) There is a pause. Then a concerned but…