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I went shopping briefly after work yesterday; a quick 45 minute dash around some of the shops in Angel before my visit to the beauty salon and some pre-hols maintenance.
It is August. As far as I am aware the majority of British holiday makers take their vacances during the school holidays. So mid July - end August. Others without children perhaps start earlier, say Mid May onwards and the entire holiday period probably stretches until at least mid-September, perhaps later.
Being as I am going on a sailing holiday which I hope will contain at least a few hours of sunshine (although judging from the weather forecast we shall be lucky if we get a day without rain) I will need a bikini or two. I've grown a little since last summer and one of my bikinis no longer fits properly. I decided I could probably do with another one, so I started my search in Accessorize. They had a few bikinis on the sale rail - all size 16 and larger, mostly bottoms. A more thorough search of the shop revealed three styles on a rail at the back, again all 14-16s and no tops. A quick check with a sales assistant confirmed that indeed these were all the swimwear they had on sale.
"We've got the autumn stuff in now" she trilled.
"But it's August. I'm going on holiday. Don't you think people might actually want to buy summer/holiday items when they need them? (i.e. the month they go, not three months before) Not have to make do with the few sizes left in the sale".
"Well, they've been in the sale for a few weeks now, that's all we have left" she replied
So even if I had gone on holiday in July I still would have found the bikinis in the sale. And when I asked her to pass onto her manager that most people perhaps might like to be able to buy things in the season when they need them she responded "complain to customer services then". So I left.
A quick look round the other shops in the area confirmed the same thing: swimwear in the sale, if in the shop at all. No sizes on sale smaller than a 14 - no tops. I wonder if the shops order more bottoms than tops or whether there has been an odd run on people buying tops but not bottoms?
So I shall make do with last years too small bikini and the rest of the time I shall wear pants and shorts. If it is not p***ing with rain...
Thursday, August 14, 2008
High Street Rage
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4 comments:
I hate that too, although there are quite a few shops in this area that focus on surfing and swimming and they sell bikinis all year round.
We were lucky tent-wise, it's the end of the season and when suppliers run out they often won't restock until next year, even as early as in the beginning of July (we had that problem with a tarp last year). We needed a new small tent because the old one broke down, and fortunately they still had the one we wanted in stock.
It seems such an odd dynamic the shops dictating what we can buy and when rather than stocking what people want to buy.
I'm not talking high fashion here, just basic things.
Is mail order the answer? I see that figleaves.com are still selling swimsuits...
Have a good holiday Rachel, and I hope the sailing will be nice.
To pacify you my dear - I have given you an award. Check it out on my blog x x
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