Shopping Locally

[Maggie/915]

We do not decorate often but need Wallpaper , paint and more.

My husband visited a well known local shop, liked what he saw so I followed to view.

The Staff appeared very helpful until I asked for a piece of paper to write down which papers I liked.

Numbers codes etc cannot be written down or indeed pictures taken.

Why was the obvious next questions :-

People come in accept our help and then buy on the Internet .

As I had no intention of buying today, not even sure of the number of rolls needed , I left.

Despite knowing the family of this business for a lifetime and despite buying pictures and lots more from them in the past I do not feel like returning.

Maybe I am being a sensitive old git but surely you can browse and accept help without being made to feel guilty.

Is the help only offered in a 'police state' situation to stop you taking notes or pictures.

We all window shop from time to time.

Personally I am not to keen on the whole process of shopping.

Would others be put off if they shopped and felt obliged to buy or get out of the shop.

One  lady assistant apologised for their rule and how it made me feel . The other lady simply ignored  me as I left.

Not sure I want to shop there again.

 

[Vic Patterson]

I hear you Maggie, but that is often the way today, I have a friend who does carpentry mostly kitchens, he spends many hours designing and costing giving alternative suggestions, give the customer the quote who then shops around using his work only to be undercut! By a few cents, and often returns to be helped out when the cowboy has collected his money.

Sad but it seems to be the way some unscrupulous people operate! I'd go back and give your opinion and use there service even if it costs a bit more to stay local.

[Maggie/915]

Sadly Vic I did express my opinion.

The lady assistant/manager walked away. 

They do have another shop locally may try there when we have more idea what we want.

Sadly I am not sure what the answer is, indeed I did attempt saying that shopping locally could be a better alternative for many reasons one being that too little or too much of the wallpaper could become a'Unique Selling Point' on a return or buy more basis.

The shop was empty at the time I visited and I wonder if these rules stop people from visiting. Customer service is always something to go back for in my opinion.

I think part of the problem is that in the past things were not a problem .

I do very much accept their viewpoint but I was there with a will to buy locally if I could.

[Maggie/915]

And another thing

Have a very happy birthday Vic.

many years young.

[Canny lass]

I can't believe the price of wallpaper these days! I've just wood-panelled a third of all bedroom walls to save future costs.Today I can't paper one wall for what it cost to paper the whole room 10 years ago. What have they done with wallpaper that's making it so expensive? However, no complaints about service here. They even let you take the wallpaper samples home to see if you still like it in the room and once i was allowed - encouraged even - to take a 1½ square metres sample of tiled floor home for the week end to see if I was happy with my choice.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Canny lass

[Vic Patterson]

Maggie I'd make sure they know why I'm going elsware and hope they find their next job answering phone calls more satisfying than dealing with real people! Thank for the birthday wishes.

A few years ago getting ready for retiring we re did our house decoration, wood floors and our kids convinced us to paint the walls, lots of paper stripping and wall preparation then painting, shortly after we re papered! Yes expensive and it all came from Cramlington! Pre battered... No borrowing a batter table and mixing the paste, it was even pre edged, (how many hours with the big scissors) almost as bad as holding the hanks of wool when mam wound into balls! 

[Canny lass]

Pre-edged? Do they still make wallpaper that needs to be trimmed? I haven't seen that for years. I remember it as a child - when papering a room was a real family affair. Everybody had a job to do even if it was just picking up the off-cuts and trimmings. That was usually my job, being the youngest.

[mercuryg]

Maggie,

they are being ridiculous, and I can see why you felt aggrieved. If they are losing that much trade to online sales, and as I'm sure I know the outlet you are referring to I find it hard to believe, there is something inherently wrong with their methods. Retail is not where it was 20 years ago.

[Malcolm Robinson]

"Retail is not where it was 20 years ago."

 

From being in the doldrums a decade or two ago retail looks to be one of the cutting edges to the service sector........adapt or die!  

 

From running a Bedlington business for many years and having the exact same thing happen time and time again you do get to the point where you wonder but and here's the kicker most people are reasonable and fair and if you give good service you get it back in longevity and being able to charge a percent or two above for your increased costs against footfall and for providing a local service.  

[webtrekker]

Thing is though, there's just no comparison between the choice you have in a local shop to the vast choice you have online, and at usually much-reduced prices. Many things can be ordered and even delivered the very next day for less than they would cost from a local retailer.

 

Plus, once you add on time wasted, travelling and parking charges if you need to go to the next town, then online shopping becomes even more attractive. I'm still miffed about the £85 parking fine we had to pay for shopping at Morrison's in Blyth and have avoided their shops ever since.

[threegee]

It wouldn't matter too much if the tax from on-line transactions went straight back into the community from where the business comes from.  If you'd set out to design a system which impoverished the areas which really need encouragement you couldn't have done a better job than our early 20th century system!  There's no incentive for the establishment parties to do anything about it because of huge vested interest - in fact if the EU'ers get TTIP through things will become even worse.

What's needed is an administration who can set a lead in free trade, and not be constantly caught out by change. Like in the US, sales taxes should go back to the region, and there should be some flexibility for local people to set the rate.  We could go even further than the US though and put sales taxes into the very hands of the communities it comes from, right at a town level.  This is not at all impractical these days, but vested interest will try to dismiss it on faux impracticability grounds.

I've an idea which makes tax on all on-line purchases available to local communities as well as locally provided goods and services. Not only is this very practical in the Internet age, but it could add in locally controlled services which are of real value to local people, and provide some extra local employment.  It would be an opt-in scheme where things would continue as before if a community chose not to go there, but the benefits of adopting it would mark out the sheep from the goats.  The effect of the scheme would be regenerative too as the places that adopted it would undoubtedly see much more local enterprise.  We should be using the information age to redress regional wealth differences, but what's now happening is that it's tending to enhance them.

Maybe the town that launched the World's first universal postal service could set a lead?

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

17 hours ago, Maggie/915 said:

Sadly Vic I did express my opinion.

The lady assistant/manager walked away. 

They do have another shop locally may try there when we have more idea what we want.

Sadly I am not sure what the answer is, indeed I did attempt saying that shopping locally could be a better alternative for many reasons one being that too little or too much of the wallpaper could become a'Unique Selling Point' on a return or buy more basis.

The shop was empty at the time I visited and I wonder if these rules stop people from visiting. Customer service is always something to go back for in my opinion.

I think part of the problem is that in the past things were not a problem .

I

I agree with all the comments on the shop assistant but I believe if I was wanting wallpaper I would persevere with the shop Maggie. How many comments have you read on this site, and many others, about wanting to have a front street full of commercial shops rather than charity shops.

I would even have to go as far as say I totally agree with my wife - never buying household furnishings on-line. View the items in the shop; in a dark corner and then in the light. Take a sample home and match that sample against all the other soft furnishing items, (that only she has gathered over many years), and make sure it works. Don't forget to ask everyone that comes into the house if they think the sample - goes with other items - brings out the colours     c) is a good contrast d) doesn't clash etc. etc. etc. and regardless of what they say make your own mind up, unless you want to take the advice of someone else so you can blame them if the completed redecoration turns out not to your liking.       

The above comments are genuine.

However I must add that my outlook on decorating the family home do differ from probably about 95% of the world's population, including my lovely wife. I have always wanted, and you could say achieved, a house that is clean and tidy and provides facilities to feed; entertain and keep my family safe and warm. BUT there are always, other than what is required, additional items to add to the whole experience of a comfortable night in the house. I can never understand why anyone would want to spend time staring at a wall, covered in wallpaper! I have purchased many items for the house that the whole family can share and enjoy - Tv - computer - Board Games - Lego - artistic materials etc. etc. I have never thought I will buy that wallpaper so I can stare at it, and enjoy it, is I have nothing else to do.   

 Back in the early 80's I covered many walls with Knotty pine and lovingly sanded; sealed; sanded; varnished; sanded; varnished; sanded; varnished; sanded and a final coat of varnish. My theory - I will never have to do this again for years and years and years and I didn't, we moved and left it. The feature fire place, with gas fire, was built with stone. The more stone that was used the less of the walls would need wallpaper.  Marble topped corner units so the TV could be in full view of every seat in the house. The other corner, with matching marble top, was  where the wife could stand as many pointless objects as she wanted.  So me and the kids played games, watched Tv etc.  and the wife dusted her many knick-knacks, blissful harmony. I had to concede to the chimney breast covered with many strips of embossed wallpaper so you could hang a large mirror on the wall that covered half the paper (that paper  had taken weeks to find!) and resulted in one sex of the family standing in front of it to apply many items to the face and thus blocking out the heat and quite often the TV from the other sex!

Once all the kids had left we moved, leaving all the 80’s features, to a bungalow. Every wall in every room, freshly skimmed, not a strip of wallpaper to be seen. It has remained wallpaper free for the nine years – YES. Naturally I have had to concede to the hanging of a few items, including local works of art, that have I never stare at but the wife still takes a duster to them.

Go out Maggie and get many samples of various items. Shopping for curtains is even more rewarding! Oh the hours and hours of endless enjoyment and fulfillment watching them hang seductively over the painted wall gives me immense pleasure.

 The country needs less of me and more people that will keep manufacturing moving. 

 So get back to that shop Maggie and support the High street shops.

ps. however I am content, no wallpaper and no pets. 

                  

[ex Bedlingtonian]

25 minutes ago, threegee said:

It wouldn't matter too much if the tax from on-line transactions went straight back into the community from where the business comes from.  If you'd set out to design a system which impoverished the areas which really need encouragement you couldn't have done a better job than our early 20th century system!  There's no incentive for the establishment parties to do anything about it because of huge vested interest - in fact if the EU'ers get TTIP through things will become even worse.

What's needed is an administration who can set a lead in free trade, and not be constantly caught out by change. Like in the US, sales taxes should go back to the region, and there should be some flexibility for local people to set the rate.  We could go even further than the US though and put sales taxes into the very hands of the communities it comes from, right at a town level.  This is not at all impractical these days, but vested interest will try to dismiss it on faux impracticability grounds.

I've an idea which makes tax on all on-line purchases available to local communities as well as locally provided goods and services. Not only is this very practical in the Internet age, but it could add in locally controlled services which are of real value to local people, and provide some extra local employment.  It would be an opt-in scheme where things would continue as before if a community chose not to go there, but the benefits of adopting it would mark out the sheep from the goats.  The effect of the scheme would be regenerative too as the places that adopted it would undoubtedly see much more local enterprise.  We should be using the information age to redress regional wealth differences, but what's now happening is that it's tending to enhance them.

Maybe the town that launched the World's first universal postal service could set a lead?

Well if I had the faintest idea what TTIP was I might find this post interesting, as it is I haven't a clue.

[Canny lass]

Me neither!

[Malcolm Robinson]

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership…….sounds OK but look at the small print!!!!!

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/what-is-ttip-and-six-reasons-why-the-answer-should-scare-you-9779688.html

[Canny lass]

Thanks Malcolm!

[mercuryg]

"From being in the doldrums a decade or two ago retail looks to be one of the cutting edges to the service sector........adapt or die!  "

 

This does appear to be the case, Malcolm; personally, I reckon that in the next couple of decades the grocery shopping run will move towards online ordering and home delivery, while the High Street will become a place for niche retail outlets. 

[Malcolm Robinson]

I agree Merc and have done for quite some time.  Pretty sure if anyone looks back even when this site was wind up that was the position I was advocating.  We need niche retailers to give us the footfall needed to continue as a market town because we just cannot compete with the alternatives.  So lots of quite different smaller units rather than one large one.  Even better if they were all under cover and we condensed the shopping offer and made it much more of an experience.  

[webtrekker]

We used to have a decent market a good few years back. Is it not possible to find somewhere for an indoor market, along the lines of the one at Tynemouth station, which is always popular and visited by people from miles around? Just a thought.

[Maggie/915]

We have been more successful with other local shops.

All comments have been noted.

Now the paper is off and the old walls may need skimming.

No chance to sit and stare Eggy.

'Whats this life if full of care we have no time to stand and stare'.

No wallpaper, no objects of art to stare at : in our case the old framed newspapers are hidden away till all is done and dusted . I might add Eggy they are history objects . Start of War 1939 (old Evening Chronicle ) then (The Journal's) Victory in Europe and finally Japanise surrender .

[Malcolm Robinson]

I did exactly the same a month or two ago Maggie........pulled all the old wallpaper off and then had to skim the walls...........Ahhhhh

[Maggie/915]

Well reader I did buy locally.

Even visited their other shop not too far away. We all need to consider 'use it or loose it' . Rather nice feeling walking down the Main Street and buying something more than a paper and Don Lynn's pies.

Result I do feel good but not too sure if I am out of pocket. It's only money afterall .

Wish it was all done forget the dusting. Old ceiling tiles mean we still need plaster work and more effort. We cannot even claim it as a Sport Relief challenge.