The Recession Bites

[poliphilo]

My mother gave us Marks and Spencer's vouchers for Christmas- it's a tradition- and yesterday afternoon we set out to spend them. We thought of buying our week's shopping there, but the prices were sooo expensive we changed our minds and limited ourselves to a few treats- then drove to Sainsbury's to lay in the basics.

Ailz is on the phone discussing it with her mother. "£21 for a leg of lamb!" she says.

And this morning we hear M & S are shutting 25 of their "Just Food" stores and cutting 1,250 staff following the worst Christmas performance ever. After yesterday I'm not surprised.

At least they're only retrenching. Yesterday was the final day of trading for the British Woolworths. Cue sad footage of high street stores being stripped of their fittings and Woolies employees in their cheery, red tabards standing around on the snowy pavement, putting a brave face on it.

And what about Waterford-Wedgewood? Wedgewood can't go bust. It's one of the pillars of eternity. Where would we be without our jasperware?

But in the present economic climate, nothing should be taken for granted.

Which brings us to yesterday's LJ panic. That too- I fully believe- was also only a retrenchment. What we- and by we I mean us Westerners- forget is just how big LJ is in Russia. According to Wikipedia, Zhe-zhe, LJ's Russian name, is also the generic word for blog.   For Russians, LJ isn't just one platform among many,  it is the blogosphere- and therefore a highly valuable, cultural property. Even if the current owners wanted to get rid of it, I think there would be others eager to pick it up. 

So I'm not waving my arms around or moving elsewhere. I'm being optimistic or stoical or zen. And if the bulldozers come, they come. 

Comments

[brttvns.livejournal.com]

The Woolworths in my hometown closed on the 2nd. It was adjacent my local boozer. On the 3rd we were watching a crew ripping out what was left of the fittings, fortunately the were being supervised by the store's erstwhile manager. I say 'forunately' because even though it was public knowledge that the store had closed one dear old lady came and knocked on the door to return an item of clothing (to great amusement to all in the bar). To give the manager his due he did manage to exchange the item (I suppose they still had some stock upstairs, as the shop floor was gutted!).

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well done, that manager!

[jubal51394.livejournal.com]

Yesterday's LJ panic? I was here just about all day. How did I miss this?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

For a while everyone was heading for the hills aka Insane Journal- and then it calmed down.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the LJ thing!

Robert told me about Waterford-Wedgewood yesterday. That's a bit unbelievable!

Why are these places not just cutting back their prices a bit?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I guess the manufacturers and retailers of luxury goods are among the first to suffer in any recession.

I went round the museum at the Wedgewood factory in Stoke a year or two back. It's only about an hour's drive from here. Josiah Wedgewood is a bit of a hero of mine.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

I hope that the company can hold it's own.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Surely someone will want to buy it.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Although I am not going to Insane Journal, I am collecting LJ friends' email addresses, just in case, so we wont lose touch completely.
I am also in the process of taking off most of my posts (not the photos and not the memes) and saving them on a memory stick, just as I did with my msjann65 entries when I closed that journal last year.
I really hope that you are right about this. I so look forward to logging on to LJ each morning when I have my coffee.
I would miss you, and others on my F-list.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I love LJ too. I love how it combines the features of a blog and a social networking site. I love how intelligent and interesting my friends are.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Um: what LJ panic? Oh, dear!

Last night on our local news we were told that Alcoa, a major plant worldwide but with a big presence in a nearby town (named Alcoa) is laying off 13,000 workers, 450 of them local people; that Goodies, a clothing store based in Knoxville, is liquidating and will be laying off 1,500 workers; and that a local seaboat building company is laying off much of its staff.

We are reeling locally, but this is going on everywhere.

I have heard, and believe it, that after all this is over only the biggest strongest stores will remain--the Walmarts of this world.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think the businesses that survive will be the ones that are best adapted to the situation- not necessarily the giants. Woolworths was the British Walmarts (sort of)- with a presence on nearly every High Street- but it has been one of the earliest casualties of the recession.

One hears of isolated success stories. Marks and Spencers is suffering- but a budget chain (I forget its name) which carries a similar range of clothing at lower prices was on the news this lunchtime reporting increased profits.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

According to the news on Google, LJ is laying off 12 people and moving their design operations to Moscow...

As for success stories, McDonalds, which sells really cheap hamburgers, made a profit last year.

Really, the scary thing is that if one WANTS a salad and meat and vegetables for one meal, it's almost too costly to buy the ingredients.

I made a very humble tuna casserole last week, and buying only the simplest ingredients (chicken soup, 12 ounces of tuna, noodles, etc.) cost me almost $10! And that was at Walmart, cheapest supermarket around.

(The two cans of soup cost over $2 for both. The tuna, one big can, cost over $2 for one can.)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It seems the days of cheap food are over.

I think those prices you're quoting are roughly equivalent to what we'd pay over here.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

Zen is good.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Zen is very good!:)

[richenda.livejournal.com]

I hope that they don't shut the Bangor M and S Simply Food, which has only been open for about a year. On 23rd December it was packed with customers, and most of the shelves were empty.
For the rest of the year, it's the only food shop near the bus station, so is a real blessing if the Llandudno branch is out of something, or if a Bangor resident hasn't time to get to Tesco and back. Besides, although M and s isn't cheap, some of their stock is better than the tesco equivalent
The silliest thing they did was to switch their weekend closing time from 8 p,m, to 5 p.m so they've lost trade from the National Express arrival at 7.30. I suppose that the cost of staying open for two hours wasn't met, even by the droves of students arriving on that coach - except that where's the point of opening a shop in a bus station if you aren't open for coach arrivals?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

M & S food is rather special. We've been eating the "treats" we bought and that's exactly what they've been. But there's no way we could afford to shop there regularly.

[richenda.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that most coach travellers can't afford it regularly. People I know used to buy a complete microwaveable meal that they wouldn't dream of buying in the ordinary way. Now they have to buy an even more expensive hot lunch at motorway services, or cook from scratch when they get home, perhaps as late as 9 p.m. They might even buy two - supper and lunch the following day - if stocks were low at home, because of the "buy second item" special offers.
The shop does at least open half an hour before the morning coach leaves - and most of their cold snacks are cheaper and better than at the motorway services

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The prices in motorway services are a disgrace. They've got a captive clientele and they exploit it.

If we're travelling any distance- and know we're going to be on the road at lunchtime- we generally take sandwiches- or the equivalent- with us.

[richenda.livejournal.com]

Juat so - another reason that it isn't all that helpful to be open for the coach departure, but not its arrival.
However, i admit to enjoying the luxury of buying extravagant foods in snack form that I never usually buy.