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

[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.