The Christmas Shop Review!
What would Christmas be without the stress of Christmas shopping? Possibly more of a time for goodwill to all men, instead of a time to shoulder someone as they go past. Almost everyone has to deal with it at some stage, to the extent that you start wishing that you were on your own and could just relax this year. However, as with everything, life is simpler on your own, but not as fulfilling. Anyway, I’m digressing and I’ve got a way to go yet. In these months of December, Cosmopolitan magazine always do their bit on what to buy for Christmas (I’m reading it for my course, which I may choose to explain in a later blog, check around April!), so I thought I would bring my two cents (Sense and SIMONS) to the affair.
Before you ask, I’ll Reveal (women’s magazine reference number two) that I did much of my Christmas shopping with my fiancee this year in Cardiff, or the ‘Diff as it’s supposedly known by the locals, as well as Caerdydd (roughly pronounced Car-dee-th) in it’s native tongue. While we were shopping it occurred to me how different in ethos the shops that we went to were. I know that it’s obvious, but it struck me to the extent that instead of thinking about the presents, I started comparing and contrasting the shops, and yes, my fiancee does have the patience of a saint! Anyway, in order to stop me bothering my fiancee any further about it, here is my very special: Christmas Shop Review! Where and where not to go this Christmas. Below are the shops I visited in Cardiff, I will mark them in terms of Simons (Stars in my opinion naturally). Five Simons are good and One is better than nothing. Anyway, without further ado…
Cardiff Violins: My fiancee and I went here to fix the bridge of her viola. It wasn’t very festive in honesty though there was, typically for the Welsh, a ”Vote for Rhydian” flyer. The staff were friendly and accessible though and it had a relaxed atmosphere too. They even let us keep our travelling bags there (Cardiff was en route to visiting family) and walked out with a lighter case. A quiet and cosy little shop. This for me gives it FOUR SIMONS.
Millets: We went here looking for a platypus water-bottle and ended up tragically losing it. It’s a clean and spacious shop, but there wasn’t really anything remarkable or Christmassy about the place. Still, good prices. TWO SIMONS.
Primark: Was this a shop? Or was this hell? You could only tell it was Christmas by the big SALE signs. It was big, but very crowded. People bustling about everywhere, none of them happy. It was a stressful experience all around. It was cheap, but in honesty that’s not repaying the customers for their inconveniences! What I really didn’t like about this shop was that it seemed based on exploitation. Walking around here felt like we were being herded. It was so busy, I had to wait in the queue while the fiancee picked up another item, emerging from a mist of people then vanishing again. The stressful environment just didn’t allow us to talk. The treatment of the staff wasn’t good either. They had to line up in a row heading tills in the midst of a massive queue. There was no management staff in sight and there were no chairs. The staff couldn’t possibly move, but just to make their work a bit more unpleasant, the management still felt the need to remove these comforts. As William Morris says (and I’m not a communist by the way) work shouldn’t be about working unpleasantly, but having fun. He’d be rolling in his grave in the midst of this hive of consumerism by the way. When my fiancee told me of a rumour that they were exploiting of workers in foreign countries, that was the final nail in the coffin for me. To sum it up, as one passer-by said seeing the instore chaos: “I’m not going in there”. ZERO SIMONS.
LUSH!: Going in here, I was well on my way to forming opinions: this is a girl’s shop etc., but in actual fact it was excellent. Of all the shops I visited, this was one of the ones with the most Christmas spirit. Mince Pies were offered to guests coming in, Everybody inside was in festive costume and, though it was extremely crowded, the staff had time for everyone and wore a smile. They looked like they really enjoyed their work and I found a shop, totally foreign to my natural interests, really interesting. It was beautifully decorated too. You might say it was LUSH! FIVE SIMONS (And none for that pathetic pun! Even worse than s’candle’ous)
JJB Sports: Okay! We only came in here because we were looking for TK Max, but we found a member of staff immediately and they were extremely helpful in their direction. The shop wasn’t overly Christmassy, but then I don’t have too much scope for marking. THREE SIMONS.
Game: Yes, we still hadn’t found TK Max, so this was my reward for staying interested. I love Video Games, though I never play them now I’m at Uni. I did get a bit addicted to Championship Manager and International Cricket Captain last year however (I should mention these were the 2002 and 2000 editions)! Anyway, as usual in this type of shop, Games were the main attraction and there was nothing Christmassy bar the marketing. We didn’t talk to the staff much. In honesty, though I love this shop, it only receives: TWO SIMONS.
TK MAX: This was the moment my fiancee had been walking around the chilly ‘Diff for. This is her favourite shop. It was very big and spacious, but we were disappointed about the range of womens clothing there was on the day (luckily I don’t mark SIMONS on this basis). Still, we bought a lovely pair of shoes and purse. There was a little difficulty in getting a price for the purse, but the staff were smartly dressed and the atmosphere was fairly relaxed. My fiancee was just about to turn her attention to me, when I was saved by the fire alarm and everyone was told to evacuate the building. A popular 90s TV show springs to mind. THREE SIMONS.
Pizza Hut: It was getting to two o’clock and I was starting to get cranky with hunger. So we chose this place out of the lingering memory of the fabulous warm soft cookie-dough desert with wholesomely sweet chocolate sauce and a large light scoop of vanilla ice cream. Just thinking about it makes me drool. Anyway, we got in pretty quickly, as it wasn’t overly busy for Pizza Hut and asked if we could order the Meal for Two, to be told to wait because people were in front of us. We hadn’t usually been told this, but I admired that at least it prioritises those who come in first. However, it was another 15 minutes before we could place our order and after this another forty minutes before we got our starter: Medium Pizza with Mushrooms on one half and Olives on the other. Ravenously, we wolfed that down, before we got our main course almost immediately after, potato wedges and garlic bread. Hold on a minute… It may sound a bit snobby me saying this, but to me, appetisers are meant to fill the gap in which we wait for food, and I was really hungry. After this we ordered our prized desert, once we got someone’s attention. However, there was much confusion over this as well. In the end after much staff squabbling between who we gave our order too we got the desert, half an hour later. It wasn’t just timings which were bad, although the staff who seemed to be working was apologetic, it was just the fact that no one seemed to know who was doing what. There was a total break down in communication and at one point we noticed a verbal conflict in the kitchen. The knife-edge atmosphere made it a very unpleasant place to be. I know Pizza Hut have served better in the past however, I went to a chain in Staines a few times and Paris and the staff were really good. However, here, no-one seemed happy, everyone confused and many of the customers, myself not included, were unsurprisingly giving complaints. I love Pizza Hut, but on the day that deserved a stone wall: ZERO SIMONS.
Unfortunately, by this point, we had spent so long in Pizza Hut that we didn’t have time to do anymore shopping, so we had to go to Haverfordwest instead. One more person to do shopping for now, my fiancee herself! Christmas, alongside Valentines Day, Anniversaries and Birthdays, is one of the most hazardous times for relationships, but luckily, from this shopping experience, I have a few tricks up my sleeve this year. It was a really interesting experience looking at all the shops and thinking about how much of an effort each high-street chain puts on for Christmas. What are the best and worst shops other people have experienced this Winter?
