Post by Sophie on Aug 13, 2009 4:44:52 GMT 10
I appear to be unable to post a new thread in Columns, so Tov/Jer, can you move this across please?
Why is it that shops feel the need to stock winter clothes when the summer isn't even over yet? Today was a fairly warm day - according to the radio weather it was 22*c - yet as I browse the sales, I see thick fur coats sitting side by side with Ugg boots. There was a rack of scarfs, gloves and hats in one shop, but the comedic side to it was that on the rack opposite sat sunglasses and, behind them, bikinis. Someone must have been half asleep when they planned the layout, obviously.
But why do shops do it? It happens every year, and it seems to get earlier and earlier. On the hunt for a pair of shorts to wear on holiday, my search was met with trousers in all shops, with the only shorts I could find in my size a pair of football ones. Looks like I'll be succumbing to what the shops want me to do and melt in jeans if it's hot weather next week.
Shops claim to be 'catering for the consumer'. What consumer actually wants thick coats in the middle of the summer holidays, unless they're a) going on holiday to somewhere cold (a small minority) or b) actually in a summer that's as cold as it is in winter (hasn't happened in this country, and you can't say the shops are trying to 'be prepared')? They could at least wait until autumn when it does start to turn a little bit colder before stocking up on fleecy jumpers and the like.
There's nothing we can really do about it, though. Shops will sell what they want, when they want, and we'll have to put up with seeing bikinis on sale in January and gloves on sale in August. Unless we all revert to internet shopping, we'll have to put up with the weird decisions made by the shops and suffer the reverse season stocking for a little while longer.
Why is it that shops feel the need to stock winter clothes when the summer isn't even over yet? Today was a fairly warm day - according to the radio weather it was 22*c - yet as I browse the sales, I see thick fur coats sitting side by side with Ugg boots. There was a rack of scarfs, gloves and hats in one shop, but the comedic side to it was that on the rack opposite sat sunglasses and, behind them, bikinis. Someone must have been half asleep when they planned the layout, obviously.
But why do shops do it? It happens every year, and it seems to get earlier and earlier. On the hunt for a pair of shorts to wear on holiday, my search was met with trousers in all shops, with the only shorts I could find in my size a pair of football ones. Looks like I'll be succumbing to what the shops want me to do and melt in jeans if it's hot weather next week.
Shops claim to be 'catering for the consumer'. What consumer actually wants thick coats in the middle of the summer holidays, unless they're a) going on holiday to somewhere cold (a small minority) or b) actually in a summer that's as cold as it is in winter (hasn't happened in this country, and you can't say the shops are trying to 'be prepared')? They could at least wait until autumn when it does start to turn a little bit colder before stocking up on fleecy jumpers and the like.
There's nothing we can really do about it, though. Shops will sell what they want, when they want, and we'll have to put up with seeing bikinis on sale in January and gloves on sale in August. Unless we all revert to internet shopping, we'll have to put up with the weird decisions made by the shops and suffer the reverse season stocking for a little while longer.
^^
