As I was working near Bradford recently I ventured into what can only be described as a merchandizing maze.
The department store of Boyes dates back to 1881 when William Boyes started a remnants shop near Scarborough.
Today there are forty stores between Yorkshire and Leicestershire and they boast an ever changing range of 30,000 items.
It’s like a corner shop times a hundred. The layout is quite bizarre. Corners with cat food next to umbrellas.
I went in twice and each time I was struck by the ‘why bother hoovering the carpet’ we will be moving out soon, demeanour.
It has an air of ‘not quite sure how long we are staying’ about it. Taped up bits of carpet, to prevent falls no doubt.
I have a feeling as I write this that Alan Bennett must surely have written about this enigma at some time…I can hear his voice now.
You will have to do the accent yourselves…
‘Slow to grasp the fineries of the twenty first century, Boyes has nevertheless retained its status as the Harrods of the north. You can pop in any time and find… anything…if you know where to look…’
But despite its old world charm the thing that me laugh out loud was the humour ( surely it must have been intentional) with which the store merchandizer had gone about their business.
Never before have I seen chocolates and sweets
placed next to toothbrushes!
Pity I didn’t have more time to investigate.
Had they placed indigestion remedies next to steak and kidney pudding?
Or Corn plasters next to stilettos in the shoe department?
The ideas are endless…