Recently, I had a very invigorating conversation with a very good friend of mine. Her name is Dodi, and she studies Fashion Design at UCA here in Epsom. She’s in her final year and planning to launch her own brand of clothing line by the name of Dodi Kazma. We were discussing how tough it gets to shop at Oxford street and its nearby areas during the weekends.
The tiring experience of shopping at London High Streets
I said that it gets so tiring to walk there in such a crowded space and looking for the things that you need. It drains my energy not only physically but also mentally. I feel weak after just an our of walking there and feel the need to sit down for a while. To make matters worse, I told Dodi, that the windows outside the stores have small sills which can be used for sitting for a while, but the stores have spikes installed on them. If we go inside the store there is so much merchandise and so little space to move around. The only place I found where I could be able to sit down and relax would be in the shoe sections of those stores.
The stores feel its more profitable to invest in showcasing their merchandise and offers instead of shoppers’ comfort
To this Dodi, replied that these stores have invested so much in that space, so much money and years of hard work, that they want to make use of all the space available to them. They have worked really hard to achive the feat to open a store there, the most expensive real estate in London. The have a right to make full use of that space in displaying
High street shoppers during a winter snowfall.
I agree to some extent to where Dodi is coming from. She, herself being a Fashion Designer, wants the Designers to be respected and their interests to be safe. But isn’t these customers the ones who had with the purchasing power on their side, put these designers and big companies and their stores on the high street? Why don’t the stores realise that its the people who go through so much of pain to buy their merchandise, no matter if its scorching heat of summers or bone shattering cold wave. If only, these stores realised the value these customers have brought them, and how soon they can take it away from them if there is a new player in the market, if only, they’d invested more for the comfort of their customers, they would probably earn more loyal customers, and they would be more valued in the hearts of their customers.
Dodi, agrees to this by saying that some big stores have set-up cafes inside for the tired shoppers to sit down and relax with a drink. But, why can’t all stores think this way, and not just stores, why doesn’t the authorities invest more in the public places for people’s comfort? Why can’t the stores get involved and request the authorities to take notice of the situation?
How do you think this problem can be addressed?
