CAN you believe it’s the end of the first week of 2008? At this rate, advertisements will soon start to appear for this year’s Christmas specials.
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MIND you, we have been spared the drama of the Oz city department stores and their annual post-Christmas sales. What a farce! Goods that were $400 on Christmas Eve suddenly become available for $40 on the day after Boxing Day, as shoppers strike out in desperate search of discounts.
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DETERMINED to grab bargains, the solid glass doors of consumer paradises such as Myers in Brisbane are assaulted by young and old alike. Those unlucky souls deputed with the task of door-opening risk being trampled underfoot by the release of the hyped-up flood of shoppers.
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REMARKABLE scenes abound; two matrons struggling over the same bra, each with a vice-like grip, seem likely to continue the contest until the garment falls apart. Meanwhile, the store sound system advises that a new release of sneakers has just been unveiled on Three; lemming-like the panting mob fights its way up the escalators to invade the new bargain scene.
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EVEN David Jones, Elizabeth St, Sydney, that normally hushed preserve of the rich and richer, faces invasion. Staff members heave a well-bred sigh of relief as the carved brass doors waft open on a cloud of Arpege and the high-heeled brigade begins the annual sprint across the plush carpeted acreage of “the most beautiful store in the world”.
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NOT to be outdone, Spy reported from Madang that crowds started forming outside well-known supermarket, the Butchery, long before opening time on New Year’s Eve. What was the attraction, we asked; had pearls been discovered in the store’s iced imported oysters? No, huffed Spy – it was the prospect of fresh hot bread from the Butcher’s famed bakery.
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SO intense was the crush that the combined efforts of two security companies were needed to man the doors; some 30 customers were allowed to enter at a time. Outside, the mainly well-tempered queue snaked around to the side of the Butchery building. We hope that similar success comes the way of all our retail and wholesale friends in ’08. Cheers!
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- Dee Nesenolis