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So many shops closing, so much online shopping

(172 Posts)
nanna8 Wed 12-Feb-25 09:42:10

I don’t know what it is like where you live but our lovely local shopping mall is not so lovely anymore. Nearly all the clothes shops have gone to be replaced with things like nail bars, dentists, hearing aid centres, computer game shops . There are still food shops of course and still big variety stores like Kmart but the little individual stores have closed. More and more shop for very cheap clothes online. I think it’s a shame.

Oreo Fri 14-Feb-25 11:58:03

Isn’t haberdashery a great word? I don’t suppose young people have a clue what it is😁

Allira Fri 14-Feb-25 12:14:46

Oreo

Isn’t haberdashery a great word? I don’t suppose young people have a clue what it is😁

Some schoolchildren will as they go to Haberdashers' Schools

NotSpaghetti Fri 14-Feb-25 12:23:59

Ha ha. Yes. A great word. Nicer than
Ironmongery and Drapery.

Confectionary survives I think...

petra Fri 14-Feb-25 12:33:31

Allira

Oreo

Isn’t haberdashery a great word? I don’t suppose young people have a clue what it is😁

Some schoolchildren will as they go to Haberdashers' Schools

As my aunt did 😊

RosieandherMaw Fri 14-Feb-25 13:54:28

NotSpaghetti

Ha ha. Yes. A great word. Nicer than
Ironmongery and Drapery.

Confectionary survives I think...

Confectionery certainly does.

Aveline Fri 14-Feb-25 13:57:07

Hosiery is another word that I doubt youngsters would know.
When I was shopping for new clothes and shoes this week (an extremely rare occurrence) I was so impressed by the friendly helpful service of the lady in one clothes shop and the young girl in a shoe shop. It made the experience very pleasant. I had always enjoyed working with the customers when I worked in a large shop years ago. There's something important about human interaction.

NotSpaghetti Fri 14-Feb-25 14:01:56

Yes! Hosiery - available in mum's habberdashers and dad's shop too! grin

Norah Fri 14-Feb-25 14:03:27

RosieandherMaw

Let’s face it, life is constantly changing.
If GN had existed in the 60’s and 70’s there would have been endless threads on the rise of supermarkets, no more Mr Bun the Baker or Mr Green the Grocer, no more blue sugar paper-wrapped dry goods. Then Green Shield Stamps came and went.
No more genteel ladies’ outfitters or milliners and the Four Candles sketch would go over most Gen Z heads!
Hardening of the attitudes is a pernicious disease of the elderly - we should guard against it!

Of course RosieandherMaw is correct.

How would we be communicating on GN without internet? How did my granny survive without a refrigerator and freezer? Life changes.

ViceVersa Fri 14-Feb-25 14:10:49

Hardening of the attitudes - I love that turn of phrase! Life certainly does change - and we need to change and adapt along with it.

Dottydots Fri 14-Feb-25 14:42:43

If I told my friend I was going to harden my attitudes, he would think I was going to join a gym.

Boz Fri 14-Feb-25 15:11:35

Aveline

Hosiery is another word that I doubt youngsters would know.
When I was shopping for new clothes and shoes this week (an extremely rare occurrence) I was so impressed by the friendly helpful service of the lady in one clothes shop and the young girl in a shoe shop. It made the experience very pleasant. I had always enjoyed working with the customers when I worked in a large shop years ago. There's something important about human interaction.

It depends on the individual. My daughter loves to do local shopping and be on friendly terns with assistants, but then she lives in Chorlton, Manchester with its buzzy vibe.
I live in the sticks and need internet shopping; I also am past being 'sold' stuff by an assistant - too distracting as I am an old, seasoned shopper who knows the game.
I am amused by human interaction though. I just love those local shops for local people where you are eyed a bit warily!

Calendargirl Fri 14-Feb-25 19:46:02

Hosiery is another word that I doubt youngsters would know

They probably don’t know what a gusset is either.

(Nothing to do with the shops mentioned, but I felt there was a similarity).

Rula Fri 14-Feb-25 19:52:55

Totally off topic here but last night on The Apprentice one of the contestants didn't know what rhubarb was.

NotSpaghetti Fri 14-Feb-25 20:08:06

Norah for many years we had neither fridge nor freezer. It wasn't till the 1990s we had one.
We always had a pantry which was fine. We pickled and bottled produce, bought dry foods (lentils, chick peas, rice, sultanas etc) in bulk - it wasn't really difficult because we were a big enough family that nothing much was ever given time to go off!

watermeadow Fri 14-Feb-25 20:28:20

I’m amazed by pictures of American fridges, the size of a wardrobe. They seem to keep all food and drink in there. I only put perishable items in my fridge - dairy and salad and meat for the cats and dog. Not fruit or vegetables or bread.
I have a pantry for everything else.

RosieandherMaw Fri 14-Feb-25 20:52:36

Not every house has a pantry’!
It’s like “some people park on the street, we always put our car (s) in our 5 car garage”
Smug?

Allira Fri 14-Feb-25 20:59:08

I'd love a pantry!

In the meantime I'll have to make do with my large fridge/freezer.
Smug, moi? wink

Norah Fri 14-Feb-25 21:21:02

NotSpaghetti

Norah for many years we had neither fridge nor freezer. It wasn't till the 1990s we had one.
We always had a pantry which was fine. We pickled and bottled produce, bought dry foods (lentils, chick peas, rice, sultanas etc) in bulk - it wasn't really difficult because we were a big enough family that nothing much was ever given time to go off!

There was a recent thread questioning American style fridge freezers, we've a large Bosch. I suppose I was thinking to that thread. A pantry is lovely.

NotSpaghetti Fri 14-Feb-25 22:00:34

If I had ever been lucky enough to build my own house I would like to have a pantry again, Norah

M0nica Fri 14-Feb-25 22:10:26

RosieandherMaw

Not every house has a pantry’!
It’s like “some people park on the street, we always put our car (s) in our 5 car garage”
Smug?

If you live in an old house, even a very old one, you may well have a pantry. In the 19th century almost every little terrace house had one.

My grandmother lived in a small stock 1930s semi. The area under the stairs was divided into 3 cupboards. the tall thin one by the kitchen door was used as, and called, 'the pantry'.

DD lives in an original Garden City ex council house. It was built with a pantry. In her case, the space was later incorporated into a kitchen extension. She is now moving to a modern house and has already decided that she will use a cupboard in the hall near the kitchen as a pantry. Nothing smug ot boastful about having a pantry.

Come to that, plenty of quite modest homes in rural areas have lots of off road parking. We had a Victorian semi on a corner plot in a town with a road running down the side, We had a double garage and off road parking for more cars, the identical other half to our semi had no off road parking at all because they had no side access.

RosieandherMaw Fri 14-Feb-25 23:27:20

Ou fail to get my point M0nica.

RosieandherMaw Fri 14-Feb-25 23:27:46

“You” sorry!

NotSpaghetti Fri 14-Feb-25 23:58:10

What did you mean then RosieandherMaw?

It's not just M0nica who failed to get your point...

...undoubtedly because I've had a pantry

V3ra Sat 15-Feb-25 00:08:56

Mum and Dad bought their first fridge in 1959. I was nearly 2y old, she was expecting my brother and fed up having to shop every day.

As a child in the 60s I remember my Granny having a tall, pale blue, round topped, gas-powered fridge that lived in the dining room. We children thought it was amazing!

My Grandma had a pantry off the hall as M0nica describes. It had an air brick to the outside to keep it cold.
I can't remember her having a fridge, though presumably she did in later years.

RosieandherMaw Sat 15-Feb-25 08:25:15

Just that it’s easy to say “I have a pantry” or “I have a cellar “ (I used to have one and it was invaluable) when modern houses
a) are not built with one because of demands of space
b) have more appliances than our mothers/grandmothers had
c) are generally much warmer than a generation ago
d) may now have , if we are lucky, utility rooms instead but that may house a boiler and be too warm for fresh food storage.
Just as we no longer have meat safes, keep our milk in a bowl of cold water or our butter on a marble slab - kitchens have , for the most part, changed except for those living in period houses with kitchens, sculleries, larders and pantries behind that green baize door.