Metropol

WillPS wrote: Sun 02 Dec, 2018 22.47 Is the early 90s logo still embossed in to the wall around the escalator well?

Gone I'm afraid!

Going off topic a bit, Woolies had the old Gold F. W. WOOLWORTHS & Co. Ltd. Logo up until 1994 totally bypassing redesigns of the 70s and 80s

https://wooliesbuildings.wordpress.com/tag/widnes/

rdobbie wrote: Tue 27 Nov, 2018 04.58
WillPS wrote: Mon 26 Nov, 2018 19.57
barcode wrote: Mon 26 Nov, 2018 16.56 Did anyone notice Poundstretchers did buy out part of Poundworld and along with Bargin buys name.
I don't think they bought it, they just started using it. Interestingly it does not appear to have been trademarked until last month, when the administrators registered it. Poundstretcher then submitted their own registration.

The Poundstretcher 'Bargain Buys' shops which I know of are former Poundstretchers.

It all ignores the fact that the problem with Poundstretcher isn't the brand, it's the other crap they fill their shelves with.
Poundstretcher are getting away with murder right now.

A few weeks ago BBC Watchdog revealed they were selling dangerous phone chargers (liable to set your house on fire at any moment) with fake CE certifications.

From my own observations they're also selling food products from Turkey, Bangladesh, Kosovo and Belarus without any ingredients or allergen information written in the English language (a legal requirement). Poundstretcher's casual attitude towards labelling compliance also raises questions about the food safety and hygiene of the products in question.

It's incredible to see a large retailer flouting the law on a national scale. I guess it all boils down to austerity and its effects on council-run Trading Standards departments whose job it is to enforce thousands of laws.

My local Premier corner shop has, for the last 5 years, been selling 4 bottles of Pinot Grigio for £10 (with a handwritten shelf-edger outwith the Premier corporate style), front of house. Clearly it's a combination of fakery and excise duty avoidance. I once bought some out of curiosity and it was perfectly drinkable, but not Pinot Grigio and not 13% (it tasted like watered down French table wine).

If you haven't already watched it the documentary Saving Poundstretcher https://www.channel4.com/programmes/sav ... dstretcher shown earlier in the year gives an interesting insight into how the company operates/operated.

rdrobbie wrote:Poundstretcher are getting away with murder right now.

I've always hated them and been bemused by their success. Every one I've ever been in has the ambience of a dodgy early 90's discount shop - rude staff, no real attempt at merchandising, no fucks given about how shit most of their stores look. Reminds me of places like Jims Cash & Carry and Triple M Fashions in my home town of Redruth when I was a child - but that was 25 years ago and they were one off local businesses, not national chains. The poundstretcher experience has always been a far cry from Poundland/Poundworld/99p stores which look/looked like slick serious retail operations, yet unlike them they're not even pound shops, so I don't know what their excuse is.

However, they will probably continue to get away with murder. The Galleries in Bristol faced the prospect of a huge empty unit next to one of it's entrances after Poundworld closed. Poundstretcher have snapped it up. No one's really going to reign in a company willing to take such units on.

Poundstretcher in Croydon has been refurbished which at least makes it look modern. They still sell a random selection of tat though, so their buyer (featured on the C4 doc) is still stuck in the 80s mindset.

Mastercard Evolves Its Brand Mark by Dropping its Name

Noticed a couple of oddities when in Norwich city centre recently - firstly Primark seem to have taken to knocking down their previous premises and rebuilding it, meaning they've temporarily shifted into the old BHS (I wonder what they'd have done if BHS hadn't collapsed and there wasn't a massive unit going spare?).

Inside is slightly peculiar as a result - the wayfinding signage and permanent in-store branding is all in the current style, but it looks like they've kept all the beige shelving units etc from the old store, creating an odd mix between modern and old-fashioned. It doesn't look bad by any means (obviously they weren't going to splash the cash for something temporary, even if it looks like it'll last a few years) but is perhaps strange to see Primark opening a new store looking so old!

There are also some odd fixtures they've left as-is from the unit's time as a BHS, such as a set of accordion doors along the frontage (which presumably led to the cafe in BHS) which are now in-front of one of the window displays. I also spotted some delightfully retro tiles when peeking through a door into their warehouse area (which was presumably a customer-facing area at some point in the store's history).

[As an aside, despite the administrators gutting it after closing, the (still empty) Ipswich BHS continues to have a huge TV screen in the window, added when they shoved a foodhall in there a few months before going bust. As a result the TV would have been fairly new but for whatever reason they didn't take it!]

At the station, I also saw an M&S with no manned checkouts whatsoever, which I'm not sure I've ever seen before? Certainly in London I've always seen a bank of manned tills alongside the self serve, and even WHSmith who love manning their travel stores with as few staff as possible keep a manned till (even if it's usually unstaffed) - I wonder if that's more to do with the cigarette gantry though?

I also spotted some bank oddities but I reckon there's a special thread for that...

Critique wrote: Wed 23 Jan, 2019 23.37 Noticed a couple of oddities when in Norwich city centre recently

Must have been a quiet day for Norwich, then. I live here and usually spot multiple oddities most days.

Critique wrote: Wed 23 Jan, 2019 23.37 Noticed a couple of oddities when in Norwich city centre recently - firstly Primark seem to have taken to knocking down their previous premises and rebuilding it, meaning they've temporarily shifted into the old BHS (I wonder what they'd have done if BHS hadn't collapsed and there wasn't a massive unit going spare?).

Inside is slightly peculiar as a result - the wayfinding signage and permanent in-store branding is all in the current style, but it looks like they've kept all the beige shelving units etc from the old store, creating an odd mix between modern and old-fashioned. It doesn't look bad by any means (obviously they weren't going to splash the cash for something temporary, even if it looks like it'll last a few years) but is perhaps strange to see Primark opening a new store looking so old!

There are also some odd fixtures they've left as-is from the unit's time as a BHS, such as a set of accordion doors along the frontage (which presumably led to the cafe in BHS) which are now in-front of one of the window displays. I also spotted some delightfully retro tiles when peeking through a door into their warehouse area (which was presumably a customer-facing area at some point in the store's history).

[As an aside, despite the administrators gutting it after closing, the (still empty) Ipswich BHS continues to have a huge TV screen in the window, added when they shoved a foodhall in there a few months before going bust. As a result the TV would have been fairly new but for whatever reason they didn't take it!]

At the station, I also saw an M&S with no manned checkouts whatsoever, which I'm not sure I've ever seen before? Certainly in London I've always seen a bank of manned tills alongside the self serve, and even WHSmith who love manning their travel stores with as few staff as possible keep a manned till (even if it's usually unstaffed) - I wonder if that's more to do with the cigarette gantry though?

I also spotted some bank oddities but I reckon there's a special thread for that...

A similar thing happened in Sheffield in 2008 (11 years ago, crikey!). TK Maxx decamped in to a former United Co-op department store which had traded under the 'Sunwin' name.

TK Maxx's ultra minimal signage didn't half look strange alongside the gold coloured railings and elaborate chandeliers which must have been fitted in the late 80s. There's some photos taken from inside in 2009 here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpopha ... 2026800218

Here is street view from its temporary life as a TK Maxx (note the Sunwin signage which was missed down the side): https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3775536 ... 312!8i6656

Here's street view from 2017 (note the Sunwin sign still on display, 12+ years after the store's closure):
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3775536 ... 312!8i6656

I remember that - it was a very bizarre shopping experience. Like you say (and can see) it was barely touched fit out wise, only a couple of floors were opened so you couldn't get to some of the bits shown in the photos like the service desk/restaurant. I think it closed as Sunwin in 2006 and never re-opened after TK Maxx vacated, it was demolished a few months ago to make way for a new development including a new H&M store.

Metropol

Another High Street Rebrand

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