Alan Monahan writes: It has never occurred to me to enter a shop and ask for a discount. I have concluded that there must be something in my psyche that stops me from doing it. But while I am not prepared to haggle in-store over, say, a lampshade, I’m perfectly happy to try to negotiate
Retail Reflections: Haggling, the high street, and Sigmund Freud Read More »
Alan Monahan writes: Mary Portas. Now there’s a name to conjure with – and one you may not have heard or glimpsed of late. My only slight connection with the retail guru is that we both grew up in the same part of Hertfordshire. I’ve never met or spoken to the woman, but that
Alan Monahan writes: I once worked in the same office as a young woman who thought nothing of ‘buying’ a dress on a Friday and returning it to the store for a refund the following Monday. Challenged by colleagues about this practice – which also extended to having pieces of jewellery on approval – she
Alan Monahan writes: As with my own appearance, the face of Autumn Fair is much changed from the show I first visited more than 20 years ago. But like me, it has managed to keep a spring in its step despite some shrinkage! And while some exhibitors at the NEC were bemoaning the fact that
Alan Monahan writes: I wonder how many of you really believe that politicians care about the welfare of small businesses or think that they just regard them as cash cows. A couple of weeks ago there were murmurings when I cast doubt on the statement by Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium,
Alan Monahan writes: A month ago I mentioned in my column that the British Retail Consortium was calling for a two-year freeze on business rates. Helen Dickinson, its chief executive, has now reopened discussion about the outmoded tax system and the woes of our industry. She doesn’t believe that a successful transformation can be achieved
Retail Reflections: Why small retailers matter Read More »
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