We visited an outdoor clothing store yesterday. Walking gear, rucksacks, jackets, boots and so on plus more casual outdoor wear. Cheap but worth a look if cheap is okay.
However…
Because of the coronavirus debacle we hadn’t been there since March and after a brief wander around the place we won’t be rushing back. It hasn’t changed in the slightest but we have.
Pop music which now assaults the ear more than it ever did before, racks of cheap outdoor clothing which now look like racks of cheap outdoor clothing. The cheap and cheerful appeal has gone. We don’t need it. Probably never did but it wasn’t so obvious.
Maybe their customers will return but maybe not. Habits don't fade easily and familiarity can return, but long term effects of the coronavirus mess have yet to assert themselves.
4 comments:
I wonder if the same will happen with pubs? There are a couple of sites I visit where men were bewailing being kept away from their favourite hostelries, but much of it seemed to be empty blokeishness. You have to talk about pubs if you're a proper bloke.
But will they bother flocking back to sit with Fred and moan about the world over a pint? Or will more of them flock there in their thousands, desperate to get away from whoever they have been cooped up with?
The first port of call is Ebay etc., these days!
I did make a visit to B and Q last week, as there was a myriad of dissimilar items we wanted and I also wanted a nice piece of oak to rejuvenate a table. That wasn't available on line...
I'm afraid town centres will suffer terminally from now on - I just can't see old habits returning!
The outdoor clothing stores are an interesting cheap take, mostly, on the specialised version.
When I could still walk properly and indeed for site visits I always wore walking boots and the cheap and cheerful were never up to the job, uncomfortable, not much more than a year of wear especially in the wet, a short sited purchase, so I purchased Scarpa boots, always comfortable from the off and always good service over time, my last pair lasted seven years.
But are there any of these specialist places left other than the likes of Joe Browns in an inaccessible place, Wales!
Same with bike shops, the old specialist builders have been usurped by imported rubbish sold in places like Evans Cycles, just a name now, and they despite having a fillip in sales during the lockdown are again in trouble
Sam - we'll need hindsight to find out, but maybe some will not go back to moan about the world over a pint. Some could go back to see what everyone else thought of it though.
Scrobs - I don't see our old habits returning to the same degree. We'll buy much more online apart from clothes and shoes.
Wiggia - I wear Scarpa boots, I'm on my second pair because the first pair suited me so well. A few years ago we were talking to a chap who owns an outdoor clothing shop and he said that there is a trend for old and respected brands to be bought by larger outfits which keep the brand and lower the quality. All very familiar.
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