I love Pound Stores. Partly because of meanness or thriftiness. 18 packest of pocket tissues! 200 polythene gloves! Bath towels! Incense! Reading glasses?!
I also love - though do not buy - the tat - so called. Hair ornaments, house ornaments, jewellery, toys - what exactly, is the difference between a Poundstore & Selfridges?
The main difference is chaos. Everything is, relatively, jumbled up, confined in a much smaller space. There is no continuity of supply - no point going back next month for another box of those pocket hankies from Slovenia
Are they exploitative?
Exploitative of labour in poorer countries such as China, India & Slovenia?
Exploitative of more pretentious gift shop businesses in the West who go bust & need to sell their bankrupt stock at any price to a wily Pound Store trader?
Exploitative of the youngsters who work the tills?
Exploitative of the UK tax & VAT system? - not many of my pounds get registered on the till
Exploitative of the cash cow possibilities & of money laundering connections with criminal or terrorist organisations?
Exploitative of their cash-strapped customers?
Well no more so, I guess, than the original 6d Woolworth or the M&S market stall in Leeds
'Ordered' middle class society preens itself on its taste in shopping only at Selfridges or Harvey Nicks. They think of themselves as prosperous & of well-developed good taste. But they accept that those clever enough to provide their palaces of temptation will be rich, fashionable leaders of taste, while they are rich only in the level of their personal indebtedness
