It occurs to me that I haven’t seen a Christmas shop this year – one of those which would otherwise be empty, taken on a short lease to sell nothing but decorations; the usual wreaths, baubles, lights & artificial trees plus large model Santas, angels & fairies. Green silver & grey have been the tasteful colours de rigueur for some years now – no vulgar red or gold. There are usually at least two or three in town.
Well, there are certainly plenty of empty shops whose landlords would be glad of some extra cashflow, but obviously the customers have decided, or the traders have decided that customers have decided, that they do not need such conspicuous fripperies in hard times.
