Status Anxiety

6 December 2008

In a recession, head for the mall where you can buy seven Crunchies for £1.49

Don’t get me wrong. I have got nothing against Westfield. I went there on the opening day and stood, mesmerised, in front of the window of La Senza as three models paraded up and down in their underwear. The fast food on offer is particularly good and scarcely a Sunday passes without me dragging my wife and four children down there to get stuck into the burgers at Byron.

But there is something reassuringly British about the window displays in the Oaks. My favourite this week is the one in Savers, another discount store. It consists exclusively of toilet rolls piled on top of each other: ‘6 rolls for the price of 4’, boasts the sign. How could anyone resist? Iceland contains an array of party food accompanied by the slogan: ‘Proud sponsors of I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!’

The other great thing about the Oaks compared to Westfield is that it is much less crowded. This is surprising, given that we are now in the midst of a full-blown recession, but that may be about to change. Tesco’s most recent sales figures reveal that the chain is losing customer share to its downmarket rivals Morrison and Asda. Surely, it won’t be long before these cash-strapped shoppers discover that they can get even better value for money at Netto, Poundstretcher and 99p stores? This time next year, I predict that the Oaks will be doing a roaring trade. Westfield, on the other hand, may not fare so well.

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john landaw

December 5th, 2008 2:02pm Report this comment

I at once hot-footed it to my local Iceland, (once I had discovered its locality,) only to discover that though the price was £1.75, this was for 5 and not the 7 Crunchies Toby Young speaks of. My disappointment was not, however, enough, to prevent my purchasing 2 bags

Toby Young

December 5th, 2008 3:09pm Report this comment

I have to confess, in my Iceland it said on a sticker beneath where the Crunchies were on sale that they were offering seven for £1.75, but they were only selling bags of five for that price. My advice is to head to your nearest Poundstretcher.

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