SHOPPING

The shops here are much the same as in any other city with the same 'names' in the High Street. The slogan 'Derby has everything you need' should actually continue 'providing you need everything it has'. For instance, there's no point expecting to find an item of your choice - you have to choose from whatever's in stock at the time. When entering a shop, several members of staff will pounce on you within seconds of walking through the door. They'll ask if they can help, then leave you to browse telling you to call them if you need any advice. After spending half an hour choosing a product you then discover the staff have all disappeared. But then, the product you've chosen probably won't be in stock anyway so it doesn't really matter. Many of the 'big names' in the High Street are actually the same company so there's little point going somewhere else as they're all much the same.

Currys for example, are well known for advertising and even displaying boxes for products they don't stock. And Powerhouse have admitted that some of their items on show are not actually sold in the store - the display models and boxes are just there to fill the shelves.

For specific items you have to use the A52 to Nottingham, A38 Burton, etc. In most shops you'll find only half the checkouts open at any time, though to be fair, Derby is no worse than most other cities in this respect. This is a ploy to force customers to queue for everything and employers encourage this by deliberately employing fewer staff than is required. Customer service is not always high on the list either and in some cases not even on the list. Some of the worst offenders are Dixons, Currys, Comet, Powerhouse, PC World, Dollond & Aitchison and Allied Carpets.

Supermarkets in particular, are forever 'improving' the layout and service they provide which results in a worse system than before in most cases plus an increase in prices to pay for the alterations. For example, extra wide aisles are installed for the convenience of the shopper, then blocked by pallets, boxes and metal bins containing special offers. Retail parks, vast out-of-town shopping complexes, also have the added frustration of possessing only one or two entrances thus ensuring maximum traffic congestion in accordance with the City Council transport policy. As long as customers continue to shop there though, nothing will change because shops are in the business to make money after all and as long as that continues we have to put up with it.

Customers however, are not exactly blame free and anyone who has ever worked in a retail environment will know all too well that far from always being right, some customers can be a total pain - even if they do pay their wages .... more >>>

The arrival of Marks & Spencer Foods at Kingsway has produced a Saturday traffic queue that can reach the Markeaton island. A prime cause of the delay is that inbound cars cannot turn right into Currys. If homebound cars could pause for a few seconds to let them across, the queue would be much shorter. Donald Armstrong

(Note: Having only one entrance/exit to a complex such as this is ridiculous. However, an immediate improvement could be made if inbound traffic continued to the island and then returned and turned left into Currys. But of course, there are no signs advocating this and many drivers would never figure out this solution for themselves.)

Next >>>