“Normally, it’s crazy! »Irina wonders, an almost empty shopping basket in her hand. We meet the young woman on December 24 in the luxury grocery store Fortnum & Mason, the only store open on Piccadilly Street. The famous address has negotiated an “in-between” on three floors, which allows it to sell a few dishes in the middle of so-called “essential” products, that is to say food. Out this year the consumerist madness of the British. Regent and Piccadilly Street, London’s main shopping streets, traditionally crowded with people at this time, are starved. Even the Boxing Day, the fanfares launch of the sales, an essential institution, will not take place.
Celebrated on December 26, Boxing Day, this feast, which was under the Victorian era the day of rest for the small staff of the aristocracy, turned into a “day of gifts”, the masters offering them “boxes. »Containing presents. A century and a half later, the administrations were closed, the public transport service was reduced to the strict minimum – even zero in the provinces; Saint-Etienne has turned into a commercial high mass in the heart of London. Department stores, like Selfridges, clothing chains like Primark or Topshop, are announcing huge discounts. Some brands are even increasing their opening hours, like Next, which usually starts at 6 a.m., and draws a huge crowd. “Every year, it’s hysteria,” continues Irina, the frustrated serial shoppeuse. People queue in the street for hours waiting for it to open, in the cold, at night. ”
This year, Covid obliges, the big clearance sale has been canceled. Due to the acceleration of the pandemic, almost the entire country has gone into “tier 4”, that is to say in quasi-containment, a few days before Christmas. The depression wins the Britons. Even Fortnum & Mason will be closed on the 26th, assures us Suzanne, responsible for a floor for twenty years, and deplores that it may even be necessary to close another floor here, to keep only what is strictly food.
A short distance away, at Harrods, we meet two very busy employees, facing the storefront. On the hidden windows of the famous store, they position stickers to promote the personal shopping without making an appointment, with a seller on site. The only way to enter this temple of fashion. Resigned, they show us, in the adjacent street, the only possible access, the one that leads to the food court (delicatessen) and at the pharmacy. The only open parties, “which will be closed for Boxing Day”, assures us the employee at Harrods, resigned.
In the deserted streets of this usually teeming neighborhood, three young girls come to pick up their order. clic & collect of a Zara. The gate is half down, the saleswoman wears the mask, holds out packages outside, rinses her hands with hydroalcoholic gel … This is what we will see more daring this year in terms of shopping.
On the fringes of department stores, we go to Portobello Road, where small designer boutiques (often French) are all the rage. Here, we have another vision of Boxing Day. Within chains, like the shoemaker Kurt Geiger, “everything happens online », Assures us the salesman, who agrees to half-open the glass door behind which he is caulked. “The sales started in clic & collect December 24, ”he explains, and the volume“ remains good ”, confinement having spared most of the season. But apart from the chains, for the independents, the culture of Boxing Day remains rather that of “digesting Christmas”. “It’s the relaxed day, where we eat the leftovers of the 25th, the real family celebration day here, and where we take advantage of the gifts that Santa Claus brought”, explains Émilie, Franco-British who holds her hand. daughter, Romane, 6 years old.
Her husband set up the Liberté chérie boutique, a “zero waste” grocery store without any packaging. “It’s a little gloomy,” describes the grocer, stung with euphemism. Its toughest competitor here is Ocado, the equivalent of an online supermarket. “But for Boxing Day, people are going to do the sales behind their computer or their smartphone,” he continues. Amazon will win again. Well done Bezos! This year, Boxing Day, a non-working national holiday, falls on a weekend. So Monday 28 is also a public holiday. The English will not have lost everything either.
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
