Primark Stampede and Man’s Primal Need to Shop?
Lottie:
April 7th, 2007
Does anything better illustrate the chaos of London life than the recent Primark ruckus?
Initially this seemed like an amusing story: Primark’s gargantuan flag ship Oxford Street store opens amidst false rumours of a ‘£1 per item giveaway’, resulting in over 3,000 shoppers trampling one another to get to those slippery bargains.
In reality this is another perfect example of the desperate consumerism and aggression so inherent to London life.
Primark is a bargain store. The clothes are wonderfully cheap even at full price. Is there any real need to be the first one there in order to save a few fabricated quid?
Shoppers had to queue for over two hours that day to enter the store after the crowds had been controlled.
As I walked by yesterday there were police stationed at every entrance and a long queue of glum shoppers zig-zagging round the corner.
I don’t know, but i had a much better day lazing around Hyde Park in the sunshine and on a more serious note, in a month where a pregnant woman was shot and killed over an assumed ‘parking dispute’, it really is time for London to calm down.
April 19th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
God have mercy! We are living in such a covetous society. Oh These Times!
April 28th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
[...] I’d like to think I’m at least a little clued up about fashion, but I’ve never ever understood the mentality behind camping outside shops at ridiculously hours to be the first to grab hold of new clothing. If it’s a sale and there’s not much to go round, sure, if early buyers will get better deals, that’s fine too. But why queue up forever in the freezing cold just to simply buy it first. As Lottie pointed out a while back about shoppers rioting in a new Primark, it was not as if the customers were actually gaining anything from getting such budget clothing early anyway. And now, the next thing in line is Topshop’s new Kate Moss collection which will hit the streets on 1st May. Topshop is already taking various steps to prevent crowd control problems by allowing shoppers to buy online from 4.30am on the day. I really don’t get the excitement over buying it early. I mean, surely any attempt at being unique in owning the first pieces will be clouded by the fact that only a few days later hundreds of other young women will be seen wearing the same thing. [...]