Shopping in the Past

Whilst mooching within the vicinity of the TV the other morning my attention was grabbed when the reporter mentioned that he was in a shopping centre in Southampton. Sure enough, there he was, stood in the deserted belly of West Quay, the sprawling retail behemoth that sits right in the heart of Southampton City Centre. 

The reporter linked into a piece about how John Lewis in Southampton was re-organising its layout so that shoppers could roam with ease throughout the store without feeling they are crossing main thoroughfares. It sounds like they’ve created a maze of expensive crockery and ladies underwear but I can sort of understand the logic. 

For example, if I were in the Millinery Department and I spot a jaunty hat I like I could excitedly cross the aisle to reach it but, horror of horrors, I risk being mown down by a Hell’s Grandma speeding along in her souped-up mobility chariot. Thanks to John Lewis in Southampton I can now fulfil my desire for jaunty hat-based retail opportunities without the fear of shopmobility rage, or something like that.

When the report finished and they threw back to the lonely reporter, still standing in an empty shopping centre like the last survivor of a deadly plague that has wiped out humanity, he made the passing comment about how supermarkets put fresh fruit and veg at the front of the stores so as to give a good impression of the delights contained within.

It’s true of course, at least in most cases. The exception to the rule is Asda in Totton, just six miles away from the last man on Earth, and most likely the place where the plague started its deadly journey.

I know this supermarket well, my mum used to work there back in the 1980s and 1990s and even I had a brief spell there replenishing the booze aisles during the summer holidays in 1997. It was just the place you ended up going for, well, everything that you couldn’t get in Woolworths or couldn’t be bothered trekking up to Kwik Save for.

OK, so the fresh fruit and veg in Asda Totton is somewhere near the front of the store, I accept that, but the over-riding thing you see when you venture in is clothes. Rail upon rail of cheap, sorry affordable, clothing. I’m not dissing the clothing, I have many articles courtesy of George at Asda including a nice blue shirt that gets frequent wear.

It made me reflect on how bizarre the Asda of the 1980s would seem to a shopper these days. 

Firstly, like all supermarkets back in the day, you couldn’t just amble in. You would have to venture through a turnstile system and push your trolley underneath some orange flaps whilst a smartly dressed security guard in a cap would eye you up and down with some considerable suspicion. If you were under 16, or looked it, then you had absolutely no chance of gaining entry without being accompanied by a responsible adult. There are some prisons these days with far less security.

Right at the front of the store were records and tapes. I used to spend a great deal of time here perusing the chart hits of the day before settling on something I would later regret purchasing. ‘Spies Like Us’ by Paul McCartney, ‘The Only Way is Up’ by Yazz and the Plastic Population, and ‘John Kettley (is a Weatherman)’ by A Tribe of Toffs, were all bought from here. 

Fresh fruit and veg was further towards the back of the store, roughly in the middle. In those days you couldn’t just sling a few carrots in a bag and head to the till as first you had to get them weighed and stickered by your friendly greengrocer who had a little counter of his own. 

If you wanted a newspaper or a book then you had to wait until you finished your shopping and then head to the ‘Browser Bar’ where a lady called Beryl would sell you The Sun or the Daily Mirror, or even Today, that long forgotten newspaper (in colour). I used to spend much time here whilst my parents were trawling around the aisles, perusing the selection of ‘Fighting Fantasy’ and ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books on offer.

If you were a smoker or had a sweet tooth then you needed to go to yet another counter. This is where the pick and mix lived. Not pick and mix as you know it now; there were no Fizzy Cola Bottles or Fried Eggs recently mauled over by sticky fingered toddlers. There was however Peanut Cracknel, Pina Colada (they were blue and pineapply), Sherbet Lemons and Chocolate Limes, displayed on adult-height shelves illuminated by bright lights, as if they were glittering jewels rather than cheap boiled sweets.

Nowadays we just sling everything in a trolley and if we have to queue more than once we consider it to be an inconvenience. In fact if we have to speak to another human it’s a bit of a pill. Mind you, even I don’t fully understand why I willingly choose to be bellowed at by a malfunctioning self-service till. 

“PLEASE PUT THE ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA” 

“I’m doing it, for the love of God stop shouting at me, everyone’s looking!!!”

Like most things I write here, I don’t have any life changing point to make other than to reflect on how times change and not always for the better. I suppose what I’m saying here is, I miss not being able to buy ZX Spectrum games, I miss the strong tea served in the smoky café, and I miss having my bags of fruit having a little sticky label telling me what I’ve bought. 

Hell, I just miss the Browser Bar.