The Demise and the Revival of independent retailers, service and quality.

Tonight I actually sat down for a spot of telly, this is something I rarely do and I’ve been a little inspired, or maybe educated is the right word? Anyhow it got me to thinking! The program that got me here was ABC’s “Turning back time: the high street” and I’ve come in on the tail end but... The show featured a small town in the UK that has lost its high street. You know the look, all those boarded up and disused shops, such a shame! So they turned back time and every week they recreated a high street, complete with shops and shopkeepers, from eras through time. From Victorian times through to the 1970’s.

This episode was the 1960’s! Oh so cute, milk bars and mods and beehives, fabulous! Sadly though the 1960’s saw the demise of specialist retailers, with the advent of mass produced product and self service particularly in the form of the modern convenience store, tens of thousands of people lost their incomes. Particularly bakers, butchers and dressmakers, people who offered personalised service and quality couldn’t compete with cheap prices. Alas, people haven’t changed, in this small town the customers lamented the demise of these services yet they still put their money where their mouths were and bought the cheap mass produced product. Shame! Why do we not value quality and service?

Yet I named this blog with hope – the revival! Many of you don’t know but I also have a full time job, I manage a tea shop! Its a wonderful thriving business selling quality products with fabulous service and a social atmosphere. Yes, that old fashioned business model can work today.  Also in the area where I work, the charming suburb of Claremont (where the average wage is twice the national average) we have a fantastic butcher, not only is the meat amazing, and the pies to die for, but the staff are lovely and they wear those cute retro blue and white striped aprons, I love that! Also we have what might be the best shoe repair store in Australia, oh yes they are that good, Danny’s shoe repair in Claremont. Go there, shoes come back like new, I swear to god!! 

This leads me to praise and shout out to my fellow ladies of the independent australian fashion army, beautiful individual products that fight the mass market. Please visit these sites and wear their products with pride!!

Hot Couture – www.hotcouture.com.au

Suzi Homemaker – www.suzihomemaker.com.au

Moxie Minx - www.moxieminx.com.au

Peta Pledger - www.petapledger.com

Miss Hussy Clothing - www.misshussy.bigcartel.com

RIP Tex, with all my love...

I read somewhere that grief is wanting something you cant have... I just wanted my dog to live forever, is it really that much to ask?

This is a tribute to Tex, who died last Tuesday the 29^th of March at approximately 5:15pm. He was 14yrs old, give or take, and for 5 months he’d suffered from a Squamous Cell Carcinoma. He fought bravely but in the end I couldn’t watch him suffer anymore. He spent his last night in bed with me and I carried him to the vet when he wouldn’t walk anymore. 

I still listen for the sound of his claws tapping on the wooden floor boards, on sunny afternoons I still expect him to be lounging outside and I still leave the door open for him. For 14 years he was always there and always mine to come home to... Now without our hour long walks in the evening I just don’t know what to do with myself.

I miss you terribly Tex...

At the river, swiming with his mates in his last weeks...

When we first moved to Perth, a big house and a great yard and still I dont think he was impressed.

Chasing Trains

Chasing Ducks

Tex art...

In my dirty washing, I think he'd been missing me while I was at work.

Chasing ducks by moonlight.