The little town where I live doesn't have much going for it these days. It was once a thriving Northamptonshire boot and shoe town with leather factories and workshops on every street, which gave employment to the men and women of the town. Gradually these closed and finally even the bigger brands moved away, leaving a void in the employment market. But there was one bright light - our local family owned department store, Peter Crisp, which celebrated 50 years of trading earlier this year. I was privileged to be invited to sign copies of my book at one of their events to mark the occasion. The store is one of those proper shops with real people behind the counter, that know about the stock and are pleased to help you. The big chain stores talk a lot about service but rarely do their staff understand it in my opinion!
Anyway, I passed the store today and saw the windows all covered with plain blinds and the signs read, "CLOSING DOWN SALE STARTS ON WEDNESDAY". It was a really sad sight to see what used to be a vibrant family run business being made a casualty of the credit crunch or banking crisis, or whatever lame excuse is offed for the balls up that the financial "experts" have made of the economy. Apparently it's fine for bankers to pay themselves huge bonus payments again as they say things are getting better... try telling that to the 35 staff of this little store that will be jobless this Christmas.
Have I ever mentioned that I hate accountants!!!!
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