Across an alley from Greggs, used to be a shop called Peanuts. At Christmas, they made the council's lighting contribution to the festive atmosphere look pathetic. Peanuts had some cheerful Christmas lights twinkling in sequences in their store windows, with a giant snow dome, or snow globe, a large Santa dummy (I think I saw one this dance last year) and a gigantic blow-up group of snowmen. There were plenty of lit-up trees.
In contrast,the council had put on a street display of bland snowflakes which one trader has described to me as the 'horrible prison lights'. They do nothing to lift the mood at the bottom of the High Street, the real effort, as ever reserved for the visiting traders from outside the area (The so-called Farmer's market and the French Markets spring to mind) which the council keep renting space to in our so-called town square. The lights adorning the main part of the High Street merely reminded people of a not too distant past when people, tourists even, would actually come to Walthamstow High Street for the lights and to enjoy shopping in the market.
Peanuts' front windows re-incarnated themselves every few months, sometimes depending on the get rich quick scheme of the season. In October and November the right window was full of the joys of Halloween and sold bonfire night and diwali fireworks.
Peanuts did have another side to it than the chasing of the fast buck. They had a range of very slow moving stock indeed: underpants, kites, vacuuum cleaner bags, automatic dog leads, ornamental tissue box holders, and Bamboo Roman Blinds. The over-stocking with slow moving goods and recent efforts to control the sale of fireworks more rigourously may have taken their toll on Peanuts, which closed down sale. A sign over the entrance has been replaced with Sam 99p will be opening in its place.
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