There must be certain times of year when some of the children of Walthamstow really hate this shop, associated as it is with returning to school. At 184-186 High Street, Fashion Fair is a specialist in teenage fashion, which if that was all they were, would probably be fine. Unfortunately for the little darlings, persecuted as they already are during the best years of their lives by places like Childrens Empire, Fashion Fare take the pain up a notch and also supply school uniforms and those other items of dread essential for the education of our young people, like aprons, swimwear and PE bags.
Not content with being the scene of many disappointing transitions in our childrens' lives, the shop has the bad manners to declare itself as a 'school shop' for all and sundry to see on a sign overhanging the entrance door into the street, and to rub this in, there is a large mock-up of a section of a ruler with 'back to school' written on it in the right hand window. Enter here with their parents all who are doomed to be ridiculed as seriously uncool for ever more.
Actually, the shop is not that bad, and there are a large number of other items of clothing for children on sale which could pass off as quite fashionable.
If readers want to see the kind of schools supplied by this shop, there is a web directory that lists them, though it's interesting how many of our Walthamstow schools listed on it have not managed to get themselves up on the internet. This can't surely be due to a lack of computer literacy among the staff, can it? Or maybe the money for such activities is not available, given the chaotic state of the arrangements for financing and delivering education locally.
Between Lloyds TSB and High Spirits. There is a one meter square kiosk in the street outside Fashion Fare which sells phone cards.