The old Peanuts, which used to delight me with its get rich quick schemes, has gone, to be replaced by Sam 99p Store. Its a case of 'The King is dead, long live the King'.

In the case of the new 'Sam 99p', we have a shop sign which says that the new King is a wannabe: the sign is done up in an imitation of the corporate colours of Tesco, with red lettering, though on a slate background, the words underscored by a broken wavy blue line. Quite why someone would want to imitate the palate of Tesco , I do not know: this is the logo which was critiqued by Steven Bayley in an article entitled 'Badges of Dishonour' as 'offensively ugly... an eloquent expression of a bullying and grasping corporate ethic: cheap (which is not the same as inexpensive) materials, no empathy for context, unsophisticated colourways, refusal to adapt, insensitivity to locality, pushy, and contemptuous of art'. The Sam 99p 'homage' to Tesco also looks to me to be a terribly dated piece of commercial copy-catting.

To check out what they are selling and how it can be different from any of the many other 99p stores in the vicinity, such as Pound Power or Pound Market, you will find Sam 99p next to the ever-inspiring Greggs at the bottom end of the High Street just along from the Cock on the opposite side of the road. The main feature appears to be that the shop is much larger than these other ones I have mentioned, even greater in scale to the 99p Store at the top of the High Street, and having a wide choice of items.