Like-for-like sales have fallen at Argos, of which we have two in Walthamstow - down 7.5% nationally in the 18 weeks to January, but not quite so drastically thereafter. Sales fell 1.6% at Argos in the eight weeks ended 28 February.
The DIY store over the road from Argos at the bottom end of our High Street, DIY London, blinked first and has closed. I watched the last of the shopfittings being removed under cover of darkness the other night. This could be a casualty of the recession, but to be honest, the owners never seemed to have to the idea of modern retailing - failing to provide a phone number and making their shop-front look like a 'how not to' guide for home improvement projects.
Further up the High Street, Simple Design has turned into Lux Kitchens, though Discount Decore are still going, despite the down-turn in activity in the housing market. On Forest Road we have a number of useful places, such as Homecare Heating and Plumbing Supplies.
I should say that the slump in the building industry is not total in our area, where prices have always been reasonable compared to the rest of London and demand for housing remains reasonably strong, even if the banks that finance it do not - I can hear the merry sound of hammers from a bunch of builders working on a house a few doors down as I write this, and there is also a skip outside a house a few yards round the corner in the next street. The workers on both projects, however, are from overseas - one crew, I know to be Nepalis because I spoke to one of them about a job they were doing on the house next door to mine a couple of years ago. The others are from China.
The more traditional white working class builder seems to work for the big boys like Clancydocwra these days or not at all - there is a tribe of geezers in their fleeced uniforms and day-glo jackets trying not to make a nuisance of themselves in our local streets at the moment replacing the Victorian drains for Thames Water. A large chunk of the High Street is fenced off while they deal with the pipes and gubbins there. All seems efficient and as it should be in our public spaces, but I am aware that some of their colleagues have been driving their skip trucks like trogs through our residential streets and backing into local trees with abandon, with or without the applause of their banksmen.
justgrrl
Re "workers on both projects, however, are from overseas",
with 'workers from overseas' you mean non British citizes, I suppose (not Commonwealth originating British), and - as lately the question of foreign work force was more or less an issue - I wonder how comes workers from overseas can easily find a job in whatever building(or other) enterprise.
Inland building jobs should be - common tought/common economic logic says - done by inland subjects. They would not come/invade! the working market if no one would offer them jobs (seek then so badly because cheaper, in clear text)
The 'workers from overseas' problem (economic one primarily) is obviously created by enterprises. The whole social, cultural, politic and other implications are in fact created by non existent restrains, regulations for enterprises on the oinland job market. I understand some politicians (Brown?) wanted lately to address that issue?
The blog owner changed this comment on 2009-03-12 13:19:52