1970s redux, or sort of

[shapinglight]

What with the election and grimness all around, I'm getting distinct 1970s vibes from everything at the moment. Before we know it, we'll be wearing brown maxi-skirts, there'll be power cuts every five minutes and no daytime telly (which, let's face it, would be an improvement).

One thing has changed, though, after a fashion...



In the 1970s, every other shop on the UK high street was a shoe shop (so much so, that it even gets mentioned in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, remember the Foot Warriors?). There was Clarks, Saxone, Barratt, Ravel, Dolcis, some other chain I can't remember the name of, and - holy-of-holies - Russell and Bromley. The shoes they sold were uniformly hideous, I remember, and they gave you blisters (see Hitchhiker again).

All those shoe shops are gone now except for Clarks and Russell and Bromley, but their place on the high street has been taken by hairdressers. Wherever you look, hairdressers, more hairdressers and yet more hairdressers. Today, on the walk back from work, I lost count of how many I passed. At one point, there were two 'old-fashioned men's barbers' shops' right next to each other.

You can't move for hairdressers. What is it with people and hair?

though of course my icon is an object lesson in what happens if you leave well alone.

Comments

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

I'm very scared of Clarks closing and leaving me shoeless. I wouldn't say I love them, but I am loyal by default. I can't wear all the fashion shop shoes at all; to the point of not being able to walk. (Not least because they seem to have abolished half sizes.) In this, I'm fashion pond-scum.

I've never understood the economics of hairdressing though. I have been in villages which lost their post office years ago and have a twice weekly bus but still maintain a hairdresser. Sometimes two. How is this possible?

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

Timpsons? Didn't they sell shoes once?

I hate hairdressers and their invasion into your personal space.

[willowgreen.livejournal.com]

Around here it's nail salons. Which reminds me that I'm overdue for a pedicure!

[gillo]

In my area the mobile phone shops seem to outnumber even the hairdressers. It is not uncommon to find

two

Orange shops within a hundred yards or so, for example...

[gillo]

Little old ladies have a wash and set every week and a blue rinse once a fortnight?

[ex_peasant441]

The shoe shops! I had forgotten that. Yes, they were every other shop back then.

These days it is cafes, not hair dressers round us. There are something like 37 places you can buy coffee in the town.

Probably a good thing cos hairdressers freak me out. The smell is enough to make me run a mile.

[yourlibrarian]

There was no daytime television in the 1970s??

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

We have a ridiculous number of hairdressers and jewellers. Maybe everyone is selling their gold to pay for their haircuts??

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

In my home town, where I shop more than I do in Douglas - there are more shops selling footery things now than anything sensible. Those and empty shops...

[kidcyclone.livejournal.com]

What did Spike do all day in the '70's?? Listen to punk music and peroxide his hair, I suppose.

[spikesdeb.livejournal.com]

Perhaps they survived with the management advisors et al? (Hitchhikers' Guide ref again!). I love how in the series the hairdressers snip at everyone's hair and they're all sitting there surrounded by leaves representing useless currency. No wait - you're wrong! We're not back in the '70s, we're in Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy!!! 42!!!!

[shapinglight]

Timpsons? Didn't they sell shoes once?

Yes, I forgot them! And since one sprig of the family is now a Tory MP, there's obviously a conspiracy of some sort going on. Wonder if the Timpsons have put some money into hairdressers now?

I hate hairdressers and their invasion into your personal space.

Me too. I haven't let one near me in years (much to my girls' irritation).

[shapinglight]

Those are only just catching on over here. I think we have two now in the city where I live. It'll probably be the Next Big Thing.

[shapinglight]

It is not uncommon to find two Orange shops within a hundred yards or so, for example...

There seems to be a Hitchhiker theme here. Shades of the Golgafrincham 'B' Ark.

[shapinglight]

Yes, they were every other shop back then.

There's still one chain (long since gone) that I can't remember the name of. I think it began with M.

There are something like 37 places you can buy coffee in the town.

We have a lot of those too, but then this is a touristy place so you have to expect it. I don't really notice them. The hairdressers, however...

[shapinglight]

:) Not over here. Unless you count the test card.

[shapinglight]

Maybe everyone is selling their gold to pay for their haircuts?

Makes sense in a nonsensical kind of way.

[shapinglight]

Ah. So that's where the shoe shops ended up. I've often wondered.

[shapinglight]

Not until at least 1975. Before that, he was a Bowie fan (Ziggy Stardust days only).

[shapinglight]

Heh! As I said to gillo, there does seem to be a Hitchhiker-y feel to this progression.

[shapinglight]

Maybe they're secret gambling dens?

[yourlibrarian]

Wow, that's just astonishing to imagine. We used to have station signoffs in the wee hours of the morning (I think it was only in the 80s that they started broadcasting 24 hrs a day) but we had multiple channels running programming from about 5 AM to 2 AM.

[ex_peasant441]

this is a touristy place so you have to expect it

I guess so, I hadn't thought of that. I wonder what our explanation is? We get some tourists, but not that many. And I guess we just all have really bad hair compared to you.

[shapinglight]

I think there might have been daytime TV at weekends - sport, old movies. But certainly not during the week. And there were only 3 TV channels until the early 80s anyway.

[shapinglight]

Plus, you're all very jittery.

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

Now thats... quite odd... X-D

[shapinglight]

About the hairdressers? I thought so.

[mistletoe54.livejournal.com]

Was the one beginning with M Mansfields? Name like that anyway. Here we have two main streets. There are 4 card shops, no newsagents, 5 hairdressers, 3 barbers, 3 fish and chip shops; no sweet shop, 3 shoe shops, 5 bakers and 4 coffee shops. No actual shops though.

[shapinglight]

Was the one beginning with M Mansfields?

Yes, yes, yes! Thank you!