Why shop local?
I often ask myself the same question when I need to buy a present - "Haynes Lane Indoor Market or Lakeside shopping centre?" I could so easily get in the car and head off to Lakeside, Bluewater, or The Glades. I know they're warm and full of shiny new things we all want to buy, but I rarely go there if I can help it. The reason why is that you can't buy good second hand products and gifts. The rents in these places are so high that retro and junk shops would not be able to offer goods at a reasonable rate with the prices involved in renting a modern indoor shopping centre unit. Plus, the visitors would say: "What do you mean you only have one lava lamp!"
The Haynes Lane indoor market has always been, in my view, a hidden gem. I have lived here for over 20 years and have watched it grow from stall to stall and punter to punter and it has now reached the point where I actually think: wow! There are some really good second hand dealers in there. Books, records, toys, retro, gadgets, furniture and vintage clothes are now the main attractions of the market. It reminds me of the early days of Camden or Greenwich.
Take Christmas for instance. I want to buy some gifts for friends and family but don't want new stuff. I want to recycle, choose something individual, fun and unusual. This is a great place to start. It doesn't have to be new, does it? I often buy second hand jewellery for the wife and you just won't find that piece anywhere else. It's unique.
The things Crystal Palace does best...
We are spoilt for choice in the Palace when it comes to certain things.
Restaurants: you can't beat CP for a huge range of choice when it come to culinary delights. Everything from Portuguese to Pizza or Mexican to Nepalese, the choice is endless and this means the quality is nearly always high (and if not they shut down pretty quick). I was having a drink with a friend of mine - the owner of Numidie - and I asked him what he thought of new restaurants opening up. Did he see it as competition? His reply was, "No not at all, I love it. The better the restaurants, the better the reputation for all of us. This means CP will be known for it's food, it perpetuates the theme of the Palace." I thought this was a good way of looking at it. It's not about putting others out of business. It's about working as a team and selling Crystal Palace as a brand.
On the other hand when it comes to other areas of retail, the Palace is lacking i.e: electrical goods and I don't mean mountains of wide screen TVs in Sainsbury's, but a decent local electrical shop where you can get personal service and advice. Or maybe a decent butcher, fishmongers or cheese shop and yes - maybe - even a cinema one day.
When someone visits the Palace, I take them around the Triangle, visit the park, Church Road for the junk shops or Jasper Road antiques market, maybe stop off in a pub for some lunch, and now I always recommend the indoor market. I say it's our Little Camden without the tourists. Unfortunately, it's without the punters as well, so we need to try and get locals through the door.
So, this year why not try it and buy something unusual, recycled and a whole lot cheaper than what you will find in the Glades or Lakeside?.
And the first person to buy a pineapple ice bucket wins a lollipop!
So, the moral of this is:
If you can, keep it local.
Subscribe to RSS Feed
