Everything to do with Shops

[wrex]

I will have to ask Oscar about this new store on Mostyn Champneys,with only one guess from Fatandy as to who it maybe standards are dropping.

[Fester]

I have been in the BHS cafe on several occasions.

I have had the shepherds pie,  the excellent fish and chips.... and several coffees.   I thought it was pretty good actually.

[DaveR]

I have been in the BHS cafe on several occasions.

I have had the shepherds pie,  the excellent fish and chips.... and several coffees.   I thought it was pretty good actually.

It would seem you were the lucky one!
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g190724-d3487896-Reviews-BHS_Restaurant-Llandudno_Conwy_County_North_Wales_Wales.html

[OrmeMac]

I worked in British Home Stores (as I still call it) back in the 1980s in Scotland. It's criminal the way the store has been asset-stripped and it no longer really deserves to use the name.

In the Restaurant almost everything was made from scratch - okay we used packet mixes but most of the cakes (Lemon Meringue Pie, Strawberry Flan, Custard Slice, etc) were made daily. Similarly scones were made daily and baked as necessary. On a Saturday we would have around 30 or more people working there and we were queued out the door for most of the day.

The stores also had a popular food hall which also serviced the Restaurant (we 'bought' our bacon and bread from there and all the rolls and cream cakes came from the same supplier). Staff were very well looked after with their own Restaurant which, usefully, helped recycle food that had passed it's sell-by date in the food hall or may have been slightly over-cooked (okay, burned) in the Restaurant.

The rest of the store had its own jewellery and make-up counters, a huge lighting section, LP records (remember them?), gardening/plants, toy section, ornaments, clocks, made-to-measure curtains, luggage and large clothing sections. Some stored even had electronics sections and there were a few joint stores with Sainsburys but I've forgotten what they were called.

Sadly things started to go downhill when BHS merged with Mothercare and Habitat to form Storehouse. It's current owner has no interest in the chain and openly admits he should have sold it years ago. From a must-visit destination store its now dismissed by most people as an afterthought at most which is a great shame.

Anyhow, after that brief reminiscence, back to local matters...

[Michael]

    I thought British Home Stores was still called that. What is its name then?

   I only hope you don't say BHS. Because if its just using the initials like that, it bring to my mind a really dreadful post on Facebook which I read last week --- and I'm sorry I did.

   The Facebook poster was writing about Kentucky Fried Chicken and he claimed that they had to change their name to KFC because, wait for it, there isn't actually any "chicken" passing through their restaurants.

   Now I don't know if this Facebook writer is correct but I imagine he must be basically correct or Colonel Saunders would have him strung up before the highest court before you could say chicken.

   I won't go into the details, but as I've enjoyed years and years of Colonel Saunders food but---but--- I will certainly be thinking about this letter before I go again. I find it too horrible to describe.

[SDQ]

The Facebook poster was writing about Kentucky Fried Chicken and he claimed that they had to change their name to KFC because, wait for it, there isn't actually any "chicken" passing through their restaurants.

Kentucky Fried Chicken decided to change its name to KFC in 1991 for several reasons, none of which had anything to do with governmental regulations about mutant animals:

A move to de-emphasize "chicken" because KFC planned to offer a varied menu that included other types of food. (The Boston Chicken corporation took the same approach for the same reason, changing the name of its retail food outlets to Boston Market.)

A desire to eliminate the word "fried," which had negative connotations to the increasingly health-conscious consumer market.

A trend towards the abbreviation of long commercial titles as demonstrated by other companies' employing shortened forms of their names, such as The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) and Howard Johnson's (HoJo).

How concerned we should be about genetically engineered food products is one thing, but no amount of concern or protest is going to "make KFC start using real chicken again": "real chicken" is what KFC has been using all along.

Read more at http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/kfc.asp#klkqsqZlclhbupd2.99

[Ian]

Now I don't know if this Facebook writer is correct but I imagine he must be basically correct or Colonel Saunders would have him strung up before the highest court before you could say chicken.

Big companies don't often spend time and money pursuing occasional crackpots on the likes of Facebook, Mike.  There are simply too many. They will normally only act if stories are picked up by newspapers or TV.

[FatAndy]

I thought British Home Stores was still called that. What is its name then?

   I only hope you don't say BHS. Because if its just using the initials like that, it bring to my mind a really dreadful post on Facebook which I read last week --- and I'm sorry I did.

   The Facebook poster was writing about Kentucky Fried Chicken and he claimed that they had to change their name to KFC because, wait for it, there isn't actually any "chicken" passing through their restaurants.

Could be the same issue.  I've been in BHS several times and I've never seen any homes passing through the store.  Not even any non-British ones.

[OrmeMac]

    I thought British Home Stores was still called that. What is its name then?

   I only hope you don't say BHS. Because if its just using the initials like that, it bring to my mind a really dreadful post on Facebook which I read last week --- and I'm sorry I did.

I was just meaning that I use the full name rather than the initials which most people use nowadays. Bet there's quite a few people who don't even know what the initials stand for.

Interestingly I was told that as well as registering British Home Stores they also covered all bases and registered Scottish Home Stores, Welsh Home Stores, etc.

On the KFC front I saw a programme about this on TV and the reason for moving to initials was Kentucky (the state) registered it's name and demanded a fee from everyone that used it. So they took the "Kentucky" out of KFC and therefore have no fees to pay!

[mull]

Now," Kentucky Fried Cgulls" would sound and taste better.
Especially in Llandudno.

[BMD]

I went into a shop that I hadn't noticed before, in Colwyn Bay, opposite the new "Bargain Booze". Full of realistic artificial plants, little statues, framed prints, some furniture, etc. Very nicely laid out - it looks as if it's the most upmarket shop in Colwyn Bay. Turns out it's "Rooms & Blooms" - but minus the gourmet coffee & tea they used to sell when they were in the previous premises (mentioned earlier in this thread, when they shut down last year).

Very much worth a look.    It's a pity a decent shop like this couldn't be on Station Road.

[wrex]

Nobody seems to have a clue what is going into Dreams old shop,we need a new detective.

[FatAndy]

I went into a shop that I hadn't noticed before, in Colwyn Bay, opposite the new "Bargain Booze". Full of realistic artificial plants, little statues, framed prints, some furniture, etc. Very nicely laid out - it looks as if it's the most upmarket shop in Colwyn Bay. Turns out it's "Rooms & Blooms" - but minus the gourmet coffee & tea they used to sell when they were in the previous premises (mentioned earlier in this thread, when they shut down last year).

The old Rooms & Blooms shop is now the Green Room Jazz Cafe which apparentely sells excellent gourmet coffee (but no artifical plants).  They also have live jazz on Sundays.  Nice  .

[wrex]

National bakery opening in town soon,not sure of the name,at the moment i can only see Jessops having work done.

[FatAndy]

National bakery opening in town soon,not sure of the name,at the moment i can only see Jessops having work done.

It's Pound Bakery.  I've been in the one Birkenhead a few times and it's very good value for money as you get two pies or pasties for a pound.  They also usually have quite a decent variety of filings, at least compared to Greggs.  My recommendation would be the chip shop chicken curry pie which is tasty but you wouldn't want to spill the filling down your shirt  .