Useful or useless?

 I’ve decided that shops can be divided into two categories: Useful Shops and Useless Shops. The event that has made this distinction clear to me is the switch in use of premises about ten minutes walk from where I live.  For years this shop was a hardware store. As well as the vast assortment of nails, knobs, screws, and hammers, the stock had extended over the years to include practical kitchen supplies. Nothing fancy with a chef’s name on it, but every size of plain mixing bowl you can imagine; cake tins big enough to make a match tea for several rugby teams, or small enough for a fairy’s birthday cake; every size and shape of wooden spoon.

 You could also buy unknown branded household products that would give senior shoppers a bit of a golden moment, just to see that particular packaging again. I loved that shop. Once my dad had taken in four torches that his then very young daughter had systematically found, played with and broken. He put them on the counter and raised an eyebrow. “Give me half an hour,” said the proprietor. One cup of coffee later dad had four working torches and change from $20.

 Earlier this year the premises – lovely old floorboards, walls of drawers, and rafters intact – were sold and now it’s a shop of great fabulousness, selling…well…crap really. When I say “crap” I’m talking about jumpers, Marseilles soap, greetings cards and scented candles, mixed in with vintage homeware “finds”, and scuffed pre-loved “objects”. It’s the sort of place that will feature in all the interiors magazines and probably increase the value of property within a five kilometre radius. It just shouts “up-and-coming-area”. Part of me would like to see it gone.

 As pretty as it is, I would much rather have a shop where I could choose between weights of picture wire and buy that squirty oil to maintain the garden equipment. The hardware shop was blissfully Useful. This lovely new one is utterly Useless. Of course, as the hardware was going anyway – the owner was retiring – I am truly, grateful it’s been replaced by a business that has kept the vintage interior intact, rather than a Starbucks, but it has got me thinking about the ever-burgeoning culture of these useless shops.

 This one is many levels up from the gift-fair boutiques that sell the same “lovely” (useless) mass-produced things the world over. It has original style and personality, but really it’s still just stuff. It’s shopping as an activity in itself, not a means to an end; to fill an emotional void; rather than a practical one. And I’m less and less in love with the concept.

 Shops of all kinds can be Useful or Useless. I would put Prada in the Useful category, for example, because – if you can stump up the investment – you will always find a pair of shoes of lasting glamour there, for a wedding or a new job. Equally, there are shops where I know I will always find the Perfect Dress for a big occasion and others you can rely on for the key basics that are the foundation of any wardrobe. Where you know you can get a good pair of socks. These valued stores range from top-end department stores to value chains, specialists, and even vintage boutiques. In any of them, it’s not about the price or prestige of the goods, it’s the attitude of the shop. The shops I love and appreciate now aren’t the ones aiming to seduce the customer with artful novelty, but to supply a need. To be Useful.