Lost in the Supermarket
| Wednesday 10 November, 2004 |
I take crap pics at crap football matches once a week, so why not take crap pics during my crap weekly shop? Much like Dulwich Hamlet at Champion Hill, the view from the outside of Nine Elms Sainsbury is significantly better than the shit seen within.
With Battersea Power Station in the background at the SW8 store and South West Trains trundling into Waterloo, internal pictures of probably the least motivated employees in London would look a little less superior compared to the scenes outside. At least the Dulwich players sometimes smile. Still, you have to feel sorry for the poor Sainsbury sods - no Christmas bonus this year whilst their big boss bags 1.5m in share options.
Share and share alike? Tut tut. Get to the back of the check out queue, and preferably the one staffed by the mad rambling woman who offers me cooking advice each week, oblivious to the fact that I'm buying pre-processed food.
 Price is where it's at |
In its place now we have low ceiling corridors, stretching ever further out and all lined with a greater variety of choice. CHOICE - the buzz word in mass market retail. Why buy one brand of bland cheese when you can spend ten minutes being confused?
Supermarket exteriors aspire to originality but you suspect that a lot has to do with local planning permission. The Clapham High Street Sainsbury has the bright idea of hosting a permanent window display of the booze section. Which makes for a nice backdrop for all the Big Issue sellers outside to drum up their trade.
Nine Elms has attempted a clinical space station style. Plenty of white, which even if not the most aesthetically pleasing shop front, at least it does a good job of disguising the pigeon shit.
The corporate world isn't for me (something about how marketing reduces everything into shit) but I admit to being a big logo lover. Sainsbury has one of the best; a crisp, clean bright orange design which comes to life with a splash of deep blue. Not that I'm drawn inside by such shallow persuasion. Price is where it's at for me and Nine Elms is home to one of the BEST Gypo Corners that I have ever had the pleasure of discovering.
Of course if I wanted to combine a weekend of crap football and crap supermarket picture taking then I could always head next door to Sainsbury at Champion Hill. But watching a team throw away three points yet again is scant consolation in exchange for some shitty Nectar points. Cashback at Dulwich - now there's an idea...
(click on thumbs to see large image)
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