Inside U.K. Consumed by Consumption By RICHARD PAYNE	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
一月は消費に走る月 イギリスでは毎年、1月になるとセールがあちこちの店で開かれます。クリスマスが終わってお金もあまりないのに、目当ての品物を買うために何時間も並ぶ人や、売り場で品物を取り合う人…まるで国全体が熱に浮かされたかのように買い物に熱中します。

Just when we thought every last penny had been spent and any item worth having had long since been wrenched from the shelves, we were hitting the shopping centers and high streets of every town and city in the land, desperately searching for that "must have" bargain. The January sales have been a national institution for decades now and all the signs indicate that more of us than ever are willing to take part in the mad, annual dash.

Here in my home city of Bristol, hundreds of shoppers queued outside stores from 1 o'clock in the morning. One shop planned to open at 5 a.m., four hours earlier than normal, but even brought that forward to 4 a.m. because the customers outside were getting so restless. It wasn't unheard of for the most anxious of would-be buyers to give up their Christmas and camp outside the doors of their chosen target. Complete with sleeping bag, flask of tea and a good book, their efforts made the headlines on the national TV news.

Decent people with respectable jobs lost themselves — sometimes quite literally — in the frenzied dash that developed when sales were declared open. Old ladies could be seen grappling each other for everything from dinner services and curtain material to TVs and cookers. It was more like a rugby scrum than shopping! Of course, the big price reductions proved to be too tempting for some, even though many had overspent on their credit cards already. You could save as much as 80 percent on some items and half-price sales were not uncommon.

It made me wonder, though, how much shops made out of the poor, unsuspecting public in the first place. I mean, if they can afford to offer these big discounts and stay in business, what profits are they showing for the other 11 months of the year?

The shop that opened its doors in Bristol at 4 a.m. expected to clear half a million pounds (¥89 million) in just one day. With branches all over the U.K., it's not hard to see how the retail trade forms one of our biggest industries today. It's all the more annoying to see goods we bought at great expense for our loved ones in time for Christmas suddenly given a much cheaper price as soon as the sales arrive. Such unfair practice leads some people to delay their entire shopping until after the festive season in order to make bigger savings.

There were some businesses ready to take advantage of people's growing greed, however, by not even closing for the holidays. Many supermarkets were opened 24 hours a day and even welcomed shoppers on Christmas Day itself.

Perhaps the bravest shoppers of the lot were to be found in the north of England and Scotland. In places like Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Carlisle in Cumbria and Edinburgh in Scotland, temperatures dipped to minus six degrees Celsius. You might have read and heard about the bad weather we in Britain have been experiencing. Floods, snow and ice have restricted travel, canceled sporting events and, in some severe cases, forced families out of their homes.

But nothing, not even the weather, stops the determined shopper if there's a bargain to be had. Now, I don't know about you, but the idea of spending hours on a dark morning, shivering in the cold just to save some money on a jumper, isn't my idea of fun. But for some, that's just what it is.

I asked one man near the front of one queue what the attraction was and he cheerfully replied: "It's good fun in the queue, we keep each other's spirits up in the cold. I'm surprised to find so many people here, but there's a good atmosphere. It might seem mad to go shopping in the early hours but I've been after a jacket for months and I promised myself I'd get one in the sales."

However, not all stores fared as well in 2000. Britain's best-known department store, Harrods, has not been doing its traditionally brisk business from one famous family — the Royals. Traditionally, the exclusive Harrods displayed the prestigious crests of the Queen, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles and the Queen Mother. Recently, controversial owner Mohamed Fayed had them unceremoniously removed. This move ended a 62-year link with the Royals with whom Fayed has fallen out over the death of his son, Dodi, and Princess Diana in 1997.

For better or worse, 2000, was, without doubt, an interesting year for Britain's retailers and consumers.

Shukan ST: Jan. 19, 2001

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