London is famed for its shops, department stores and sales, and last Wednesday saw a very long queue outside the Desigual store. The reason was that the Barcelona-based casual clothing brand did a special promotional stunt: they promised 100 customers on Wednesday an outfit of their choice – not reduced but free of charge.
Promotional stunt
All they had to do was be one of the first 100 customers to enter their store on Regent Street at 9am – and be half-naked. Whatever clothes they needed, they could try on and have at no cost whatsoever. As luck would have it, Wednesday started off raining (welcome to the British summer) and 200-300 people queued up, some even as early as 11pm the night before. Therefore, many shoppers were left disappointed, and without clothes!
Desigual
Desigual’s ethos is based on positivity, tolerance, commitment and fun, all of which – and a lot more – were shown on that morning. If those customers who queued lacked a bit of that, then luckily an Australian band called Set Sail did their best to help, and sang for them.
Shoppers in London
Are Londoners crazy or just dedicated shopaholics? Do we know a good bargain when we see one or are we just a bunch of cheapskates? Do people lose their self-respect when it comes to free stuff or is it an inexpensive fun way of shopping? Personally, I hate window-shopping, let alone shopping, and all I kept thinking about this promotional offer was that there’d probably be 200-300 sick people – 100 of them wearing Desigual. So was the free product worth the price of waiting? I’m guessing at least 100 would say ‘yes’.
Shopping Vocabulary:
- Department store
- a large shop divided into departments selling a great many kinds of goods e.g. Harrods
- Sales
- an event at which goods are sold at low prices by shops
- A queue (noun)
- a line of people, especially when waiting for something
- To queue (verb)
- the act of waiting in a line of people
- Promotional stunt
- an event to get public attention or for marketing purposes
- Brand
- a famous name which represents a particular product or company
- Outfit
- a set of clothes, especially a carefully selected one
- Reduced
- something that has decreased, for example the price
- Free of charge / at no cost
- when you do not have to pay
- Try on
- test the look of clothes by wearing them first
- Shopaholics
- people addicted to shopping
- Bargain
- a product at a good, usually cheap, price
- Cheapskate
- a person who doesn’t like to spend money
- Inexpensive
- cheap
- Window-shopping
- to look at products without buying
- Offer
- for sale at a reduced price
