Subject:
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Re: Busy Bee goodies
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.loc.uk
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Date:
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Thu, 11 May 2000 01:40:04 GMT
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Viewed:
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513 times
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In lugnet.loc.uk, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> Not sure I agree. I think the pricing that retailers have to use because of
> various government policies is the problem
I can't think of any examples in the UK where that's the case. The usual
complaint here seems to be that certain large companies use their near-monopoly
(or perhaps more accurately, oligopoly) power to force prices up beyond
what seems reasonable, or what it is suspected would be the price in a
competitive market, because of the _absence_ of any Government
action to prevent them doing so. CDs and cars are the obvious ones that
keep getting mentioned. And I'm sure DVD's will be up there soon.
(£16 or £17 typical price. And no free market because only one company
(the copyright holder) can do the DVDs of any one film).
> In general small shops charge more than big chains everywhere in the world,
> that's the nature of the beast.
Not generally true I'd say. In the UK the most expensive shop for train Lego
(and quite often for other Lego) has in my experience consistently been
TRU, which for example sells track for as much as 30% higher than
I've seen in local shops (not on special offer). Ditto for music CD's. - most
expensive place to buy them around here seems to be HMV - coincidently
one of the largest retailers of cds in the UK. And I could go on.
WHSmiths for stationary. British Gas for servicing (they wanted
over £100 for the annual safety/CO check on my gas fire and combi-boiler.
So I picked a local self-employed contractor at random from the yellow pages -
he did it for £35).
About the only thing I can
think of over here where the big chains really are
consistently cheaper are supermarkets
and furniture shops/DIY (though for furniture that's arguably because smaller
shops tend to sell better quality furniture).
I'd say a better statement would be that there are some industries
where small shops tend to be more expensive and others where small
shops tend to be cheaper.
Simon
http://www.SimonRobinson.com
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Busy Bee goodies
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| (...) Not sure I agree. I think the pricing that retailers have to use because of various government policies is the problem, not the fact that small shops charge more than the big chains. I've bought from both The Entertainer and Busy Bee and I (...) (25 years ago, 7-May-00, to lugnet.loc.uk)
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