Diary of a Shopkeeper, 15th January
January is the time of year when owners of gift shops and fashion boutiques must think of high summer and midwinter – next winter, that is. Off they must voyage to trade shows and showroom appointments in Glasgow, Birmingham and London.
It’s a kind of fortune telling: will the tourists come this summer? What will they be looking for? Cheap souvenirs or quality craft? How about fashions in clothing and homeware? What will the trends be in six or 12 months? Will the cost of living drive consumers to buy cheaper items to save money, or better quality items that last longer and so are more economical?
As with all crystal-ball gazing, the one sure thing is that such predictions never turn out to be 100% right. If they did, shops wouldn’t have to hold sales to move through their excess stock. The buyers’ aim is not perfection, but to be less wrong rather than more wrong.
The search for the year’s wine isn’t much different. Plans for attendance at my main trade wine fairs have been finalised, with three in London at the start of February, and one more in Edinburgh at the end of the month. The big, structured tastings will be surrounded by less formal meetings with importers, producers and other retailers. Which areas had a good vintage in 2022 or 2021? Which new grapes are emerging as sources of exciting wine? What are the food and drink fashions trending in the big cities that will eventually ripple our way?
It’s all educational and enjoyable, but it comes at a cost, the biggest part of which is the price of a flight to Edinburgh or London. Then accommodation once you get there, plus meals and coffees and buses and taxis, and all the 1,001 ways cities have of squeezing pounds out of you. I sympathise with the old cartoon in Punch magazine where the travelling Scot comes home, wailing, “It’s just a ruinous place, London! Man, I hadna been there abune twa hours when bang went sixpence!” On top of that there’s the exhausting rigmarole of winter travel, and living out of a suitcase, and trying to fit too many appointments into too short a time – despite being away from home longer than you really want to be.
So why do it? Today’s date provides a clear explanation as to why all this expenditure of money and carbon is necessary: on 15th January 1759, the British Museum opened in London, and on 15th January 2001, Wikipedia went online for the first time. These two anniversaries represent two very different ways of acquiring knowledge. Both have positives and negatives. The range of online information on every subject under the sun is astounding. Yet nothing beats the immediacy and impact of being able to examine an object close up, in real life.
Would I rather read a Wikipedia entry about the Rosetta Stone, with thousands of words of history and interpretation, plus photos, drawings and a lengthy bibliography? Or should I stand in front of the Stone itself taking in its smashed edges, its screeds of perfectly carved text, and its indefinable aura of authority and power. Both kinds of learning have their place, just as reading about wine, watching videos about vineyards, and taking part in online tastings can be educational. But nothing is better than standing across a trestle table from the man or woman who made the stuff, listening to their stories as they pour the latest vintage. Then you swirl, sip and spit, share your impressions, ask your questions – and make the notes you will refer to for the next year.
Actually there is one thing better: doing all the above while standing in a winery in Burgundy or Rioja. That hasn’t happened since before Covid. Maybe that’s my next voyage! (Or Lauren’s…)
This diary appeared in The Orcadian on 18th January 2023. A new one appears weekly. I post them in this blog a few days after each newspaper appearance, with added illustrations., and occasional small corrections or additions.