Is this the end of High Street retail shopping?

I know that I am biased, in that I have an online umbrella shop Hello Brolly, but I want to spend a moment in contemplation on why online sales are growing at an astonishing rate throughout many retail sectors, and the traditional high street is struggling.

1. Open All Hours

On the internet he accessibility of being able to shop at whatever time you want, and not being restricted by opening hours, makes shopping for Great Auntie Ethel's slippers, at 4am in the morning, so easy, perfect for people who work unsociable hours the ability to shop in their off time has opened their lives.

Also for parents online shopping has been a god send. You know that moment when you need to go shopping for the weekly shop with toddlers in tow, and you spend most of the time replacing items back on to the shelves that your little darlings have decided that you must have, well with supermarket online shopping you can do all the shopping without one pester or major tantrum. You can now put the little ones to bed, then sit there in your leopard print onesie jimjams, or in nothing if that's your thing, and buy what you like without being hassled.

2. Perfect for the less abled.

Disabled people, and a growing number of older infirm web users have benefitted greatly in being able to shop for pretty much anything they need without having to try to negotiate busy shops.

When I went out with my best friend and her mother, who in her later years had to use a wheelchair, I discovered how hard it was to get round a town centre, and it's shops, whilst pushing a wheelchair.

Most shops are not designed for people with difficulties, and everything is aimed at the eyeline of the walking customer, so using the internet allows the same shopping experience to all, with an ability to browse at your own pace.

3. Choice

Wherever you live, small village or big city, you have access to a huge amount of products, that unless we made the whole of Yorkshire into a shop you couldn't possibly get under one roof. This means none of us is now limited to putting up with buying our washing machine from the local retailer at an inflated price, due to it being the only place to buy it in your area (a lesson that Comet, so drastically, never learned).

4. Treated well

I know you may think this is a weird one, but we no longer have to put up with the sulky shop staff, the 17 year old Kylies and Kenzies and their mobile phone fascinations, or have to wait until they've finished their animated discussion about the club they went to last night, and the bloke they copped off with, before we get served. You can now press a couple of buttons, and hey presto you've bought what you need. Bliss!
(Before you revolt, I also have a bricks and mortar retail shop, and therefore know not every staff member is like this, but I, like you probably, have experienced enough of this to add it to the list.)

5. No Queueing

or Parking charges!

Again pure bliss!

So does all this mean the end of physical retail shopping? 

Well no, it just means that traditional shopping will have to up it's game to keep people buying, it is no longer OK to just, in the words whispered to Kevin Costner's character in Field of Dreams, 'Build it and they will come.'
We want more, we want an enjoyable experience!

Did Mary Poppins inspire this beautiful art?

I don't know if Czech artist Michal Trpák is a fan of Mary Poppins, but his sculpture installation Slight Uncertainty definitely brings that film to mind for me.

The installation features beautifully detailed cement figures holding onto colourful umbrellas, floating in the space above the atrium of the EBC office center in Prague.

Gorgeous!

Soggy bottoms & saturated skulls!

8.47am on the way to Darwen

Soggy bottoms & saturated skulls!

Today driving to work in miserable, dark, gloomy, sleeting rain I passed 5 schools and was amazed at the small amount of umbrellas I saw, and therefore how many drenched children there were. There were children as young as 4 walking to school in pretty nasty weather without protection from the elements, and quite a few teenagers that looked soaked to the bone due to their ultra-coolness not allowing them to even wear a coat.

Now I've never made it to being a parent, but I'm a pretty cool Auntie & godparent (I haven't just claimed this title, I have actually been told this, by them), and I know I'm biased, but I just wouldn't let any of them out of the house without a brolly in hand in this kind of weather unless the only trip they would be making was from the front door to the car door. 

Most of the kids I passed were wearing a coat, but these stop at the top of the thighs so all the rain that dribbles down ends up soaking the littles tikes' legs, not a comfortable way to start the day, and I can't imagine, in the season of the mighty cold, getting drenched by cold, driving rain is good for their health.

Not the actual dog I saw,
just showing you what it looked like

What I found even more interesting, in this' kids without brollies' zone, is that I saw a lady taking her Shih Tzu dog for a walk. Not that interesting normally, but I was amazed at the contrast between how we treat our human kin and our furry family. This little dog had more protection from the elements than most of the before mentioned kids, it had a small dog coat on and it's lead doubled as a doggie umbrella.

I have absolutely no problem with these dog brollies (I may even end up selling them if enough people want one) or dogs in coats, but I do have a problem with cold, wet children having to sit in soggy clothes whilst trying to learn. 

Moshi Monsters

There are brollies out there for children of all ages, in many cute and funky styles, so I implore you, please save our future generation from soggy bottoms, and saturated skulls and get them an umbrella,

love

Karen Lee Xx

Hello Brolly have lots of kid's umbrellas, click on these links to have a look.

Children's TV character umbrellas

Children's Luxury umbrellas

Stephen Joseph's Ladybug

Bugzz Pirate

Heart Umbrella the perfect choice for teenagers

5 things to consider when choosing an umbrella.

If you are after an umbrella that won't turn into a broken pile of metal at the first sign of a gust of wind here are a few of my tips.

1. Choose your style

Galleria London Umbrella

Ask yourself, "Do you prefer a long umbrella or a folding style, manual or automatic?"

A long stick umbrella is the traditional umbrella that is seen in many British films being carried around London by men in bowler hats. Nowadays they come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, designs and colours and usually stronger and less likely to break.

They are sometimes known as walkers as they are tapped along the pavements like a cane (though beware, as leaning your body weight on a long stick can damage the umbrella).

Galleria Africa Umbrella

A folding umbrella can be more convenient, especially for women who like to carry an umbrella in their bag, but the downside is that with more joints comes more potential weak points, just like your legs which have very strong bones, but your weak point is the knee which can easily twist.

The convenience of an automatic is a great thing, especially if you are carrying bags, as with only one push of the button the umbrella opens. So why wouldn't you want an automatic? Well, they are usually a bit heavier due to the mechanism needed.

2. Look for quality

A long stick is always going to be stronger than a folding, but if you pick a folding umbrella, choose one with fewer joints in the rib, the more joints, the more places for the umbrella to bend or break, and check what material the ribs are made of.

Aluminum ribs are lightweight, but bend and break easily. Stronger metal ribs may be heavier but will perform better than aluminium. Fibreglass ribs have a lot of flexibility and can adjust to the wind, then snap back into place making them a good choice.

3. Pick a brolly to suit your personality & your colouring

Windproof Heart Umbrella
12 colours available

There are so many patterns, styles colours and shapes out there that you don't have to buy 'the-same-as-everyone-else's' standard black.
If you are a bright and lively person, why not have a bright and lively umbrella to show off your style?
If you are a bit quirky, why not buy a quirky shape, such as a heart, square or pagoda shape?

Pink Gerbera Daisy Umbrella

And don't forget about colours; your umbrella filters the daylight through the colour of your brolly onto your skin. The creamy colours and golds can even out your complexion, blues can suit a mediterranean or darker skin tone, but can make a light skin colour look a bit washed out, some of the most flattering shades are pinks, purple and red, which bestow a warm healthy glow to most skin tones.

4. Curves are good 

The canopy of a less expensive umbrella is usually a flatter shape, and more likely to turn inside out with a sharp gust of wind. A more curved dome shape is likely to keep it's shape, especially in windy conditions, and gives more protection from that sideways driving rain.

5. The Price has to be Right

There is a saying 'You get what you pay for' and with umbrellas this is definitely true. Umbrellas can range from pound shop specials to over £500 for luxury Italian designer styles.

Square Golf Umbrella
Available in 8 colours

To be able to sell those 'pound shop style' umbrellas so cheap, they usually have to skimp on the quality, which is why they usually collapse at the first sign of wind, and end up strewn along pavements.

The £500 designer brolly isn't an option for most, and a lot of the time their actual mechanisms are the same quality as in the mid level umbrellas, so you are mainly paying for the styling or the designer name (or both), but if you do have the option to choose, buying a mid-priced umbrella is probably the best. Anything between £15- £50 is what I would expect to pay for a good quality brolly.

I hope this helps, and if you want to have a look at Hello Brolly's gorgeous umbrellas click here.

Why Meat Loaf has got it so wrong!

I heard on the Radio 2 breakfast show this morning that 35 years ago Meat Loaf released his grand, operatic rock concept album, Bat Out of Hell. In October 1977 it was let loose into a world where there had never been anything like it, and it sold, and is still selling, millions. In tribute Chris Evans was playing various tracks from the album, and I was singing along in my car at full pelt.

He then played Two out of Three Ain't Bad, a brilliant song, that I truly love but hadn't listened to for a while. As I was singing my mind went off at a tangent, thinking about the 2 out of 3 sentiment. I was thinking that many times in my life I have settled for 2 out of 3; like when I've found a top I like that is the right material, fits well, but isn't quite the colour I want, or a pair of jeans in the right colour, perfect style, but not quite long enough (hey I'm a smidge off 6 foot, and believe me they're NEVER long enough!), but I've still bought them anyway. Why???

You know the scenario you have a boyfriend who is cute, has an amazing body, but has the intellectual appeal of a fruit fly, but you put up with him, because, as Meat says, 2 out of 3 ain't bad!!!!!

But, and it's a big BUT, I don't settle for 2 out of 3 when it comes to the umbrellas I stock, they have to live up to all my expectations of Quality, Style and Gorgeousness, so why do I settle in my personal life?

I bet I'm the same as many of you in that I will spend more on others than myself, probably for many reasons, but let's not get into a therapy session here. If this also sounds like you then the words, uttered by the mouths of many a celebrity selling hair products, need to repeated by you (and me)

"Because I'm worth it!"

We are all 'worth it', but often settle for less than we deserve, and this has to stop, NOW!

So next time you see something you want, but hear the Settling Fairy whispering in your ear, give her a quick shove off your shoulder and shout
"2 out of 3 is bad.
I want 3 out of 3!"

Why Hello Brolly is better for you than Starbucks & Amazon!

It's better for your budget to buy from independents than Starbucks & Amazon!

How can this be?

A  four month investigation by news agency Reuters found that Starbucks had paid absolutely no corporation tax in Britain the last three years, but told investors that it was 'profitable'.  

A Starbucks' representative stated "We have paid and will continue to pay our fair share of taxes in full compliance with all UK tax laws, as we always have." John Culver, the president of the Starbucks’ international division, boasted to analysts: ‘We are very pleased with the performance in the UK." 

What?

On the same subject, Amazon, Britain’s biggest online retailer, had sales of £3.3 billion last year, but paid no corporation tax at all!!!

This seems utterly baffling to me, and to many of the independent business owners that I know. We all, in the general population, work hard to create profits or earn wages, of which the British tax system takes a proportion. Whether you think this amount should go up or down is for another discussion, but what is important is that we all have to pay in to the system so that the UK can run vital services such as the NHS, schools or many of the things that we sometimes take for granted, like national security.

Hello Brolly (my business) is a British based business, owned by me, a British woman who pays all her due taxes, who also pays staff who live locally. Therefore everything that I earn and all that I pay out whether in wages, taxes or personal spend goes into the British coffers.

Compare this to Starbucks, a global company that doesn't seem to pay it's 'fair share' into the British tax system, because according to them, they have no profits! They also use the supply chain to move their 'potential profits' out of Britain, as the UK arm has to pay the company's own subsidiaries in Holland and Switzerland (cheaper tax systems) for buying and roasting their coffee beans.

Yes, they do employ staff who through their taxed wages pay into the system, but this is at the cost of the jobs at local independent cafés & coffee shops that are closed down due to the predatory practices of a company who can afford to trade longer at a loss to crush the opposition (how can this be for a company with NO profits?).

So how can I make the claim that independents, like Hello Brolly, are better for your budget than Starbucks? 

Well the more money that is paid into the British tax system, and kept within the country by British based businesses, means the less money the government will have to get from the individual.

This in turn means your personal taxes don't skyrocket, but the more money that is moved out of the country, or legally manoeuvred into a 'no profit' status, then the more you will have to pay out to make up the shortfall.

So please look for a British based alternative when you are thinking of spending your money, it'll benefit you in the long run.

1000 Umbrellas floating like swans

 'Just Sometimes..' by Luke Jerram

For three days De Wereld van de Witte de With Festival in Rotterdam brings international and national modern art to public spaces that is created by some of the young and cutting edge artists from Europe and Rotterdam. 'Just Sometimes..' was temporary artwork that was commissioned by the festival organisers in 2010 from artist Luke Jerram, who grew up in the English town of Stroud.

The installations remit was to create strong imagery and visually connect the streets with the waterways. Around 1000 orange and yellow umbrellas were installed over a 300 metre length of the canal for the public to enjoy during the 3 day festival. From a distance it was hard to tell what they were, but as you got closer you could see the umbrellas floating gracefully on the canal.



During the festival hundreds of people took photos of the artwork on their mobile phones and cameras, and even the driver of the local tram made an impromptu stop, abandoning his passengers, in order to get out his camera and take a quick snap. Another artist team from Norway built special benches that were placed alongside the canal to provide a pleasant view of scene.


The artwork was removed at the end of the festival and all the umbrellas were handed out to people passing by. Since the festival ended the distinctive yellow and orange umbrellas can be spotted around the city on rainy days, acting as a legacy and reminder of the art.