No more Multinationals: September 2015

Wednesday 30 September 2015

DON'T LET MULTINATIONALS RUIN YOUR FEET!

I share the passion for shoes with many of my fellow humans, Imelda Marcos, for one! So I thought I would have a look at shoe shops as my next topic.

Most of my shoes were bought in Clark’s¹ but they no longer manufacture their shoes in the UK and they also have shops in the US, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Spain, so they are a MNC and I can’t use them for the duration of this experiment.

Russell and Bromley ^2&3 is a family firm only operating in the UK. So I can buy shoes there if the 35 pairs in my wardrobe wear out suddenly!

Schuh⁴seems to carry very trendy shoes and have very trendy prices to go with them but I can’t shop there as they have four stores in Eire, making them multinational.

Shoezone⁵operates at the cheaper end of the market but it has shops in Eire too.

Just for fun I tried looking up Manolo Blanik⁶, I didn’t realise he is Spanish but he does not have a shop in the UK but I could buy his shoes for as little as £150 in Liberty’s of London or Harvey Nichols if I want to shatter all my anti-multinational principles. Christian Louboutin⁷, the designer whose shoes have red soles, is French so I cannot buy these either. I like nice shoes but have always thought that if I was trying to impress I would take red nail varnish to the soles of my shoes rather than pay his prices. I once took red spray paint and glitter to a pair of shoes so as I could go to a fancy dress party as Dorothy, I didn’t do the soles though, and it made the shoes painful to wear as they were so stiff.

I didn’t realise Kurt Geiger⁸ is a UK company which sells designer shoes. It is also a multinational; it has 170 stores globally, so I won’t be shopping there any time soon.

I have a few pairs of shoes from Office⁹, but Office too is a multinational, they have stores in the US, Eire and Germany.

Ted and Muffy^10&11, is a shoe shop I have never heard of but appears to have changed its name from Duo. It operates internationally on its website but all its physical stores are in the UK. I think that means that by the definition given in the first post it is NOT a multinational.

Ecco¹² is by its very nature a multinational as it was started by Karl Toosbury, in Denmark and is now a global company.

Jones the Bootmaker ¹³, really has been making boots since 1857 but is now owned by the Macintosh Retail Group which has many outlets in France, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Belgium.

Dr Marten’s¹⁴ has recently opened a store on Princes St and as I suspected is a multinational. It makes most of its shoes and boots in Asia and has stores on every continent in the World.

Now for some shops specific to Edinburgh:-

Ooh Ruby Shoes¹⁵ in Brunstfield, only sells women’s shoes. It opened in 2008 and appears to be unique.

Barnets Shoes¹⁶ on the High Street is another shoe shop which doesn’t look as if it is a multinational but it doesn’t say on its website. I will let you know, when I find out for certain!

Just to recap if you are avoiding multinationals stick to Russell and Bromley², Ted and Muffy,^10&11Ooh Ruby Shoes¹⁵ and Barnets Shoes¹⁶if you have a shoecrisis.

I just realised I omitted to mention Shuropody which is a UK only company it provides podiatry services and sells shoes for people with foot problems, they all look really comfy!

A friend also pointed out there is a shoe shop called Charles Clinkard which has three shops in Scotland. In Kirkcaldy, Glasgow and Sterling Mills plus many more in the rest of the UK!

References

Saturday 26 September 2015

MULTINATIONALS GO CHEAP

I was shocked how many chain stores, cheap either in price or quality or both, are multinationals. Only Home Bargains¹ or Poundworld²are UK only. You are better off in the small shops like Ali’s Cave Emporium on Lothian Rd or the new hardware store on Portobello High Street if you are looking for objects in the hardware/home ware categories. Neither of these have a website so I am guessing they are not part of multinationals. (Please tell me if you have different information, I am willing to stand corrected!)

B&M³ was founded in Blackpool but has now taken over a similar shop in Germany called JA Woll and this qualifies them a multinational.

Poundland⁴ has had an overseas supply office in Hong Kong since 1996 and moved into Ireland in 2013.

Poundstretcher’s^5&6 at first glance seems to be UK only but according to Wikipedia a Poundstretcher opened in Dubai in 2012, however given that all the information about it is from 2012 I am not totally sure it still exists. I will get back to you if I find anything more about it.

Moving on to cheap clothing:-

Matlan^7,8&9 has lots of overseas suppliers, as you would guess and in 2009 opened a shop in Amman, Jordan. It also has 6 overseas franchises’. So it is definitely a multinational

H & M¹⁰ has stores worldwide, Russia, Peru and India are just some of those I noticed in its whole page of stores.

Primark¹¹ opened in Eire in the 1960’s under the name Penney’s, which it still uses there, however it has 290 stores over 10 European countries and the United States.

New Look¹² also opened in the 60’s but in the UK and now has 569 shops in UK and 200 across Europe, China and Asia.

I swithered about putting Topshop/Top Man^13/14 in this list as although the quality is not the best the prices are not so cheap, eventually deciding it qualified. It is definitely a multinational as it has shops all over Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

Another store I swithered about was TKMaxx¹⁵ but any shop that reminds me of a jumble sale deserves to be in a post about cheap shops. I am not a fan, as you can tell. It too is a multinational with shops in Ireland, Germany and Poland and its parent company TJX¹⁶ is in the US and Canada also.

I think I will be shopping in Ali’s Cave quite a lot from now on. Apparently they have a store in Musselburgh too but although that is in East Lothian I don’t think it qualifies for the multinational title!

30/10/2015

Just found out Primark is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods.¹⁷

References

http://www.homebargains.co.uk/
http://www.poundworldplus.co.uk/index/about-us_360.htm
http://www.bandmretail.com/about-us/at-a-glance.aspx
http://www.poundland.co.uk/about-us/our-history/
http://www.poundstretcher.co.uk/about-us
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poundstretcher
http://www.matalan.co.uk/corporate/Ethical-Sourcing-Policy
http://www.retail-week.com/stores/first-overseas-matalan-store-opens/5004145.article
http://www.just-style.com/news/matalan-focuses-on-price-as-q1-sales-fall_id111658.aspx
http://www.hm.com/entrance.ahtml?orguri=/
http://www.primark.com/en-us/about-us/about-primark
http://www.newlookgroup.com/who-are-we?page=1002
http://www.topshop.com/?geoip=home
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topshop
http://www.tkmaxx.com/page/about
http://www.tjx.com/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_British_Foods

Friday 11 September 2015

NO MNCS IN YOUR DINNER!

I have just been on holiday in Ireland and I am afraid I found it impossible to avoid multinationals while I was away. I didn’t manage to post either. Sorry!

Ireland is brilliant though, so much culture and history with the added benefit that they all speak English. Fantastic! We ate out every day though as we were in B&B’s so I am going to write this post on where a tourist avoiding multinationals could eat here in Edinburgh.

Although we could probably find restaurants specialising in the food of any country in the world I am just going to mention a few of the major ones and concentrate on the centre of town, to keep the post short(ish).

View from Walter Scott Tearoom

For Scottish restaurants I am going to plump for Romanes and Paterson’s Walter Scott Tea Room¹ on Princes St as it has a great view of the Castle. It is on the third floor but they have an ancient lift which you can use if you ask the staff, they have to come with you it is so old and involves two concertinaed metal doors. The food is also good and not bad price wise. It is part of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill Family which has about 500 shops in the UK but nowhere else. Another is Howie’s² in either Victoria Street in the old town or on Waterloo Place. The only other Howie’s is in Aberdeen so it is Scottish only! Henderson’s³ on Dundas Street is good as it is vegetarian only and it caters well for vegans too.

For Spanish food I would recommend Cafe Andaluz⁴ on George St, their food is good and they are Scottish only. La Tasca⁵ on Charlotte Sq has branches in the USA and Ireland so avoid it!

I’ll do Italian next. Don’t go to Pizza Express¹⁰, it is owned by a Chinese private equity firm! Pizza Hut¹¹ is even worse; it has Huts in 59 countries! Try Croma¹² on Lothian Rd which operates in the UK only or the City Restaurant¹³ on Nicholson Street which is unique. A Taste of Italy¹⁴ on Leith Walk or Vittorio’s¹⁵ on George the Forth Bridge are both good too, one being cheap and cheerful, the other fine dining both from the Vittorio’s Edinburgh Restaurant group.

There is no shortage of Indian Restaurants in Edinburgh. I would recommend Kushis⁶ on Antigua Street at the top of Leith Walk and The Indian Cavalry Club⁷ at Coates Crescent, West End for fine dining. If you are really broke the Mosque Kitchen⁸on Nicholson Street is the place to go, huge portions of basic but tasty curry. Kebab Mahal⁹, a cafe and takeaway on Nicholson Square is also great, half the clientele is Indian! I am fairly sure none of these are multinationals.

The town centre is a bit berefit of French Restaurants. Cafe Rouge¹⁶ is probably the most conspicous but it is a multinational. La Garrique¹⁷ on Jeffery Street, however, gets good reviews and isn’t. Bijou¹⁸ a wee place on Leith Links is great, get a 25 bus from town or get a 22 bus down to Leith Shore and go to Martin Wishart’s¹⁹ for excellent food at huge prices! All three of these are UK only.

We do a good Turkish Restaurant in town, Cafe Truva²⁰ on the High Street even add a Turkish touch to Lentil Soup! Empires²¹ in St Mary’s St is great too; it is a tiny, rug covered and tiled, taste of Turkey in Edinburgh. Both of these are family businesses.

I haven’t been for a Chinese meal in decades as I became allergic to MSG but I notice on the internet that Karen’s Unicorn²², Abercromby Pl, doesn’t use it. I must try it out. There is also Rendezvous,²³ Queensferry St and Lune Town, ²⁴ William St which get good reviews. If you jump on either the 23 or 27 bus you can get to the Loon Fung ²⁵on Warriston St which is where I had my fist Chinese meal in 1972 and it is still a town favourite. All these are family business’s too. As a consequence of the MSG problem I don’t normally have Thai food either but I am assured Thai Orchard²⁶, Johnston Terrace is one of the best in town!

All the big chains like Nando’s²⁷, KFC²⁸, Subway²⁹, MacDonald’s³⁰ and Papajohn’s³¹ are of course mulitinationas but a few you wouldn’t guess at like Harry Ramsden’s³², La Tasca and Cafe Rouge are. Harry Ramsden’s operates in Eire and Cafe Rouge in Dubai as well as the UK!

References