Saturday in Croydon, always a busy time and a couple of days ago proved no exception. By 9.30am, the central car parks were almost full and North End, the main pedestrianised drag providing access to the town’s shopping centres, was rammed. And yet many of the shops were not.

Much of Croydon’s retail action is to be found in the Whitgift Centre, a time-served scheme that has seen numerous facelifts and shifts in tenancies over the years. And the recession is bringing a fair amount of remodelling in its wake. At the heart of the mall there used to be a branch of Woolies. This was a sprawling mass of a store with a floor-plan in the shape of a lazy zigzag. The shape remains, but in place of the erstwhile general (well, sort of) merchandise retailer, there is a brand new H&M.

With its muted grey tiles, contrasting off-white walls and low-key lighting, not to mention its low price, modish stock, this is every inch an example of why H&M continues to gain market share while others suffer. H&M has opted to turn Woolworths’ misfortune to its advantage – moving from a two-floor site further along the mall, to this location, right in the middle of things.

And unlike others, there were queues at the checkouts from early on as the hot weather persuaded shoppers that it was time to buy checked shorts, polo shirts, and suchlike.

And not far away, another Swedish retailer was also making the most of Croydon shoppers’ spending power. Although the Whitgift is predominantly about fashion, Clas Ohlson, which made its UK debut here at the tail-end of last year, is about general merchandise. And it sells many of the articles that Woolworths perhaps should have - anything from electric nostril hair trimmers to heart-shaped packs of Post-it notes. Woolworths may have had these articles, but the difference is that all the Ohlsen merchandise is housed in a clean, clearly signposted environment. This is a store where the emphasis is upon a cool Scandiavian aesthetic, right down to putting cod-Continental accents over English words on the point-of-sale (think “Böok”, for instance).

It would be pointing out the obvious to note that Zara, a linchpin tenant of the neighbouring Centrale mall was also busy – it generally is. But it too was defying the local reluctance to part with the readies, probably by dint of the Euro-store good looks of its interior as well, once again, of its competitively-priced fashion. Meanwhile, in many of Croydon’s home-grown retail acts, the staff were having a chat – to each other – as customers were few and far between. Many UK retailers still have much to learn from these Continental arrivistes.       

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