Today's post is about the words you see on small convenience stores and how they've changed.
I was inspired by this sign I saw outside a shop in Swiss Cottage.
Newsagents • Cigarettes • Ice Cream
You don't see combinations like that any more.
Newspapers aren't the daily draw they used to be, Cigarettes have been leapfrogged by a selection of fragrant vapes and Ice Cream is no longer an occasional treat. If you've only got space to advertise three things your shop sells, you'd no longer choose newspapers, cigarettes and ice cream. If I were trying to date this old sign I'd probably suggest the 1980s, give or take a decade.
The National Lottery makes an appearance underneath, another corner shop staple, and even that's 30 years old this year.
But still not very recent. Mobile Topups are way past their heyday, ditto Phone Cards, and although some punters still buy them they're pretty archaic as the wider public goes. Even Frozen Food is nothing you'd boast about these days given most stores have at least a chiller cabinet. If I were trying to date this sign I'd probably suggest the turn of the century, maybe a couple of years after.
This next shop, which has a suspiciously similar name, is just around the corner.
This time they've repeated the list on the shopfront and the awning, although on the latter Toiletries has been replaced by a repetition of Cold Drinks. Note how there's much more of an emphasis on consumables bought on impulse, something for eating now, and on items you might need to top up your larder or cleaning cupboard. If I were trying to date this sign I'd probably suggest sometime in the last decade (and having checked on Streetview it's actually 2021).
Jumping to Arnos Grove, here's another convenience selection.
Off Licence • Grocery • Newspapers • Oyster • Paypoint
Oyster is an awning staple on many a London shop, or would have been during its heyday, and Paypoint is another minor financial service targeting money-conscious punters. Newspapers are still mentioned even though the shop no longer sells them, indeed I've lost count of the number of times I've gone into a so-called newsagent to discover they're now paper-free. Having checked on Streetview this awning is actually from 2014, and previously said Continental Food • Off Licence • Newspapers • Bus Pass • Pay Zone.
This shop's just round the corner from me and looks somewhat dated.
Confectionery • Tobacconist • Oyster • Convenience Store Fruit & Veg • Lottery • Oyster • PayPoint • Newspapers
Here's the classic Confectionery, a word that's tempted many a sweet tooth inside a corner shop, probably for over a century. These days you'd just write Sweets because it's an easier word and not everyone speaks good English. Tobacconist is another longstanding retail term that's increasingly fallen out of favour. But the list here is full of popular classics repeated on shop frontages across the capital, if not especially current. If I were trying to date this shopfront I'd probably suggest sometime around twenty years ago (and having checked on Streetview it's actually 2010).
Up at Turnpike Lane, this is more typical of many a modern shop.
Off Licence • Groceries • Fruit & Veg • Cash Machine Bulgarian • Romanian • Polish Food • Off Licence • Grocery • Vegetable
Non-English food is always a draw for a particular clientele, here eastern European but could be South Asian, Turkish, whatever. Also if your shop's an Off Licence always plug it prominently because that triggers many a passer-by to drop inside. The fascia looks very new, indeed it's post pandemic, but note the prominent mention of a Cash Machine because many Londoners aren't card wavers and phone swipers, they still rely on hard notes. The awning is older, and if you're niggled by the singular appearance of Vegetable rest assured it's much better than the 2008 version which said Buss Pas.
Finally here's a shop which opened a year ago by the Bow Roundabout.
It's all gone a bit gentrified, unapologetically so, with pride of place now given to organic and vegan offerings. There isn't really a Bakery inside the store but that single word will have attracted many locals seeking a mass-produced croissant for breakfast or a goo-filled pastry snack. Older corner shops would never have mentioned Dairy Products - milk would have been a given - but these days it's all about helping you stock up your fridge between online supermarket deliveries.
The words on small convenience stores have evolved over many decades, and will continue to do so, and I suspect there's a thesis in this somewhere.
