Standard deviation

In Camden, plans are afoot to tidy up street trading.  Although the Street Trading Strategy devotes only one short page to “miscellaneous sites” (the kiosks that are separate from markets), it is exacting in its criticism.  The Strategy states “there are some sites where kiosks have become tired, unattractive and not in keeping with the area that they are in. They have advertising and sponsorship that doesn’t have full permission of the Council and the type of commodities which the trader sells has increased without the full knowledge of the Council. There have also been examples of traders over spilling the boundaries of their area and adding to the feeling of street clutter.”  These concerns were echoed in a number of interviews with representatives from the Camden Council.

(In contrast to these perceptions, I hope my photos generally highlight the order of these places despite their ad hocness.)

One solution put forward to address these issues is the standardisation of kiosks.  Currently, Camden owns the land on which the kiosks sit and the traders own their own structures.  Standardisation would see Camden purchasing new kiosks for all 50 or so miscellaneous traders and owning both the kiosks and the land.

As far as the Council is concerned, this would have three main benefits:  it would create visual and material coherency across the borough; it would allow the Council to control signage and advertising on the kiosks (which could generate some income in a division that currently operates at a loss); and it would clean up the “messiness” they associate with these sites.  When asked how these three points are ranked, the latter was deemed most pressing.  As such, the materiality of the kiosks is of greatest concern.  And while there are ways to control the goods sold through licensing and the sprawl of kiosks through a demerit point system, the Council currently has no way to manage the perceived “tattiness” of these businesses.

Standardisation has been on the agenda for some time.  In 2011 a design intensive – and controversial – kiosk was proposed with the help of Make Architects (see rendering below).  Ultimately the project was shelved, not only because of the polarising design, but also because the Council recognised that management problems were paramount.

For some time, the Council has allowed miscellaneous sites to trade with limited enforcement or interference – in part because street trading in markets is more demanding of the Council’s energies.  This has been of great benefit to miscellaneous traders who have long been able to make decisions which best suit their business.  Despite this permissive history, the belt seems to be tightening.

A standardised kiosk is now back on the agenda, with the kiosk below presented as a possible design.  Traders cite a number of issues with this model, including: the lack of canopy, which will have negative implications in inclement weather; the cramped quarters inside, which would challenge many traders with specialised equipment and those needing storage; and the limited space for display inside and out, which is especially an issue in the sale of larger items, fruit, and flowers.

With such a diversity of street trading, it will be challenging to find a “one size fits all” solution.  Currently kiosks are purpose built in a vernacular fashion to suit both the trader and the goods they display.  They have developed over time through minute tweaks and modifications, trial and error.  After such a long period of self-management and self-fashioning, this proposed shift in aesthetic and material control is sure to cause a stir. 

Photo finish

On the 31st of October, the kiosk where I worked last summer closed its doors.  Although it could have been a sober day, the closure signals a great relief for the managers who have other projects on the go – projects that tend to generate more income.  

The challenges of convenience retailing cannot be overstated.  In a neighbourhood saturated with Tescos and Sainsbury’s, it is hard to stay afloat.  Not only do chains enjoy huge volumes of loyal shoppers, but they also have much larger profit margins than smaller shops.  For example, a bottle of water may cost Tesco 20p and is sold for 53p.  Instead of purchasing the water directly from the supplier – like Tesco – smaller retailers buy the same bottle at a cash-and-carry for an inflated price.  At my kiosk, the same bottle is purchased for 30p and sold at 52p.  Although you will find this bottle sold for £1 or even more than £1.50 (at both independents and chains) my kiosk held fast to its commitment to compete with Tesco on price.  (Did this seal their fate?)  This example may be slightly deceptive, as the mark-up on water is relatively high, compared to something like cigarettes, for example, which are marked up only 6%.  In any case, any kiosk relies on volumes, something that this one did not enjoy. 

Low volumes and margins mean empty registers and limited capacity to purchase new stock.  The challenge of filling the shelves was a persistent ordeal over the months I spent at the shop.  Without an abundance of product, attractive displays are difficult to create.  In addition, if customers aren’t sure to find their Mayfair Superkings or Extra Cool Breeze every time, they will soon find other more dependable retailers for their everyday purchases.

Shelves stayed empty due in part to challenges of buying stock and also as a result of product expiry.  Enjoying attractive offers at cash-and-carry shops meant that expiration dates often arrived before products were purchased.  Our in-kiosk offers, and strategic positioning, couldn't always clear them away.  Restocking the empty shelves was often funded through the managers' other jobs.  In fact, these other jobs tended to support running the kiosk.  To add to the challenges, with margins so low, the managers were never able to pay themselves, and working at the kiosk meant not working at their other paying jobs.  

Under the flourescent lights, we packed up the stock in Tesco carrier bags and large black bin liners – our fingers black with the dust that collected over the summer.  The shop took a surprisingly short time to pack and was collapsed into a pile of plastic bags within a couple hours. 

It was strange to displace items that had amassed so many stories, and so much familiarity, over the summer: the Mars bars that melted in the crawl space during the heat wave; the assorted sizes of Doublemint gum – bought by accident – which always posed a challenge for pricing and display; the Chew-its that required extra dusting in the folds at their square ends; the boxes of matches that didn't quite fit in the TicTac containers used for their display... 

With any luck, the managers will sell some stock to other shops.  The rest will likely be consumed at home or sent to family in Bangladesh.  I also took a number of things as well at a deeply discounted rate.

Brandscape Architects

After a trip, a move, and a short ailment, I’m back wandering the streets of Camden.  At times, I’ve been doing so in the company of representatives from corner shop brands. 

Each ad hoc display is an assemblage of material brought together by different actors, and branding reps play an important part in this curation.  As well as information about current promotions, these reps provide shops with a bounty of branded materials, including carrier bags, canopies, posters, stickers, sign boards, Ramadan schedules, Oyster card holders, window displays, leaflets, and pads of sticky notes.  While some of this material is used at the discretion of shopkeepers, materials are most often put up by the reps themselves.  The reps also advise shopkeepers on styles of display and, when allowed, reorganise products.  They may, for example, move their products to the front and centre of a display or assemble like products so direct comparisons can be made by consumers.

As discussed in earlier posts, brands become markers for ad hoc shops and help announce shops’ presence in space.  The identities of brand and shop are intertwined, especially in kiosks, which seldom display a business name.  To discuss these connections with a brand representative, I suggested how the Wall’s sign acts like the barber pole of the corner shop.  To further my analogy, he told me his posters are like the hairstyle photos inside the barber shop – they tell customers what’s on offer and educate on the latest styles.  

Competition is fierce for surface area and – with shop keepers’ permission – reps will cover the promotional materials of others.  Although reps remove outdated posters, layers of material are evident on all surfaces.  Constant visits to these shops ensure that materials are current, unobscured, and in good shape.

Material properties of the promotional stuff and the shops themselves pose challenges to the reps.  In one shop, packing tape doesn't adhere well to a new "silent" plastic newspaper box.  In another, a stairwell in front of a shop window makes applying stickers a challenge for Lyca reps, whose stickers are sticky only on the back.  Unlike Oyster stickers with double-sided adhesive, they cannot be applied from the inside.  Each new addition is documented with photographic evidence and submitted to the brands’ head office. 

Some reps explain that shop keepers are fortunate to don their brand.  They believe the benefits of brand association are payment enough.  Others offer shop keepers product vouchers or cash to display their promotional materials.  In either case, many brand representatives strike exclusive deals with shop keepers, to limit the presence of other branding on the shop front.  In businesses with such small margins, these deals are hugely advantageous.  Interactions between brands and shop keepers are not without dispute.  Negotiations for exclusivity are on-going and some shop keepers shared their frustration after waiting months for canopies promised after reps reorganised their displays.  Many are still waiting. 

The Price is Right

The label-maker has been acting up at one of the kiosks I visit.  It tends to over-ink, the roll of sticky labels jams, and the digits don't turn as they're supposed to.  The result has been a remarkable material diversity of price tags, even more varied by the number of people who use this machine -- some including additional zeros, others omitting the decimal or pound sign.

Due to this mechanical dysfunction, many of the newer prices have been handwritten, sometimes directly on the product box.  Still others were printed with the aid of a computer when the kiosk opened.  All of this results in an incredible array of price labels displayed across products and also layered on top each other, showing changes of prices and styles through time.  

For the most part, prices are posted for kiosk employees to limit confusion and fluctuations... an occasional challenge for cash businesses without UPC scanners.  Should the blotchy ink make labels undecipherable, prices are also presented behind the counter on a piece of weathered paper in neat capital letters.  

Mind the Gap

I recently found the tumblr blog Things Organised Neatly.  Perhaps it’s a hint of OCD that makes me revel in this sort of order.  Using the “align” tool in Adobe programs – to snap multiple edges in position or distribute objects evenly across an art board – gives the same sense of thrilling satisfaction.  (Surely I’m not the only one who reorganises my spice shelf or wallet to unwind.)

Although the modern aesthetic most often celebrated on Things Organised Neatly may feel miles away from the tangle of ad hoc displays, parallels can be made and seen.

As noted a couple posts ago, there is logic to the organisation of things.  The logics described earlier were more pragmatic, but they guide aesthetic considerations too in the curation of ad hoc shops.

I'm told that above all, gaps should be avoided.  They make shelves look undersupplied and interrupt the smooth plane of goods.  If a product is out, another should always be moved to its place, brought flush to the shelf edge.

In the kiosk where I spend time, stock for products new and old is always coming in, requiring a daily shuffle to ensure spaces are filled.  This sometimes necessitates putting products in another brand's box, finding aptly sized products to fill specific gaps, combining several products in one container, or cutting display packages so they better slide in spaces available.  It feels like an immersive game of Tetris – known as the “brick game” in Bangladesh.

In most shops, colour is also a concern, as it differentiates products from each other.  Similar products with similar colours must always be separated by a contrasting colour.  Most importantly, like products should be grouped together – similar scarves together, gum with gum, like toothpastes in proper piles. 

 

On slow days in the kiosk, we play cards and watch the neighbourhood whirl around us.  When people walk by, they almost always look, but not at us necessarily.  As they pass, it seems their eyes skim across the array of shiny packages.  Their focuses don’t linger at any one point, and I doubt they’re really looking for anything.  Instead, I think the eye enjoys gliding over the flush plane of branded things.  Their neat organisation entices the eye and must improve patronage of the shop as well.

Rhyme and Reason

I’ve been doing some casual work at a kiosk to understand the rhythms of practice, see the flow of things, and better appreciate the logics of display.  The experience has shown just how deliberate all decisions are in the organisation of goods.  And while I try to be helpful, at times my efforts are overenthusiastic or undo careful configurations, and require some remedy guided by my patient shopkeeping friend.

The “ramble and face-up” refers to the practice of reordering goods to fill gaps in displays and ensure they are facing upwards and forwards.  There’s something particularly satisfying about creating a flush plane of shiny packages, but it seems I tend to ramble with a bit too much zeal.  As important as it is, too much “rambling and facing up” makes the products seem unpopular, I'm told.  There’s a psychology of keeping shop: gaps in display make sweets look like they’re flying off the shelves.  I have had to undo some of my fanatical reorganisation.  

I also spent some time untangling umbrella straps, only to be told they were intentionally twisted so they cannot be nicked with ease.

Although we're in the dead of summer, Halls cough drops are positioned in the most prominent place, beside the cash register.  Why?  Because they are nearing their expiry date. 

On a shelf of extra stock, pop cans are intentionally stored upside down to avoid collecting dust and grime on the openings -- an on-going issue in the kiosk, being so close to the road. 

As spontaneous as kiosks may look, their curation is calculated.  There's much for me to learn.

News and Weather

This summer has seen some of the wettest conditions on record.  Recent reports from high street chains describe disappointing sales.  Most ad hoc shopkeepers also bemoan the rotten conditions.  Wet days change our regular routines: we dart to the Tube station after work instead of sipping a cold drink in the park; we forego the ice cream sandwich on the street in favour of a hot drink in a cafe; we spend less, hibernate more.  This all hurts convenience retailers, souvenir shops, kiosks, and newsagents. 

There’s no way to the ward off the rains, but material adaptations mitigate its effects. 

For kiosks, the canopy is particularly essential.  Shopkeepers discuss how patrons take refuge beneath it during the rain and how they’re more likely to stop for a purchase on wet days if it means a short time under cover.  Without a canopy, many have to close when the rains come so products don’t get soaked. 

I’ve spoken to a number of shopkeepers with broken canopies, waiting for corporate producers to deliver promised branded covers.  Many have been waiting a long time and others have thrown up their hands and shelled out themselves, knowing these delays cost their business.

Albeit a bane to most, a few retailers in my neighbourhood have sheepishly delighted in this soggy season – namely those selling umbrellas.  Some of these vendors – with licences to sell “weather goods”: sunglasses, umbrellas, scarves, gloves, pashminas, etc. – report record sales.  Although it’s rained almost every day in the last few months, it seems people are still often caught out sans brolly.

Press Gallery

I’m told selling magazines and newspapers is a tough business.  Shopkeepers pay for delivery of the material and margins are low.  This is compounded by print media sales being down overall, owing to so much online information and so many free papers.  Shop-front promotion of print materials helps to some extent.  By occupying a significant portion of the frontage, it also contributes to the texture of shops in the neighbourhood.

Newspapers and magazines are promoted in purpose-built frames – affixed to windows, paper boxes, and exterior walls – and on wooden news boards, which hold headlines behind wire mounts.  Generally, the former are designed for blown-up magazine covers, and the latter for newspaper headlines... but rules are made to be broken.

Newspaper headline posters may be sent to shops through the post and positioned by the shopkeepers themselves, whereas the magazine posters are often placed directly by magazine reps who tend to organise them in multiples for higher impact.

Of course, mobile companies like Lebara and Lyca produce posters that also slip into these frames and have created stickers to capture this space.  Shopkeepers use them for their own unbranded promotions too, and tend to use text instead of image. 

News boards are an enduring part of the high street.  Here, an image taken in 1903, on (a now demolished block of) Marchmont Street, shows an array of headlines... not to mention a good deal of chocolate branding in the adjacent windows.  Everything old is new again.