It was with great excitement that the television was tuned into BBC 1 last night to watch the Apprentice, we had seen the trailers advertising what sounded like a brilliant challenge of creating a “shabby chic” shop – what could be closer to our hearts?!
We weren’t disappointed… although some of the items were definitely more shabby than chic and even the judges commented on this! It was certainly a lesson to all of us budding retailers, in knowing your customer.
The location of their retail units was an achingly hip and trendy area of London – just a little research would have shown that the vintage and retro feel would have fared better – I hear you cry what is the difference between that and shabby chic… Well trends, of course, are changing all the time but currently we see vintage and retro mimicking the 60s and 70s decor rather than that of shabby chic which is rather battered furniture, mirrors, china – assumed to have been kicking around a stately home for many years – probably since before those owners of stately were living below the breadline and actually had money and staff instead!
Shabby chic is most definitely associated with the country rather than trendy inner London – of course here at HQ we love the country and have made our “urban cottage” but it has been a definite style statement – similar to those living near Brick Lane who would have made other choices.
I was just about to discuss the person who got fired by name, however if you are reading this and are hoping to watch it on iPlayer then we won’t discuss them at all, I will say that I am not impressed with their sales tactic and if any of my team were to try and sell in that manner then they wouldn’t be on the team for long…
We await with baited breath the next instalment of the Apprentice and hope it can give us lessons and motivation!
