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[ichabod]

Winding up our visit now; tomorrow we'll be winging our way home to Hog Town. Managed to get three days in central London before heading to the West Country to see the family and all. Whilst in London I did visit the three T's and several other shaving emporia, but my buying was restraint as I'd loaded up whilst here in June/July. My modest haul consists of TOBS Sandalwood shaving cream and aftershave, C&E Sandalwood shaving cream, Prorasaro green aftershave and a Kent Syntex brush. Haven't tried any of the sandalwoods yet, but I've used the Kent brush several times. The jury is still out on the Kent as to whether I prefer it to my Muhle STF or not, but at the price it is good value. My visits to the three T's confirmed my liking for TOBS over the others. I find the TOBS shop on Jermyn St to be a very inviting place to shop: the goods are accessible and well displayed and the staff friendly and helpful. On the other hand the Trumpers shop on Curzon St is less inviting as all the goods are behind glass or behind the counter and the staff is aloof and guarded. The Harris shop on Piccadilly is not bad, but it doesn't have the same atmosphere as TOBS. Surprisingly SWMBO agrees with my assessments.

Having hit Jermyn Street and Curzon Street one after the other this summer, I'd agree too - you can wander around Taylor's and fondle the products (so I bought something), whereas in Trumper's you have to ask to have a cabinet opened to do any fondling (so I didn't buy anything).

[Squire]

Those are interesting comparisons Brian.

[brothers]

. . . the Trumpers shop on Curzon St is less inviting as all the goods are behind glass or behind the counter and the staff is aloof and guarded. . .

. . . in Trumper's you have to ask to have a cabinet opened to do any fondling (so I didn't buy anything).

My distant perception regarding Trumpers is that they don't want to know who their customers are, and don't care what their customers expect.

[Rufus]

. . . the Trumpers shop on Curzon St is less inviting as all the goods are behind glass or behind the counter and the staff is aloof and guarded. . .

. . . in Trumper's you have to ask to have a cabinet opened to do any fondling (so I didn't buy anything).

My distant perception regarding Trumpers is that they don't want to know who their customers are, and don't care what their customers expect.

Gary, you've nailed it. Two years ago when I visited Trumpers the sales clerk became visibly irritated with me when I sniffed several aftershaves and asked her questions about them. At that point I turned on my heel and walked out of the shop; SWMBO said she felt insulted by the clerk's attitude. On my visit earlier this month the staff weren't quite so rude, but they certainly made minimal effort to assist me.

[jww]

We just arrived back last night ---- although I made no shaving store visits (that wasn't ever intended, we were only in The North as some of you may recall). I did, however, receive my long-awaited-and-sought-after Kent BLK4. I also refreshed my MWF stores as well as secured a supply of Palmolive Classic cream and sticks (cleaned out the Tesco in Droylsden on Oct 24). All are now safely gathered into my shaving supplies drawer in the dresser in my office for later use.

The trip was glorious -- we had wonderful weather most all of the time. And I found out, while I don't have the tweak-ability taking photos with my new Olympus TG-3, I did find the results were excellent, and it certainly was more convenient to be using. I did lug my DSLR around (my 8 year old, but very capable Olympus e-620) a bit -- but only took a very few shots. The only downside is that the TG-3 only shoots jpg, so I don't get RAW files to fiddle with.

I probably took around 800+ shots or more altogether.

[ichabod]

Gary, you've nailed it. Two years ago when I visited Trumpers the sales clerk became visibly irritated with me when I sniffed several aftershaves and asked her questions about them. At that point I turned on my heel and walked out of the shop; SWMBO said she felt insulted by the clerk's attitude. On my visit earlier this month the staff weren't quite so rude, but they certainly made minimal effort to assist me.

What you described can be summed up as "old style British customer service" - the principal philosophy of which has been "the customer is always in the way". When I first moved to the US, or indeed traveled here, it was a little unsettling to walk into a store and hear a friendly voice from behind a counter greet me, and tell me to let them know if I needed help with anything. . .now I take great pleasure in wandering into shops back in the UK and engaging the staff in conversation, feeding off their awkwardness

[jww]

Correction on my comment about the TG3. Don't get me wrong -- it's a great little camera, and incredibly rugged and sturdy, not to mention water and shock-proof. But I just downloaded the 50 or so shots I took with my e-620, and frankly, the colours of the TG3 can't compare to the e-620, never mind the sharpness and clarity of the Oly-Zuiko 14-42 lens. A budget priced lens producing pro-lens quality image clarity.

[Ken]

My wife and I just spent a week in London, followed by a return on the QM2. Unfortunately, there were three storms in the north Atlantic, so the trip was a bit rough (although no plates or waiters went sprawling). The stateroom toiletries on the QM2 were Penhaligon's Quercus, which, I gather, replaced Molton Brown. We went to Trumper's in Mayfair and I had, unlike others and unlike my previous experiences at the (no longer) Jermyn Street store, a very pleasant sales person. I bought the Coral Tonic and the Limes aftershave.

If any of you are planning to go to London before January, there are two absolutely spectacular exhibits, late Turner at the Tate Britain and Constable in the Victoria and Albert museum. The Constable exhibit is especially interesting. Even after he became famous, Constable was still doing copies of older paintings to improve his skills. We also saw a wonderful version of Sophocles' Electra, although I am not sure how much longer it will be there.

And we ate a lot of good food!

Ken

[jww]

Constable paintings are iconic.