Les soldes
Friday, January 26th, 2007
January is the official “sales” time in Lausanne. Used to be that only in this month and July could sales take place. The rest of the year, you just paid the “controlled” price, pretty much the same in every store.
I kind of liked the old system, in the sense that you didn’t have to shop around and you never felt “ripped off” because the item was cheaper in another store. Of course, we would only buy our clothes, house, kitchen and sports’ stuff in January or July when the bargains were incredible.
Shops no longer sell under the same restrictions (though there are laws that control prices), but the January sales still continue. We just bought a Columbia ski jacket for Daughter for 49 CHF (regular price: 329 CHF).
In France and England, the governments set the date of sales’ openings and people cue up for long periods to buy that special item at half price. (Think Mr. Bean sketch at Harrod’s, London.)
“Soldes” is the French word for “sale”. But since we are in a global market, huge banners hang in store-front windows declaring “SALE”, in English.
Friends, look up “sale” in a French dictionary. It actually means "filthy".
I kind of liked the old system, in the sense that you didn’t have to shop around and you never felt “ripped off” because the item was cheaper in another store. Of course, we would only buy our clothes, house, kitchen and sports’ stuff in January or July when the bargains were incredible.
Shops no longer sell under the same restrictions (though there are laws that control prices), but the January sales still continue. We just bought a Columbia ski jacket for Daughter for 49 CHF (regular price: 329 CHF).
In France and England, the governments set the date of sales’ openings and people cue up for long periods to buy that special item at half price. (Think Mr. Bean sketch at Harrod’s, London.)
“Soldes” is the French word for “sale”. But since we are in a global market, huge banners hang in store-front windows declaring “SALE”, in English.
Friends, look up “sale” in a French dictionary. It actually means "filthy".
