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Hold my shares in a nominee account with Hargreaves (HL). No response yet as to my enquiry regarding a new card for 2021/22. Can't remember when I received my card in the past. However, I never went away in high season. At the time of the AGM I will be at the Portlethen Lodge - small coastal settlement between Stonehaven and Aberdeen. Booked yesterday under £30 a night. With Staycations need to get an atlas out to spot good coastal locations. As Portillo said on his programme last evening, even Aberdeen is a seaside resort. Hartlepool Lodge on Marina/beach. Mandelson added a bit of glitz to Hartlepool and the Headland area of the town is attractive. Architecture similar to other late Victorian seaside towns. Whitehaven - Lodge overlooks Parton Bay, nice harbour at Harrington and going up the coast to Allonby is special. The railway never got to Allonby - still very much a Georgian seaside resort. Long, empty beaches and plenty of free parking. Many visitors to Cumbria never get beyond the (expensive) Lake District. Medi
Some news on company's investor page. This sp is moving up nicely. People will want to redecorate after gloom of past few months. Lot of share buys now. Medi
TV mags loved by Oldies and Saturday newspaper supplements used to include Brown marketing. A very thin catalogue of their most popular women's clothing/housewares lines inserted in the paper/magazines. I haven't seen these for a long time. However, Clifford James (Chums)/Cotton traders and Damart are still pushing out their offering in this way. Where are Brown marketing their goods to my demograph? I buy Women's Weekly - aimed at the very much older woman. The fashion pages show various retailer offerings, but Brown has fallen over the edge and it has stopped its full page advertising. It is a long time since I have seen Brown marketing. I haven't had my jab yet although I am now eligible. The over-65s are getting the jab in ever increasing numbers. I live in the cold, damp North. We have had lovely sunny days for a week, but the oldest generation is not out walking/shopping themselves around here. I suspect many will still adhere to extreme caution even as restraints are lifted. I came out of Brown at the end of 2020 - they need to pick up on marketing before I look at them again. Medi
I am a longstanding Brown customer. I have energy for outside exercise, but like many Oldies, suffer lack of energy to trawl around shops for clothes. It can be the in-store music, lack of customer seating, too much bustle, etc., not time constraints are my reasons for Brown shopping. For a year now, no Seniors' matinees in the cinema, no day coach trips, no tea dances, no midweek bargain coach holidays,etc. It is so long since I have needed to buy shoes. Brown is almost the only supplier of the correct width shoes I need. I can't get my width on the High Street. I have found it impossible for years to get badly wantedwalking boots.
Carllapos, you were asking about çredit unions. Towns, districts, large employers have set them up. In my town set up around fifteen years ago and grew out of the Child Poverty Action Group. It is largely run by women to largely benefit women who generally manage the household budget. Until recent years free life insurance was offered up to the age of 80. It was withdrawn when it became too expensive to operate. Our CU has very few paid employees with volunteer collectors and trustees. In recent years, I have delivered flyers when loan companies and the late Bright House were mailing in my neighbourhood. CUs can counteract damage done by loan sharks. What do CUs do? They can offer credit at a reasonable rate (N Brown c35% APR - a financial services company as has been pointed out on this forum before) and a dividend at a slightly better rate than offered on the High Street. CUs know their members and their locality. Whether you need a washing machine or a burial plot a CU is a place to call. Decisions are made on a face to face basis locally. Over the past fifteen years our CU has grown from hundreds to a few thousand members. At the last AGM a resolution was passed that should a critical Board Trustee retire/resign an honorarium be paid to recruit a suitable applicant. The current (unpaid) Treasurer is a GM of a division of a FTSE company. I know posters on these forums are consumed by their own financial advantages, but by becoming members of a CU they can contribute to their wider community as do foodbank volunteers/donators. Members aren't just would-be borrowers. You don't have to give your money away and you might well meet interesting people. Anyway, a thought for 2021. Happy New Year. Medi
Results not far away and should be interesting. Brown sells cheap clothes at c35% APR. Clothes worn out before paid for. Every town now has a credit union offering low cost credit so why go to Brown (or the late Brighthouse) if your washer breaks or your electric goods are burnt out. I don't know - where am I going in a sparkley top? I am vulnerable so home shop. I am not going to Bingo, cinema matinees, tea dances. Some of the coach companies have bust so there are no cheap midweek deals. The drivers always stop for tea, toilets, tablets (prescriptions). What happened to the shareholders' discounts withdrawn not so long ago? I've nowhere to go and been nowhere for months .... I don't suppose the high earners on here can imagine inflated priced goods sent out in horrible packaging. There is plenty of fat in the outdoor market and it is more keenly priced. Medi
This is a company with a high number customer base. If this company was giving great value for money, great customer quality and experience, then the share price wouldn't be in the doldrums. Customers would want to be shareholders. Brown had shops a few years ago, had them for a short period and then got rid of them. Assuming customers thought they were a great company, why would the shares not be snapped up by highly satisfied customers in the open offer. The duration of the offer, the ratio offered and the discount offered looks like desperation. When you see what the company charges for telephone ordering and interest charging on goods, one could be thought of as being taken as a mug. Brown is not competing on the High Street but with online offerings elsewhere. Can this be a growth share ......