Hornby buys Corgi....

Correction - Pharma Plus.

Both Boots and M&S tried to apply their successful British formula to the Canadian market, which they badly misjudged. Boots acquired the Tamblyn Group from Loblaws in 1979, and sold out to the Oshawa Group in

1988.

The Pharma Plus franchise now operates under Katz Group Canada Ltd., along with Rexall, Guardian, IDA, Medicine Shoppe and others. Katz plans to re-brand its pharmacies under the Rexall banner, as the main competitor to Shoppers Drug Mart.

M&S were in Canada from 1973 to 1999. Their stores were smaller than in the UK, and couldn't compete with Eaton's, Sears, The Bay, Woolco etc.

Granada TV Rental was also in Canada briefly, but rental was never popular here, especially when prices started to drop.

I'm lead to understand that's the American side of the Atlantic. (although given NATO today, both sides ...)

I was only responding to: ">> as the market for them is too small." No-one counterfeits Hornby today for the same reason that no-one counterfeits Ladas or Yugos.

Relative to the size of the population, the market for model trains in Britain is probably higher than in most countries.

Ahh, but do Brits buy many Ladas and Yugos? Yes, Brits and Germans are probably at the top of the list, although the Dutch, Swiss, Belgians etc must be well up there. New Zealanders 50 years ago were probably at the top, but rugby, boating etc probably took the edge off. Nowadays it's hard to find a decent model train shop. :-(

Greg.P.

If you are happy to pay about £200-£250 for an engine I'm sure Hornby would be delighted to manufacture in the UK, but you'd have to be quick before they went bust. Almost all car manufacturers do already build in China, currently mostly for the Chinese/Far East market, but that could easily change. The Germans, Italians, Spanish and particularly the French have healthy car industries because they have a significant proportion of their population who would never consider buying foriegn vehicles whether good or bad, whereas we insist on ridiculing our own products, whether good or bad.

Two examples : Thomson (French) used to have the most efficient TV tube factory in Europe in Gosport. When manufacturing needed to be concentrated at two sites rather than three, the Gosport factory was closed. Thompson had the decency to admit that the best factory was closing because if they closed a French one they would meet stiff consumer resistance in France, so they quite sensibly closed the UK one as we would not give a toss as long as it was cheap.

Michellin closed almost all of their Stoke plant, again one of the most efficient, for exactly the same reasons. Indeed, when they tried to close a French factory the place was pretty much burned down in protest.

We are our own worst enemy when it comes to supporting our own jobs, it's not "they" that move production, it's *us*, by keeping it popular to slag off British products (I've met people who would not buy Bush because they thought it was British) and always trying to save a bob. Until, of course, it's our job that's going, then suddenly everyone else is wrong for not supporting us. The classic is the typically southern England UK farmer demanding we buy British, while sitting in his Japanese 4x4 - a clear message that he can have what he wants, but we must have what he sells. I'm happy to report that round these parts the opposite is true, and I more than prepared to listen to farmers outlining their troubles as they sit in the Land Rover - in return we buy local meat from a local farm and still have our milk delivered from a local farm, even though both would be a lot cheaper at Morrisons. Thats real "Fair Trade" in my book.

Cheers Richard

But the Stock Market is extrememly short-termist. If Scroggins PLC are having to divert all their funds into new product development and therefore cannot afford to pay a dividened, the expected level of which has been decided by a few poeple who have no real knowledge of the company, their shares will be trashed. So they pay the dividend, don't develop the new product, and go bust. But the City is happy, for that one year thet got their dividend. The fact that they have guaranteed that there will be no more dividends in the future seems to be irrelevant to them. It's a sure fire method of ensuring that companies get smaller/weaker rather than bigger/better as would result from a longer-term view.

Cheers Richard

Thanks for the details.

beamendsltd wrote: [...]

The Michelin tires we get here are made in Korea.

Nah, the zombies who buy at Walmart are worse. They want union scale wages and sweatshop prices.

[...]

It didn't take long for the English side of Marks & Spencer to follow suit. Boots is only a pale shadow of what it used to be as well.

(kim)

There are other reasons for buying foreign cars too. The British don't like owning the same car as someone else living in the same street or within their own circle of acquaintance so they go out of their way to find something obscure. I was walking through the car park of a nearby superstore and was amazed to find no two cars were of the same make, and it was a very big car park! Also, the pre-tax price of cars in the UK is much lower than in surrounding countries so there is more financial incentive to import from abroad.

(kim)

I'm not impressed by all the window dressing at M&S. The goods they sell nowadays are shoddy beyond belief. I've had socks dissolve in the wash, trouser gussets wear out after only minimal use and boxer shorts which are practically impossible to iron. Tills have been closed such that you have to walk miles to find one that's still open and then queue for ages to be served.

(kim)

M&S are set to back into Europe apparenty, now they have got their act together. Stand by for one of the few remaining items of British family silver to be sold.....

Cheers Richard

Curiously, there is a chain of clothes shops in France branded as 'M&S'- I wonder if my learned friends are aware? Brian

kim wrote: [....] boxer shorts which are

You iron boxer shorts????

When did it stop having a book library attached to it?

G.Harman

You never wondered why you have a wrinkled bottom?

IIRC, the RRP for GTA IV is somewhere between forty five and fifty pounds at the moment.

"Greg Procter" wrote

That's true! ;-)

John.