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New Catalogue
July 2005
By Living North
Wheredidyoubuythat.com has created a dilemma for me. Whenever I looked on the website for presents I either end up buying double quantities (one for you, one for me) or choosing the perfect gift then keeping it for myself. I can’t help it. When the new brochure arrived on my desk I knew there would be trouble ahead – they have even more fantastic products and now I can order without even being at my computer. Someone – anyone – hide the credit card!
The new catalogue (which we have included in this month’s Living North) offers a plethora of brilliant bits for the home and garden as well as travel and office accessories, stylish enough to make others green with envy. And this is where my dilemma starts – I want my friends and family to have these lovely things – but I want them for myself, more!
It is this desirability factor that really sets wheredidyoubuythat.com apart from other retail websites and mail order companies. Each page is full of unique and gorgeous products – who else has an Armadillo breadbin (that looks a bit like The Sage Gateshead now that I think about it)? Or a ‘Tipsy Tray’ that stops spillages? Or a vase that hides a secret ashtray for illicit smokers with an eye for detail?
Many of the items are quirky, will raise a smile or start a conversation at a dinner party (chopsticks that reveal naughty, naked people when used – anyone?) but most often will invite the question ‘where did you buy that?’
Unlike many online shopping experiences, the website is easy to navigate and utterly secure. Split into nine different living spaces, you can search by item, designer or price, see the most popular purchases on the sight and visit ‘the attic’ where you will find reduced cost pieces. It’s a bit like the bargain corner in ikea but without the junk. If, like me, you’re a regular visitor to the site then it makes sense to become a VIP so you can pick up points from purchases and spend them on exclusive products, or buy yourself a present for having such good taste!
What to do in...June
June 2005
By Home & House Ideas
Sort out your bathroom! Don't tolerate the mountain of out-dated magazines and extra rolls of loo paper any more. www.wheredidyoubuythat.com have this great storage device (called Loo Read!) for just £23.50
I Want That One
May 2005
By Evening Standard
For a huge range of stylish furniture and homeware accessories, log on to www.wheredidyoubuythat.com. The site specialises in designer products: I particularly liked the Armadillo bread bin (£62.95) and the swing Vases (£60 for a set of three).
The site is also holding a clearance sale, with products discounted by up to 70 per cent. Delivery is free within the UK: visit www.wheredidyoubuythat.com or call 0800 0852216.
Wheredidyoubuythat Products
May 2005
By Home & House Ideas
Products featured in this article:
Surfing in Style
April 2005
By North East Times
If late nights in the office and neck strain have become part and parcel of your week then the NetSurfer - a z-line desk and bucket seat with adjustable footrests - is the thing for you. Shaped and contoured to fit the body perfectly, the NetSurfer provides a semi-restful typing position with the computer in a motorcycle - between the legs style. The lower support level is in a more reclined position than that of a standard chair - ideal for long sessions at the monitor and keyboard.
It's the sportiest looking computer desk around and the perfect talking/show off point to add to the office.
Net Chopper is available from www.wheredidyoubuythat.com priced £575.00.
Bringing the Outside In
April 2005
By Home & Interiors Scotland
Blur the boundaries between inside and out with the unique Landscape Rug, a little bit of terrain available to buy online. Depicting the landscape of the Serge-Lesage Ateliers region of France, where each rug is hand-tufted from pure New Zealand wool, this design is more than a mere floor accessory.
The beautifully soft texture brings to mind lush lawns, just sink your feet into that luxuriously deep pile. The raised areas provide the perfect place to rest your head or support the Sunday papers, and the clump of grass is removable so the dog doesn't get confused.
And when it's wet outside, go the whole hog and get the picnic basket out, making room for your feast by dispatching the three-piece suite to the garden. Lawnmower not included.
Where did you buy that
Christmas 2004
By Living North
Look outside your window. Go on..chances are that it's not too good out there. In fact, at this time of year and with Michael Fish's replacement predicting The Worst Winter In History, it's likely to be dull, damp, cold and windy. There are many wonderful reasons for living in our part of the world but the weather is generally not one of them. OK, now picture yourself shopping. Your umbrella is turning inside out, the hood on your coat is obscuring your view, your hands are blue and/or sore and now your nose has started runnning. Not pretty is it?
Last year saw a 70% increase in online shopping - and for good reason. Where Did You Buy That? Offers an alternative. Instead of braving the (admittedly fantastic) shops - technology and some clever thinking means that you can do all your Christmas shopping from home - in your pyjamas and slippers with a cup of tea, or something stronger, beside you and maybe a mice pie to get you in the mood.
This renowned website is well designed, easy to use and is full of exciting original gift ideas for all ages. Separated into nine different living space areas and with an ability to search by designer and price, it's clear that four years of dot.com experience has created the perfect balance of ease and innovation.
The Armadillo Breadbin, £62.95 and aluminium wine rack, £59 are ideal for style conscious home-lovers, while the foodies in your life will be delighted by the Where Did You Buy That's new twist on the traditional nutcracker, £49 and the Full/Empty Shot Glasses (£10 for 2) are great stocking fillers. Why not buy something for yourself while you're there? The Gallery Spheres are great all-year-round but come into their own at Christmas when they can be filled with sprigs of holly, festive nibbles or small gifts and hung on the tree for a fresh, fun look that's easily adaptable - and only costing £14.95 for the two with free UK P&P you can't go wrong, can you?
The Art Of Style
Christmas 2004
By Living North
The boundaries between art and design oscillate with people's opinions and moods. Today perhaps the difference has never been closer. Newcastle's Biscuit Factory has hosted all manner if artists work and some excellent promotional parties to boot. At a recent event the art, as well as some first rate entertainment, was extended to a particulary stylish and provocative level. This, however, is entirely fitting as commercial designers are using ever more tactile materials and sculptured shapes in clothes, home furniture and accessories. Witness the work of Phillippe Stark, Giorgio Armani, Porshce and Vivenne Westwood, who are constantly asking the questions and moving the boundaries. To celebrate this, the recent Art of Style exhibition combined the work of two of Newcastles most go-ahead businesses - Di Overton's wheredidyoubuythat.com and Alex Morris's Eden Concept Store. If the launch party was anything to go by, the exhibition will have aroused the interest of many visitors to the popular venue.
Dotcom Veteran is top 100
Autumn 2004
By Institute of Directors
IoD member Di Overton is the force behind the Newcastle-Gateshead based global designer lifestyle e-commerce website www.wheredidyoubuythat.com. She was nominated to attend An Internet Decade, an event to recognise the contribution of 100 individuals for their input and influence on the development and growth of e-commerce and the internet in the UK over the last ten years.
The exclusive champagne reception, held at St Martin's Lane hotel, Covent Garden, London, on 7th October, was co-hosted be NOP World and E-consultancy and there were addresses from Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for the DTI; Brent Hoberman, lastminute.com; David Docherty, YooMedia and father of the internet Sir Tim Berners-Lee, W3C.
Requests for nominations were sent to E-consultancy's registered user base of over 22,000 online marketing and e-commerce professionals representing leading figures within the UK internet community. Nominations were also sought from a further 100 industry opinion formers. NOP World and E-consultancy then reviewed the nominations based on their number, quality and relevancy to create the final invite list.
NOP World is one of the largest business-to-business research agencies in Europe and a top-ten market research power worldwide. NOP World provides best-in-field research design, methodologies and analytics for qualitative, quantitative, ethnographic, omnibus and online services.
Howard Barber, associates director at NOP World, says: "The event was designed to be a celebration of the internet, thanking those that have made a substantial commitment, valuable contribution of a significant difference to the industry."
Di Overton said, "It's a great honour to be nominated by your peers like this and I am very grateful to them all. I can only think they've picked me because of my bloody-minded tenacity! When we launched wheredidyoubuythat.com the dotcom bubble burst shortly afterwards. We just clung on and kept plugging away.
"It was tough going but we saw it through by sticking to our belief in quality products, innovative design and always trying to provide great customer service.
"I think we were also helped greatly by the huge growth in design and makeover TV shows and magazines during the period. This created a growing public demand for innovative and beautiful design products for home and garden.
"Now wheredidyoubuythat.com gets millions of hits from all round the world and the business is growing steadily. So we must be doing something right."
Di is also a director of @1 Loyalty Programmes which owns and operates wheredidyoubuythat.com.
Gateshead-based @1 is an integrated marketing services company providing loyalty marketing solutions to clients like Baxi Potterton, ICI Dulux and Mercedes.
Di is one of the top 100 in UK internet history
Sep 14 2004
By The Journal
North internet entrepreneur Di Overton has been named as one of the top 100 people in the UK for promoting and developing e-commerce over the last decade.
Ms Overton, who is behind Gateshead-based designer lifestyle e-commerce website www.wheredidyoubuythat.com, has been nominated to attend An Internet Decade, an event to recognise the contribution of 100 individuals for their input and influence on the development and growth of e-commerce and the internet in the UK over the last 10 years.
Addressing the champagne reception at St Martin's Lane Hotel, Covent Garden, London, next month will be Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt; Brent Hoberman of lastminute.com and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, regarded by many as the father of the internet.
Ms Overton's nomination came after votes from 22,000 online marketing and e-commerce professionals representing leading figures within the UK internet community.
Nominations were also sought from a further 100 industry opinion formers before organisers NOP World and E-consultancy created the final invite list.
Di Overton said: "It's a great honour to be nominated by your peers like this and I am very grateful to them all. I can only think they've picked me because of bloody-minded tenacity!
"When we launched wdybt.com back in 2000, the dotcom bubble burst shortly afterwards. We just clung on and kept plugging away.
"It was tough going, but we saw it through by sticking to our belief in quality products, innovative design and always trying to provide great customer service."
What's in your beach bag?
July/August 2004
Collective
Nike Philips MP3 CD Player £99 from www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
Objects of desire
Northern Woman
Turning over a new leaf – The Armadillo breadbin is not the most beautiful of creatures but, as a breadbin, it’s a work of art. Available priced £62.95 online @ www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
Put armadillo in the kitchen
Jul 16 2004
By Daniel Thomson, The Journal
www.wheredidyoubuythat.com - Tired of buying predictable presents from the same old shops?
Flowers and perfume for your mum and aftershave and socks for your dad just not cutting it any more?
Maybe you should try the internet.
If you are anything like most people, then you will have a relative or friend's birthday on the horizon every two seconds, so these essential sites will be a godsend.
A luxury-lifestyle website with a vast range of unusual gifts, wheredidyoubuythat.com, is the place to go for a truly memorable present.
Launched in January 2001, wheredidyoubuythat survived the bursting of the dot com bubble and has since gone from strength to strength. Director Di Overton, says: "We hung on in there and kept going and in the last year the business has really taken off."
But the site was not always such a runaway success.
Wheredidyoubuythat began life as an interactive house with visitors being able to click on products in different rooms. But despite positive reviews the concept was hindered by slow download times.
Di explains: "It was a little ahead of its time and the technology wasn't quite there yet."
Since then, wheredidyoubuythat has evolved into one of the most exclusive and fashionable sites on the net.
With a vast array of products including a fabulously stylish armadillo bread bin that looks like a miniature version of Gateshead's Sage music centre, www.wheredidyoubuythat.com features the coolest gifts this side of a Manhattan boutique.
Other rare offerings include a retro chrome milk-shaker, koala coffee machine and sonata chaise sofa.
Di says: "We try to stock very unusual things that other companies don't have. The whole point of the site is so that people will ask you `where did you buy that'?"
Unlike many e-commerce sites, wheredidyoubuythat has its own call centre and warehouse based just off the A1 in Gateshead.
It also has its own team of web developers working daily on updating and servicing the site.
The site has a large database behind it to ensure shoppers are informed immediately if any product is out of stock and hen it will be due in.
You can even chase the progress of your order from the shelf to the dispatch area and on through the UPS tracking system. While chic gifts are all well and good for the women in your life, we all know that a man loves his gadgets.
Most wanted
Jul 18 2004
By Ali Howard, The Sunday Herald
Retro tabletop jukebox/CD player with radio, £100.Available from www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
FM/AM RADIO & LEXON DOLMEN
July 2004
By T3 Magazine
There’s nothing much better than a handsome cube of technological goodness. Except one that works well, that is. This digital FM/AM radio – you don’t even get DAB for that £70 – has an internal aerial which picks up stations about as well as physics teachers pick up chicks. Tuning is a chore thanks to a hard-to-read LCD and an oversensitive knob (stop giggling at the back!), while Lexon has seen fit to add tone controls but not presets. Once you find a station that doesn’t squawk and cluck, the mono sound is surprisingly good. As an objet d’art this scores top marks, but it’s rather less useful as a radio.
Star Shopping
June 2004
By Celebrity Homes
What a hussy! This lamp wears a sexy low-cut evening dress. Pewter/enamel female-shaped lamp £258, www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
Funky stuff
7th April 2004
By Evening Standard – Homes and Property
Firepit Safety Brazier
If you are looking for something just that little bit different for your home, check out www.wheredidyoubuythat.com, a website dedicated to all that is new and original in housewares from around the globe.
Separated into easy sections (dining room, bedroom, living room), you will find everything from leather beds to leather place settings and Murano glass napkin holders. Also, lots of Italian style and some great retro toasters from the States.
Objects of Desire
April 2004
By T3 Magazine
Armadillo Breadbin
Guess what-we’re entering the next series of Robot Wars! Here’s our robot, It’s called Sir Breadbin-a-lot. This baby’s special skills include keeping things fresh, and looking like a rock ‘ard prehistoric fossil (you can see why it’s called the armadillo). What? Wheels? Oh, bugger. Do you think anyone will notice?
Price, £63, available from www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
Spend it like Beckham
February 2004
By S:2 Sunday Express Magazine
Cordless Mouse
Cordless optical mouse with a scroll wheel. The controller can interface with either a PC or Mac using digital radio technology – although we’re most impressed by its matt chrome finish. It costs £88 but for anyone into their office accessories this is definitely one to have.
Table Football
The ultimate table football experience, this extravagant mini-monument to the beautiful game allows players to select their teams from a host of countries and even includes audio commentary, crowd noises, a referee and floodlights. But by far the Pele of features is the celebrity commentary option, including Victor Meldrew. Yes – we don’t believe it, either.
£2,000
Top List
February 2004
By Kent on Sunday
Xylem 800 Series Luggage Set
Samsonite 800 series Xylem three-piece luggage set comprising of three lightweight upright cases with an innovative bridge wheel handle for ease of mobility.
With its sleek, soft, flexible, aluminium-like finish it really is luggage to be seen with.
Price, £979, available from www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
RED
February 2004
By Kent on Sunday
Rugged Red CD Player
The Emotive Micro System with dual layer compound construction and Vented speaker guards is as tough as it looks, not elegant but pretty stylish
Price, £299, available from www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
Spend it with style
February 2004
By Kent on Sunday
Drum Murano Glass Lamp Vase
HANDMADE from Murano glass is this elegant drum shaped vase/lamp. It is hard to believe, but this electric lamp is totally waterproof.
The two sections are entirely separate and you can use it as a combined lamp and vase. The effect is stunningly stylish when fresh flowers are arranged inside and lit up.
The perfect place to display that Valentine’s bouquet.
Price, £617, available from www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
New Gadgets
March 6, 2004
By Telegraph Travel
Nike MP3 CD Player
Nike has teamed up with Philips to produce a music player to suit the adventure traveller.
It won’t help you run faster, but it’s splash-proof and jog-proof and can play CDs containing MP3 files of up to 150 songs.
Price, £99, available from www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
Like Mother Like Son…
February 2004
By Women and Home
“I WANTED TO HIRE SOMEONE I TRUSTED, SO I CALLED MY SON”
Di and Garry Overton work together on the lifestyle website wheredidyoubuythat.com. As director of the company, Di made Garry her chief buyer in 2000. Di, 52, lives in Newcastle with partner Harvey, 56. She has two daughters: Sara, 32 and Charlotte, 18. Garry, 35, lives in North Tyneside with his daughter Georgia, 11 and partner Emma.
DI: Before Garry joined the business, we’d had little contact for 13 years. He’d left home at 19 and moved down south. Although we’d see each other occasionally our lives were separate, so it seems strange now that we not only work together but we sit side by side! I launched the website www.wheredidyoubuythat.com in 2000. I knew there was a niche in the on-line market for bespoke furniture and accessories. Initially there were just three of us, so I handled everything. But when business increased, I needed trustworthy help, so I called Garry. At first he handled the delivery side of things but he had a good eye for beautiful homeware, so I made him chief buyer.
Although we have the same fiery and passionate temperament, we also complement each other. Garry is the more laid-back organiser who has to pull in my impulsive reins. I was very young when he was born – there’s only a 17-year-age gap between us – so it feels like I’m working with a younger brother. I have enormous personal and professional respect for Garry and feel as through I’ve got to know him all over again”.
Garry: “I was going through a difficult patch when Mum called. She said the business was expanding and needed help in the warehouse. I’d always said I’d never rest on my laurels and work with the family, which is why I’d left home so soon. But when I separated from my then partner, I jumped at the chance of a new start. Mum and I have the same sense of humour and hard work ethic, so our days run smoothly. Professional chat does run into personal chatter but that’s natural when you have a relatively new business you’re passionate about”. Visit www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
Making a click buck
May 9 2004
By Sunday Sun
A chrome domed creation reminiscent of Gateshead's gleaming new Sage music centre sits atop a display cabinet.
Dubbed "the armadillo", it is dotcom queen Di Overton's bestseller . . . the wildest bread bin you'll ever see and, at more than £60, probably one of the most expensive.
Scattered elsewhere are other objects of temptation for any dedicated follower of home fashion.
We're in the shop of the website Wheredidyoubuythat.com, Di's successful internet business, on Gateshead's Team Valley trading estate.
The sort of items that adorn homes in glossy interiors magazines are posted from here to customers as far away as Australia.
Di's businesses - she also jointly runs a successful marketing agency with her partner Harvey Roll - are about to make her her first million.
Not bad for a girl who was expelled from school, dropped out of art college and got pregnant at 16. But then she has forged a career out of being unconventional.
"They say if you can remember the 60s then you weren't there," laughs Di, who would not have been out of place in the hit comedy Absolutely Fabulous. "I was a 60s child. I just wanted to live it up."
That didn't go down too well at Brierton Hill Technical High School for Girls in Hartlepool.
"I suppose I was disruptive, although by today's standards I probably would have got a gold star," smiles Di, 52. "I didn't go round hitting teachers like they seem to do nowadays."
The innate sense of style that has made Di's fortune was not shared by her teachers.
"It was an all-girl school and the main thing they were bothered about was whether you had your beret on or not," recalls Di. "If you had your beret on they ignored you . . . you were fine.
"But if you didn't wear your beret that was it, they had you down as a rebel."
Eventually, her teachers gave her parents an ultimatum.
Di adds: "They said, `She's got to go.' I was down to do GCEs and they said to my parents, `Buy her out, pay for her exams and it won't go down as expelled on her records. But we're not taking her back.' "
Di had always excelled at art - she still enjoys watercolour painting - so she enrolled on a foundation course at Hartlepool College of Art. But she dropped out after just three weeks. "I wished I hadn't done that, but then I probably wouldn't be here," she says.
Around the same time, she became pregnant with the first of her three children, Gary. Now 35, he works by her side as the company's buyer, as does his 32-year-old sister Sarah, a director.
Things between their mum and dad didn't work out, and Di left Hartlepool for Darlington.
Then a playground conversation at her children's school took her into the world of retailing. "I used to knit quite a lot back then," she recalls. "I didn't like following knitting patterns so I used to make things up.
"I once made Sarah a little coat and friends started asking if I'd make them one too. It just snowballed.
"I met another woman through the school my kids went to and I was making something for her and we talked about going into business.
"Her name was Liz and mine was Di, and I said, `If we ever opened a shop we'd have to call it Dizzy's. Anyway, we did open a shop and we did call it Dizzy's."
The upmarket clothes shop in Darlington's Bondgate proved popular, selling designer names such as Jean Muir and Jasper Conran in addition to Di's handmade knitwear.
It was the 1980s, before grunge took over from investment dressing, when women were prepared to fork out £250 for a hand-finished sweater.
Among the clients was Kathy Secker, the Tyne Tees TV presenter. Di says: "She was my best advert. Tyne Tees used to give her a wardrobe allowance, and of course things like that made a great impact."
But then Dizzy's was hit by a double blow . . . the miners' strike and a lorry drivers' dispute on the Continent.
"We used to buy all the yarns from abroad and we couldn't get them any more," says Di.
"And when the miners stopped spending in their communities, the people who shopped with us were the people who had businesses in those communities."
It was time for some reinvention. Di had got together with Harvey, who did all of Dizzy's advertising, and in the mid-80s she joined his business.
Harvey, whose background was in mechanical engineering, had clients such as central heating firm Potterton and Di used her creative flair styling rooms to be photographed for brochures.
She was also juggling work and motherhood again, as Harvey and Di's daughter Charlotte came along in 1986.
"The age gap between Charlotte and Gary is the same as between Gary and myself, and we're mother and son and they're brother and sister.
"But having Charlotte when I did was brilliant because I was better off and I had a nanny. It was great. "
Harvey and Di's business continued to grow and the success of a loyalty scheme for Potterton, combined with the arrival of internet shopping, provided the impetus for the launch of Wheredidyoubuythat.
"We were doing aspirational products for plumbers and we said, `Surely the general public would like this stuff?'
"Charlotte had a three-storey Georgian doll's house and I said, `What I'd like to do is turn that doll's house interactive so that you photograph room sets and every item in the room is interactive. You click on it and it takes you to the product and you can buy it."
Internet experts designed the site and before long it was named as website of the week in a national newspaper.
The site now employs 22 people, and Di's working life is every shopaholic's dream, although she avoids slogging round exhibitions.
"I don't go that often because you can source so much on the internet. We like things that are quirky, like the bread bin, which is an Italian design."
Di doesn't know where her entrepreneurial spirit came from. Her dad was a shop steward at ICI and her mum was a telephonist.
"My father was a communist and my mother was a bit of a snob . . . you put them together and you get me," she laughs.
It makes sense. Wheredidyoubuythat is all about making posh stuff available to the masses. If her dear old dad were still alive he'd surely say that, come the glorious revolution, everyone would have an armadillo bread bin.
wheredidyoubuythat.com, on Ninth Avenue East, Team Valley, Gateshead, is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Telephone 0191-420 8713.number ok
Di’s objects of desire
February 2004
By The Northern Echo - NE Shopping
The future looked bleak for Di Overton. She was just 17, she been expelled from school, dropped out of art college and was expecting a baby. It was a challenge to say the least – but one to which she was more than equal. Today, she is the owner of wheredidyoubuythat.com, an exclusive online interiors store that is building up a cult following both in the NorthEast and further afield.
Based on the Team Valley Trading Estate in Gateshead, the showroom is an Aladdin’s cave for style-hungry shoppers and includes everything from cashmere bed socks to clocks that project the time onto walls, ceilings or the floor. There’s a rug with a patch of grass growing out of it, sleek leather furniture, Nigella Lawson’s entire kitchen range and lamps shaped like handbags.
With two children to support, Di started a series of jobs, but her flair for design soon came to the fore with the creation of Dizzies. The Darlington based shop specialised in designer knitwear, importing yarns from Italy which Di made up with appliquéd and embroidered designs.
Even in the 80s, prices were as high as £250. For a jumper and the range was sold in Harrods and Harvey Nicks. But the business was hit by a lorry strike, followed by the miners’ strike. Di then entered the advertising world with partner Harvey Roll. The business developed into a successful marketing company called @1. Specialising in the provision of loyalty schemes for client companies.
Di used her experience to buy ‘aspirational products’ for companies’ loyalty schemes. Her search for well-designed, functional and funky objects took her all over Europe and that is when she developed the idea for wheredidyoubuyrthat.com. “We had the website, the databases and the graphic designers. There was no reason we shouldn’t do it for ourselves” she says
Di started looking at British trade fairs and exhibitions but is now buying work by European designers. “There are so many chain stores that sell standard stuff throughout the UK, that we are all familiar with the ranges. I wanted to create excitement with new and desirable products that beg the question, “Where did you buy that?’”
She started the company about three years ago, with an outlet at Team Valley to sell end of lines and old stock. “When people came in, they had heard of the website and asked us why we didn’t just have the WDYBT stuff in the showroom. We decided to relaunch.”
Customers can now become VIP’s joining online or in the shop. This gives them access to the stores VIP area, fitted out with black leather sofas and giant plasma TV, where they can browse the online collection.
VIP’s are also eligible for the stores loyalty programme. Similar to the reward schemes operated by high street chains such as Boots and Sainsbury’s, you accrue points with each purchase. These can be set against future buys or for treats such as champagne, TV’s, holidays and household appliances. “If you’re fitting out your entire house, the points soon add up,” says Di.
There’s an unhurried atmosphere. Shoppers can browse or sit down and have a coffee without any pressure to buy, and they’re positively encouraged to pick up objects for a closer look. The staff uses many of the products themselves, from the coffee percolators and fridge to the sink and the dishwasher.
When people come in, they’re given a card where they write down the codes of everything they want to buy. When they go to the till, the codes go to the warehouse next door where everything is bagged and then taken to their car. “They love it. People have told us they feel just like they’re in New York, except they’re in the Team Valley,” says Di. “We want people to feel at home and we want it to be as easy from them as possible. We know how busy people are these days. That’s part of the reason the Internet is doing so well, but because we have the store as well, you can come in and see things before you buy. It’s the best of both worlds.”
For more information, log onto www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
The Gear Box
January 31, 2004
By Telegraph Motoring
Keyring Digital Camera
Always carrying a camera in your car makes more sense than you might realise.
If you are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident, on-the-spot photographic. Evidence might serve you well when your insurance company sends you a huge tract. Of recycled forest to fill in.
This 128MB digital camera is small and light enough to clip to your keyring. It has a rechargeable battery and can be powered up simply by plugging it into a computer’s USB drive.
Price, £120, available from www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
Domestic Bliss
Autumn 2003
By Café culture@home
Armadillo Breadbin
This stainless steel Armadillo Breadbin with fold-back lid is one of many kitchen items available from specialist online retailer Where Did You Buy That? £62.95 www.wheredidyoubuythat.com
