Different Types Of Shoppers

Birmingham riots: Police chief accuses "greedy" troublemakers

West Midlands police have made around 138 arrests after outbreaks of violence last night and a string of raids this morning, Chief Constable Chris Sims said.

Revealing that at least 30 shops and other premises were attacked, he told reporters: "This was not an angry crowd, this was a greedy crowd."

Speaking during a press conference at the force's city centre headquarters, the chief constable said: "Last night was a really terrible night for the country and a very bad night for Birmingham.

"It was a night when all sorts of issues and behaviour from across the country were imported into the West Midlands and we experienced several hours of wanton theft, of damage and of disorder.

"And let me say this; this was not an angry crowd, this was a greedy crowd. What we were dealing with was dishonesty and disorder.

"We think at the height there were probably about seven to eight hundred people in the city centre. We had around 400 officers in protective equipment and of course other members of the force supporting them."

Mr Sims confirmed that a police station, on Holyhead Road in the Handsworth area of Birmingham, was set ablaze during the disorder.

He said: "I suppose I would say that I grieve for the police station but I would rather that a police station suffered than someone lost their home or their business."

Mr Sims said the force would have more than 500 public order officers on patrol tonight and was working to speed up arrest procedures, but he urged parents to help control the situation.

He said: "This was very different from the public disorder that we have experienced before. This was very focussed on looting and theft and we had to adjust our tactics as we went along to make sure that we dealt with it as you would expect us to.

"Many of the people that we have arrested, many of the people we have got on camera, are astonishingly young.

"They are teenagers, girls and boys, and I would appeal to their parents and to the wider community to make sure that they don't go off tonight on to the streets but stay indoors where they are safe.

"Let's move on from last night and make sure that as few young people as possible are on the streets tonight."

Another Getgood  interview about how the clean-up was planned in Birmingham

A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said staff were called to 34 incidents in Birmingham last night, the last of which came in at just after 3am this morning.

What type of shopper are you? |

On a recent shopping trip with a friend, I noticed how different our techniques were when deciding what clothes to purchase! Although we have similar fashion sense, I ended up coming home with nothing, whereas she came home with a fab new outfit, ready to don to town later on that night! I was disappointed I hadn’t managed to buy anything, and my excuse was “I just wasn’t in the mood!” It made me think about how my shopping style was so different to hers. I worked in a high street clothes store for a year while I was in college, and I noticed how varied the different types of shoppers were!

For example, my personal style I have christened “ The Sporadic Shopper ”. I have been known to go on crazy shopping sprees; one particular time was when I was released in Topshop on Oxford Street in London. Now being from Dublin, I expected to be used to the larger type of Topshop, having been happy as Larry when the one at the top of Grafton Street opened! But nothing could have prepared me for this Mecca of Fashion! I wandered away from my friends, wide eyed and with a bubble of excitement in my stomach, feasting my eyes on the racks upon racks of amazing clothes and shoes! I ended up catching up with my friends about an hour later, armed with huge bags full of clothes, shoes and accessories, and a wild look in my eyes!! I should probably point out that I am ashamed to say…I didn’t visit the dressing room once in that whole space of time. This would generally be my technique, all or nothing!! I have visited the shops on many an occasion only to come back with nothing. I need to be “in the zone”, and when I am…let’s just say I go a little bit mad! I pick up anything I think looks nice, add it to my basket and worry about the bankruptcy later! Fitting rooms are rarely visited, as they are cramped, unpleasant spaces that take up alot of time and energy! There are disadvantages to my technique however, as I have on more than one occasion bought something and never worn it! “Take it back and get a refund”, you say? Can’t be bothered!!

Which brings me on to my next type; “ The Careful Shoppe r”. During my stint in that particular “High Street Shop”, I occasionally worked in the fitting rooms. On one particular day, I was doing my duty, giving people “honest advice” and generally enjoying the chit chat and gossiping that happened there. I got speaking to a girl who was buying an outfit for a wedding. She had already bought a green dress with blue flowers on it, your typical long wedding-y type dress. She was trying to decide what shoes to buy. She had been trying on the EXACT same pair of shoes in blue and in green. I tried to offer my advice, as in, your pashmina is green, that should match the shoes. But then “the green wasn’t the exact same shade, maybe the blue would match a bit more?” In the end this poor distressed girl ended up buying BOTH pairs of shoes and saying “I’ll decide at home and bring one pair back!” This is a typical example of the careful shopper. Analysing every little minute detail, exploring every possibility, and rarely buying something there and then! It would be a sin to buy the first thing you see, instead asking the shop to hold it while you go and dissect the rest of every single store you visit, just to assure yourself that there is nothing else out there that might be better!

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