Looking for something a little different this Christmas? For a whole range of handmade, bespoke and vintage items ranging from Art, clothing, jewellery, Toy and more besides have a look at Etsy – it’s like visiting an up-market craft fair without the crowds!

Thorntons is to close up to 180 stores over the next three years following a strategic review of its business.

The chocolate maker, which gave a profit warning in May, said “a minimum” of 120 shops would shut, with the possibility of an extra 60 closures.

Thorntons said the outlets that will be closed are among the 364 stores directly owned and run by the company.

It said it hoped to replace them with franchised stores “in the majority of locations”.

Thorntons currently has 227 shops run by franchisees. BBC.

Which is missing the point, it isn’t the number of shops it’s the quality of its products. When Thorntons’ was founded its chocolates where something different to a British public used to Milk Tray, Terry’s All Gold or Black Magic.
Today any supermarket supplies a wide range of chocolates which are very similar to those available in Thorntons – how long will customers continue to shop at Thorntons instead of their local supermarket?

To survive Thornton’s needs to improve the quality of its product giving customers a reason to visit – otherwise the business is doomed to failure – I can’t remember the last time I brought their chocolates.

So you’ve seen a bargain on Amazon – it’s got 60% off – but is that a real bargain? Now you can check by copying the items URL (web link) into CamelCamelCamel and it’ll chart the last six month’s price changes show if that saving is a true reflection of the price Amazon’s been charging.

Hat Tip: Money Saving Expert.

Power Balance Bands are all the rage in the US, they are supposed to improve balance, strength and flexibility through use of a hologram which resonates and responds to the natural energy field of the body.

Dr Andrew Dearden of the British Medical Association Wales, criticised the bands as “pseudo science” – no shock, Sherlock – of course they are new age mumbo jumbo dressed up as science – a rubber band with a hologram isn’t going to do anything for you. The only thing that’s going to happen is you’ll be £30 poorer – don’t waste your money on one unless you want to look stupid.

T-Post is a wearable magazine every five weeks subscribers receive a new t-shirt in the mail, news story on the inside interpretation on the outside.

The Latest t-shirt from T-Post number 58 Retail Rumble

There have been a number of stories in the news media recently that show both customers and employees reaching their emotional boiling point with one another.

One of the more current headlines features Steven Slater, a JetBlue flight attendant who, unable to deal with an unruly airline passenger, unleashed a profanity-laden tirade on the loudspeaker, pulled the emergency-exit chute, and slide off the plane. Despite being charged by authorities with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief, much of the public and media have promoted Slater as a folk hero of sorts.

Another story pertains to a college English professor who was forcibly ejected from a Starbucks after refusing to place her order by the coffee chain’s rules and strange vernacular. A self-proclaimed stickler for correct English, Lynne Rosenthal defended her refusal to employ the chain’s stilted lexicon by stating, “When you go to Burger King, you don’t have to list the six things you don’t want.”

In some cases, both employee and customer rage can come to physical blows. In fact, there’s even some dramatic surveillance footage of an Ohio women violently punching a McDonald’s employee through a drive-thru window after being told they were only serving breakfast.

It was once believed that “The customer is always right”. Is this still the case or are employees justified by sticking up for themselves?

Aren’t customer service agents supposed to understand our frustrations and put up with our abuse? Or have we as consumers abused the system? And just how much abuse can one employee take before they can return fire? Many stores post signs that read “We reserve the right to refuse service” but have they gone too far by engaging in combat?

Is the news media promoting and encouraging this type of aggressive behaviour by turning customers and employees alike into folk heroes?

Have reality TV shows inspired a rash of rude people like Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey?

Has real-life stress reached an all-time high, causing more and more people to lash out against the various flaws in society in the same way Michael Douglas’ character did in the 1993 film Falling Down? Or is it new technology, namely video cell phones and social networking, which have simply made this type of behaviour more public?

No matter whose side you’re on, or which corner you’re rooting for, we have a gut feeling that this ongoing battle between customers and employees is just getting started.

Ding, ding.

Designed by:

Thomas Raimondi a 29-year old graphic artist and illustrator based in Milan, Italy.

His weapons of choice include everything from pens and pencils, coffee, watercolours, drafting tape, glitter, acrylic colours, and then, of course, paper. Thomas just loves paper. White paper. Yellow paper. Dirty paper. Old paper. What he puts on a particular type of paper depends on the mood he wants to create.

“I used to draw bodies. Sometimes they’re human. Sometimes they’re strange monster post human. Primitive beings dominated by fear, violence, instinct, muscles, sex, death, symbols…I think experimentation is the ground zero of evolution. Unfortunately not here in Italy.”

For this issue, Thomas came up with the visually striking idea to show our aggro customer and employee as two boxers battling in out in the main event. Thankfully, we loved it and didn’t have to fight him on it.

Chad Rea, Creative Director, T-Post.

Almost makes me think I should start wearing t-shirts again – I said almost – I don’t really have the figure for it.

Hat Tip: bumbumbum.

I’ve not tried these but The Observer recommends we do.

Jing Tea
Purveyors of a quite extraordinary number of luxurious teas.

The Fish Society
One of the best sources of fish by mail order. Everything is frozen, but don’t let that put you off – it’s to ensure freshness.

Victoria’s Cake Boutique
Bespoke cakes and cupcakes for very special occasions. Think towering confections decorated with real flowers, or themed cupcakes.

Gower Cottage Brownies
What could beat receiving a parcel full of brownies in the post? Delicious treats – including gluten-free – available from deep in the Welsh countryside.

The Cheese Shed
Emporium of cheeses from the West Country, included ewe’s milk, buffalo and blue cheeses.

Buy From Amazon.co.uk and you’ll be covered by Luxembourg consumer laws which means goods are protected for two years – well that’s the theory the practice is a little different as Amazon will do all it can to avoid paying up as Miles Brignall’s investigation for The Guardian shows – in fact some have found it impossible to lodge a successful claim for items less than 12 months old.

For those who made the conscious decision to spend more on free range or organic eggs, it was worth paying a premium to know the hens that laid them had been kept in ethical conditions.

But those people who ended up paying over the odds for Keith Owen’s eggs may feel a little less warm inside after it emerged the 44-year-old egg wholesaler had scammed all the major supermarkets and numerous small shops by passing off about 100m battery farmed eggs as free range or organic.

Owen, a married father-of-two from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, was jailed for three years today and forced to surrender the £3m profit he had made by “dishonestly and systematically” mis-describing eggs over a two-year period. The fraud abused “well-intentioned public trust” by scamming innocent customers who had paid extra to ensure better animal welfare, Worcester crown court heard.

Defra, which brought the prosecution, said it was the biggest case of its kind it had ever investigated.

Owen ran Heart of England Eggs Unlimited, an egg-packing business that supplied bigger packing companies, which, in turn, provided the vast majority of eggs to the well-known supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Tesco, as well as smaller retailers.

Last week he pleaded guilty to three charges of fraudulent accounting which involved him altering records to disguise the fact he was buying eggs laid by caged hens and selling them for a vast profit after “mis-describing” them in paperwork.

His barrister, John Kelsey-Fry QC, suggested his client was not alone in creating what he described as “mischief” in the egg industry.

“It’s not the case that all those to whom Mr Owen supplied eggs were concerned to ensure the provenance of the eggs was as described,” said Kelsey-Fry, adding it would be “inappropriate” to elaborate. Helen Pidd, The Guardian.

Why is it inappropriate for a barrister to provide evidence of widespread fraud – but then as we all know the law is an ass.

The simple answer is to buy your eggs from the farm gate – driving around the country side you’ll see many signs for free range eggs – here you can visit the chickens for yourself and see the conditions they live in – it’s the only way to be assured your eggs are cruelty free – not only that your eggs will be cheaper.

Fed up with the high cost of shaving and the need to continually buy blades? Then maybe Raz*War is for you – for as little as €27.50 you can get a year’s supply of razors delivered to your door – You can order a free discovery kit so you can try out their service – I’ve ordered mine and I’ll let you know how I get on.

Hat Tip: Springwise.

As long as it’s getting the money Google pays but lip service to the problem of sponsored links in its search results being all too often for scam websites which at best sell counterfeit goods or more likely take your money and fail to deliver anything at all.

In the words of Jaclyn Clarabut, of Which? Computing ‘If it seems too good to be true, it probably is’.

If it’s a sponsored link be it Google, MSN or AOL be on your guard it could be a fraud.

In 2006 Ben Edelman, an academic at Harvard University, conducted a study of the trustworthiness of sites with sponsored links at the five main search engines. He found that 5.93 per cent of Google’s sponsored links were untrustworthy, rising to 6.01 per cent for MSN and 7.2 per cent for AOL. This percentage increased for particular key words — 23.5 per cent of results for “digital music”, for example, were untrustworthy.

He concluded that search engine advertisements are “needlessly risky” and that consumers should simply click on the top free search result. Source: The Times.

And beware that these sites can look very professional indistinguishable from the real thing – it’s easy to say but always check a website before you use it for the first time. About.com has a pretty good guide aptly named Don’t be a sucker.

Meanwhile Google is collecting up to £5 a click a doing little other saying it doesn’t knowingly advertise these sites but claims it “can’t regulate the internet” and why it seems the vast profits it’s making from the scam don’t give it any inclination to solve the problem.