On Tue, 1 Apr 2008, David Cantrell wrote:

On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 08:28:30PM +0100, tim (not at home) wrote:

but why would someone buy a posh shirt whilst waiting for a train?

For the same reason as they might buy a posh shirt at an airport. Or
indeed buy a posh shirt anywhere else. Because they're over-paid and
under-brained.

I like posh shirts!

I'd agree with the comparison to airports (modulo duty-free
considerations), but not 'anywhere else'. Posh shirts are a perfectly
valid consumer good - it's just that transport hubs do seem an odd place
to sell them.

My theory is that they're a business staple (you have to have a posh shirt
to go to a meeting with other people who will be wearing posh shirts,
after all), and that the shops think they'll be able to sell them to
business travellers passing through the station or airport. What i don't
understand is why these travellers wouldn't have a shirt with them. That
would seem remiss. Do they kill time by buying some posh shirts for future
meetings? Do they realise they're a posh shirt short and buy one en route?
Do they save on laundry by treating shirts as disposable? Are the precise
requirements for the posh shirt not known until very soon before the
meeting, thus precluding advance packing?

It makes sense to sell food, drinks, newspapers, books and magazines at
a station. It don't make sense to sell anything else, as can be seen by
the fairly fast turnover of shops trying to sell anything else.

Tie Racks are a fixture at most stations. I even bought a tie at one once,
to go with my posh shirt.

tom

--
Ten years of radio astronomy have taught humanity more about the creation
and organization of the universe than thousands of years of religion
and philosophy. -- P. C. W. Davis