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Capital Hair and Beauty
by realisticbeauty
Capitals is a wholesalers for hair and beauty supplies and have been around now for over 55years. They have special offers on products each week which are, in my opinion, unbeatable. Each year they have a stand at the Professional Beauty show where you can purchase their products VAT free.
**Ways To ... Shop**
You can order from a wide range of products from Capitals online or you can visit one of their many stores up and down the country. You have to be registered as a Therapist to be able to purchase anything from capitals all you need to do is take along your certificates to show you are qualified in Hair, Beauty, or Nail Tech and they will issue you with a trade card.
** Delivery**
I have ordered online with Capitals and both times only took 2 days to arrive which I was happy with. Delivery charge was £3.95 and they give you an option to give special delivery directions so if you know you will not be at home you can arrange for it to be left with a neighbour. When my orders have been received they have been packed well with no damages and nothing missing.
**Training**
As well as Capitals selling salon supplies and equipment they also have training available for hair, beauty and nails all at competitive prices and with recognised qualifications. I must say though I have not done any courses there but I can't understand how many of these courses are only day courses I don't see how you can be competent in a day when it usually takes at least 2-3 months to learn each treatment content.
**Stores**
You can order online but also there are Capital stores up and down the country which stock the salon supplies as well as a small display area of some of their equipment available.
Aberdeen
Aldershot
Ashford
Bournemouth
Brierley Hill
Bristol
Carlisle
Crawley
Croydon
Dagenham
East Kilbride
Eastbourne
Edinburgh Sighthill
Gillingham
Glasgow
Glasgow Hillington
Harrow
Hayes
Hoddesdon
Hove
Ipswich
Kingston
Lee
Norwich
Portsmouth
Southampton
Walsall
Wolverhampton
**Prices**
I find the prices in Capitals Prices are competitive against other wholesalers that are available in store, but I still find mail-order or just internet based wholesalers a lot cheaper than Capitals. When they have their monthly offers on these are unbeatable value and it is worth stocking up on the items when on offer.
**What Capitals Sell**
Capitals sell Hair and Beauty supplies from hair beach and scissors to nail varnishes and facial products. They sell many well known brands. They also offer a wide range of salon equipment at competitive prices and they also have a small selection of salon uniforms.
**Service**
When I have been in store I must say I was not very impressed with the staff as they were not very helpful when you asked if they had an item out the back which is not in stock on the shelves. I always get the impression when I go in there that I am interrupting their chats about their weekends. Due to this happening on a number of visits to their store I now refuse to go into the store if I need anything from Capitals and I cannot get it elsewhere then I will order from them online.
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The Pier
by ruthosborne1
I was very dissappointed when it was announced last year that the pier shop had gone into administration. A unique homeware store catering for more elite and individual people rather than the mass, with ornate artifacts and beautiful decorations for the home and garden.
I can however understand why the pier went into ... administration, because it was for individuals and rich ones at that! The pier was running as a shop for many years and upon entering one of the stores you would be greeted with a mass of colour and beauty. Cushions were exquisite some plain in silks and dupion and others detailed with embroidery, curtains that could be found no where else in beautiful colours, long lengths and ornate fixtures.
Candles would be sold in mass here ranging in all different colours and scents and garden ware was beautiful very indian and morrocan inspiration, with an elegance of english garden beauty about it. Christmas decorations were sold only at christmas and they were special ones which you could buy as a present for someone as one off decorations as to buy in bulk there would have been expensive. I did however buy many a glassware set or mug set which albeit pricier than the average were all unique and colourful and blue glass items could be found here with ease.
Elegant glasses for wine and decanter sets were popular and if you are lucky you may still be able to find many items online in places such as ebay or perhaps amazon? Look at second hand and auction sites and car boots as I havent found anywhere yet that has taken on the piers stock to re sale.
I enjoyed browsing this shop and always went in to have a look around whilst in town but rarely did I buy anything and I guess many people felt the same because it was a little overpriced, there sales however were fantastic and they marked items down considerably but overall for the average consumer this wasnt a feesable shop to purchase homeware in, in the current economic situation.
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Brunomart French & Continental Markets
by grahamt
As you may have read elsewhere in my reviews, I have a large appetite for things French, especially cheese. Whilst I love the usual favourites like Camembert and Brie, which are usually easy to find in most supermarkets, I also love cheeses which are far harder to find such as P'tit Basque and most especially Morbier.
Usually ... I have to wait until our occasional visits to France in order to stock up on these rarities but I do keep my eyes open for the French Farmer's Markets which appear around the country at various times, especially just before Christmas. Southport has a regular one and we usually combine a visit to the in-laws to take advantage. The other potential source are the markets that are held in Kent, just a hop and a skip across the Channel from the source of all these goodies. However, this is a fair old hike from where we live and so the cost of travel usually outweighs the benefits.
Then there is Brunomart.
Brunomart is an organisation that is run by Bruno Girardeau to arrange markets mostly around the South of England but with occasional detours to the Midlands and the North, for French market stallholders visiting Britain for a few days at a time. These markets are held in regular locations though some are visited more frequently than others. The Brunomart website states that each event "...will consist of 28 to 35 stalls..." with a balance between food and crafts of 60/40.
Would that that would have been so but the event that we visited in September in Gurkha Square, Fleet, Hampshire, consisted of anything but. On a pleasant day when a host of potential customers could have been expected, there were less than 20 stalls present and of those I have my doubts as to how many were genuinely French! There was, for instance, a bread stall but the delicacies on offer were generally English in style.
However, there was, fortunately, a cheese stall with an excellent range of French produce and especially welcome from my point of view, the range included my favourite Morbier. However, the prices were nothing extraordinary but then beggars can't be choosers can they? We did avoid those varieties that we know we can get elsewhere. Pyrenean Iraty sheep's milk cheese, which I know can be bought in your local Waitrose at around £19.50/kg, was here on sale for around £10 more than this! I know these guys have to cover their costs but this is ridiculous.
Other than this there was more or less just one of each of an olives stall (utterly gorgeous olives, many stuffed with a variety of fillings), a soap stall, a cured meats stall (where I bought a very tasty garlic and boar saucisson), a sweets stall and a stall selling hot dishes to take away for lunch. Most of the rest were stalls selling various craftworks.
In total we stayed only around half an hour, during which we toured all of the stalls and bought at three of them. We were happy with our purchases; we only bought what we considered good value. Fortunately Fleet isn't that far from where we live that it could have been considered a completely wasted journey.
We haven't visited any of the other venues so cannot comment on how representative this event was compared with others. I did notice from the calendar on the Brunomart website that Fleet does not seem to be a frequent location for these markets. Certainly there are others that are used more often and maybe at these locations there is a better selection of stalls. I would just suggest that you should be prepared for the possibility that the event that you attend may be somewhat less well represented than you might have been led to expect.
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