By the end of January there will be one less reason to visit Greenwich, one of London’s more interesting centres, since The Flying Duck is set to close after thirteen years of selling unusual tat, memorabilia, retro designs, kitsch furniture and fittings.
This comes after the closure of Essential Records and Godards Pie Shop, representing a further step in the gradual decline and homogeneity of what remained a relatively unique shopping area.
original photo by Jon
The owners say this is because they feel that Greenwich has lost some of its charm with more chain stores opening up at the expense of the independent trader. Not that they were competing directly with Woolworths, Marks and Spencer or W H Smiths but the niche market served by the curious little shop is probably better located in Brighton or Harrogate these days rather than south east London. There’ll still be plenty of Vietnamese noodle bars, Mexican burgers and posh fish and chips shops though.
The The Flying Duck online ecommerce site continues with a massive sale on all stock and I’m wondering if the rise and rise of Ebay, Amazon and Etsy as venues for buying and selling “long tail” collectibles may have a lot to do with it as well.
Andy Roberts is a writer who initiated DARnet. Contact me on aroberts@gmail.com or @aroberts on twitter
