Page 38 - 192_

morning and sell sweets and cigarettes as well. But there are legal
restrictions on selling many things on Sunday.
In general, overseas visitors don't have much difficulty knowing
where to buy things. Most shops sell the things that you would not
expect them to. One problem is stamps. In Great Britain you can only
buy these at post-offices.
Many large food shops are self-service. When you go into one of
these shops you take a basket and you put the things you wish to buy into
it. You queue up at a cash-desk and pay for everything just before you
leave.
If someone tries to take things from a shop without paying they
are almost certain to be caught. Most shops have store detectives who
have the job of catching shoplifters. Shoplifting is considered a serious
crime by the police and the courts.
When you are waiting to be served in a shop it is important to
wait your turn. It is important not to try to be served before people who
arrived before you. Many people from overseas are astonished at the
British habit of queuing.
An English housewife, as a rule, deals with only one grocer, one
butcher, one milkman and one baker. She may as well phone the butcher
and the grocer early in the morning and order what she wants. Then she
doesn’t go to the shop herself. She does not pay each day but receives a
bill each week. At the end of a week, on Saturday, there are several bills
to pay. Sometimes a person sees something advertised in a newspaper or
on television that s/he would like. S/he may write for it and ask to send it
C.O.D. (cash or delivery). When the article arrives, s/he usually pays the
postman by cheque.
There is a tendency for small shops to disappear.

B

Oxford Street is one of the biggest and most popular shopping
centres in London. Its nice shops and department stores attract people
from all over the country and from foreign countries as well.
Shops and department stores are open every day till 6 o’clock
except on Sundays. If you can’t go shopping during the day you can
make a purchase on Thursday after office hours, as the shops close at 8
o’clock in Oxford Street on that day.
One of the largest department stores in Oxford Street is
Selfridge’s. It has about 230 different departments. They sell everything
here. All the things for sale are on the counters. The customers walk

44