Where's tonight's Mary Portas thread?

[stainesmassif]

I've been in this shop many times. Never bought anything.
i love the lady demonstrating her glass slipper perfume dispensers.

Those 'T42' cups are great!

Digging - it was Ardingly, in W Sussex.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, so happy for them!

I love the new shop- right up my street. Not at those prices though.

lol at the music

Thanks!

Yes - £425 for a lick of paint is a bit much!

Yea they were definitely having a laugh with the soundtrack...

stianes i've been in that shop both before and after

yes it looks veh nice now. but I still woudlnt trust those two hippies with sourcing ANYTHINg for me, especially with the antiques amrket 2 doors down. i might have known that vile Treatment place with the mirrored mannequin in the window was theirs.

i bet the shop is having tomorrow though

I don't really get why their stuff was so wrong and the woman (hot interior designer) they were taken to see who had the house with the giant bookcase thing and hideous furniture was so right. Both seemed ghastly to me.

And I don't see why that 40s wallpaper was sooo amazing either. It's all a bit emperor's new clothes - this is cool because we say it is.

Am obv achingly unfashionable.

I thought the interior designer had some really vile stuff as well.

I love those owl cushions they had when the shop reopened but they are £65!

i am trying to see this now on bbc iplayer but it isn't up yet. does it normally take that long?

can't help but think the programme tonight has done the shop no favours whatsoever. anyone interested in anything they might have sold will just head direct to that market they went to and cut out the middle man.

also I agree with purple turtle, the new style shop has clearly been styled by Marys team and not by the Fleetwood Mac duo.

Vintage suitcases used as wall shelves? Distressed stepladders used as display units? I think not...too much of a leap from Solar system lamp shades, even with the style tuition they received

And YES the 40's wallpaper was minging and had ZERO style. More fool Jo Wood

And Katisha theres a VERY thin line between kitsch and crap

I liked the owl cushions too but £65 is a bit steep

Anybody ever see the Harry Enfield sketch with "I saw you coming" shop owner? And the female customers that clearly had far more money than sense?

Reminded me of that alot afterwards!

Would still like to go and have a look though. I want those T42 cups but they are probably £25 each.

I don't know. I just found this utterly improbable last night. The tranformation from that utterly ludicrous shop, absolutely no business sense whatsoever to this Liberty-esque emporium in a matter of weeks. I just don't believe it. They had no idea about interior design at the start and then like a bolt of lightening suddenly "got it". Yes, of course their shop was styled be Mary's bods but I just can't believe that they suddenly acquired a deep enough understanding of that market to really succeed here.

i'm almost tempted to brave kingston's one way system at the weekend to see it in person. almost.

i missed what the son did to get himself sacked. and its still not on iplayer, anyone know?

He just didn't turn up AFAIK. They were flat out buying and renovating the furniture and he just didn't show.

"There's a VERY thin line between kitsch and crap "

Quite!

The white china dog with a lampshade on its head in the cool designer's shop for example. Surely if she had come across that in the original Dark Side of the Moon shop Mary would have been rolling her eyes at it?

context is everything though, isn't it? china dog lampshade plus black glitter dining table and glass slipper perfume bottles = tacky

china dog lampshade plus ironic suitcase shelving and t42 cups and saucers (i keep reading 'tea forty two and not getting it) = post modern designer irony.

Im loving the soundtrack every week. Two weeks ago they played a great Paul Weller cover at the end and I cant think what it was now!! Thats what I dont understand about this, were do they get the money from to restock the shops and is the makeover completely free?

Were there any photos of Mary's partnership ceremony around on the net? I would love to see what they both wore, her partner works for Grazia and I bet she always looks fab as well!!

Finally got round to finding this on iplayer last night. I agree with the previous sentiments about the first designer's house - some of it wasn't that different to the shop's original stock. I didn't like the wallpaper either, but I know a lot of people do like that kind of thing.

Did the son remind anyone else of Frank Lampard? He could have been his stoned twin. How old was he? Did they say?