Mr Pine
152 Elm Grove
Southsea PO5 1LR

After yesterday’s exotic trip to Kenya, we return to our core business with a trip to Mr Pine in Southsea.

Mr Pine is listed in local directories as “Mr Pine & Sons”. There is an allusion to this on the middle window pane of his shopfront, but his sons are not credited on the main signage, presumably either for reasons of space or family hierarchy.

The right-hand upper segment of Mr Pine’s shopfront states that Mr Pine is the “Main stockist for Mr Copperfield Inpine – ISE”. I don’t know what this means, particularly the “Inpine – ISE” bit.

Mr Pine’s is one of the few shopfronts I have seen that would benefit from an editor. There is a superabundance of text, including the word ‘Entrance’ in big type above what is self-evidently the only way of entering the premises, short of marching through a window.

The text on the middle upper segment advertises “Tables & Chairs – All shapes & sizes”. This claim strikes me firstly as unnecessary, given that one would not expect Mr Pine to sell tables and chairs in only one size and shape, and secondly as misleading, as it would be physically impossible to sell tables and chairs of every conceivable size and shape.

The ‘Pine’ of Mr Pine would also work better in sentence case, rather than overbearing capitals.

Apologies, I seem to be in a grumpy mood today!

On the plus side, I like the clock in the extreme left-hand bottom corner of Mr Pine’s window display. Speaking as someone who doesn’t wear a watch or carry a timepiece, I like shops with clocks on display – a nice civility to passers-by.

Comments

[Tag]

The word CENTRE seems to be centred. Sort of.

Seemed to be worth noting. Now I'm not sure.

[Mr Blog]

Yes, thank you for picking up on some typographic wit that I had overlooked. I think it was worth noting, on the whole.

Mr Tweets has also drawn my attention to a tweet from http://www.twitter.com/TheWriter highlighting the over-promise inherent in the phrase "Immediate Delivery".

[Chas Walton]

"THE SOUTH'S LOWEST PRICES" – that's another worrying claim. Assuming Mr Pine has done his weekly price comparisons with as much diligence as Asda and Tesco, how do we know where the south begins and ends? Mr Blog should include this information on his helpful pinboard.

[C. N. Nevets]

I believe INPINE is or was the the ticker-tape listing on the International Stock Exchange (ISE) for Mr. Pine or Mr. Copperfield which may or may not be a parent company.

[Mr Blog]

International Stock Exchange! Mr Copperfield has gone up in my estimation. However, he presumably cannot be Mr Pine's parent company as they would share the same surname.

Chas, thanks also for your comment re: THE SOUTH'S LOWEST PRICES. I assume either Mr Pine has only researched prices in The South (however he defines it), or he knows of a shop in The North that is indeed cheaper. I wonder if it could be Mr Mattress in Darlington? http://www.mr-blog.com/2010/10/mr-mattress-darlington.html (I believe he sells bedframes as well as mattresses, presumably including the pine variety.)