The flagship store for clothing brand Abercrombie and Fitch is on 5th Avenue in New York. One of the tactics they use to lure in the youngsters (and unfortunately, some not-so-youngsters) is to put a shirtless model out the front, who happily poses with passers by for a photo. I had to twist Sami and Dani’s arms pretty hard, but they finally agreed to let me take their photo with our shirtless friend.

Seemingly, the tactic works, as every time I’ve been to A&F, it’s packed to the clappers.

Another company that I’m quite fond of also has their flagship store on 5th Avenue, and seemingly they’ve noticed that putting a typical model of their customer base out the front is a great advertising tactic. I had to twist Kristy’s arm pretty hard, but finally she agreed to take a photo of me with my – thankfully, non-shirtless – genius friend.

Given that the Apple Store is always chaotic with customers, no matter what time of day you visit, it would seem as though copying Abercrombie’s tactic is working wonderfully for them. Well, it’s either that or the free internet access; but I’m fairly certain it’s the genius out the front.

We spent a good part of yesterday at Westies, filling in a few of the minor gaps in our ski-clothing wardrobe. Credit crunch or no, it was surprising to see how many people were there – many of them I suspect, simply because it was indoors and warm.

Now, we can’t complain about all the idiots who chose to spend their Saturday at the mall, simply because we are some of those idiots. But, just to make ourselves feel better, look at these idiots!

This was the queue just to get in to Hollister – a clothing brand from California – at about 4 PM yesterday afternoon. A queue! To get into a store which sells heavily branded, overpriced goods! Seriously?! Why??

Yes, we succumed to the temptations of Europe’s largest inner city shopping centre by heading to Westfield at White City yesterday. But I assure you that our intentions were pure – we were trying to finish all our Christmas shopping in one day, and after scouring Oxford street and Regent street all morning, we were still coming up short. So, we sucked it up and headed out to Shey-bu with the one million or so other Londoners that were doing the same thing.

And, I have to say, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. If you could go there, say, on a weekday morning when all good boys and girls are at work, it would actually be a great place to shop. They have literally everything there, from M&S to Prada, and pretty much everything in between, including The Apple Store, Oakley, House of Fraser, Nike, The Gap, and plenty more. Actually it was ironic looking at the things that we’d bought from all the stores in the city, and then seeing them all there in the same complex.

Still, for all that praise there was definitely one major downside: the crowds. Oh my goodness, there were people everywhere, and all in that fairly uncontrollable frenzy that seems to descend on people when they’re in a crowded indoor space. Why people suddenly forget how to walk in straight lines, or even just watch where they’re going is beyond me!

Anyway, I think if you had a whole lot of stuff you needed from a variety of stores, it’s a great place to go shopping, but for the most part, I’ll be sticking to the high roads.