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Friday 10 August 2018

Is Lakeland...

the latter-day Betterware or Kleeneze...  
I idly wonder?
Looking through their
Autumn 2018 brochure I notice the word Plastic has gone from their company name... wonder why!?!  Call me an old cynic, I really don’t care.

Am I showing my age by feeling all nostalgic?  Remember the brushes that were designed to clean between the all the rage venetian blinds, the curved brush for who knows what?  The clothes prop for the washing line?  The clothes hanging peg bag, the polish, the egg beater?

I well remember Auntie Nell confiding to my mother about the Kleeneze man whose brush reached the parts other brushes had until that one... never reached!!!





21 comments:

  1. That's very spooky because this morning I was thinking I haven't had a Lakeland catalogue since I moved here. I'm so missing looking at all the things I will never need!

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  2. Funny the things that pop into your head? On the other hand think of the money you have saved by not buying the things you didn’t know you wanted?

    LX

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  3. I still have and use something I bought over 30 years ago from Lakeland Plastics before they became so popular. If I remember rightly the catalogue wasn't as glossy and upmarket as it is now (even though I haven't seen one of their catalogues for a number of years). Nor did they sell the range that I've seen in their shops, they sold just basic plastic kitchenware.
    In Devon before we left the last time and then in Wales we had a regular 'droppng off', through the letterbox, of the Betterware catalogue when I bought some useful and handy, never seen in shops, items. They seem to have expanded their merchandise. Also once or twice a year in Wales we would receive a Kleeneze catalogue, but it wasn't a regular thing. As we live in a rural village now we don't get anything and I don't know if I'm pleased about that or not, as Betterware had some good things.

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    Replies
    1. I think Kleeneze and Betterware were the early runners of the tupperware party carry-on, Agents probably earned more by recruiting other rep’s than actually selling themselves. Although Auntie Nell’s Betterware man made a good job of selling himself over the products! She was a satisfied customer!

      LX

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  4. Never bought, from those things. Or from "parties," where you went for coffee/cake, and were supposed to buy something.

    Yeah, I've always been an odd-one-out. -grin-

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    Replies
    1. Good for you, I always went and then felt compelled to buy, that, let’s face it was the name of the game.

      LX

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  5. We have a Lakeland shop in town and it's lovely! They dropped the 'Plastics' part decades ago. I still use it for my poly bags and other basic stuff. Their bakeware is fantastic.
    xx

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    1. ‘Plastics’ isn’t very PC these days, what with the sea awash with the wretched stuff. Not a huge surprise they dropped that part of their name is it?

      LX

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  6. There isn't a Lakeland shop anywhere near here, and since someone mentioned it I hadn't realised, not had a catalogue for ages ! I use their "steamer bags" for veg cooking, as they can be used many times and also have a set of about 10 small square plastic boxes with lids that are always in use for many things in the fridge and freezer. I remember the Kleeneze man coming to the door when I was a child, and it isn't so far back that I used to get a catalogue through the door. They asked you to leave it outside with your order, or no order, as the case might be! Whatever happened to Tupperware parties?

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    Replies
    1. Tupperware... do you remember the burping of their lids was a big feature? And the parties, a gaggle of women sitting round getting excited about the latest plastic box. We certainly knew how to live in those days!?! The young women of today din’t know the half of it!

      LX

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  7. I have bought Lakeland tins for baking, and they've been excellent. Perhaps the name Lakeland (visions of the Lake District?) has been very good for marketing the company - well, it has to sound better than, say, Scunthorpe, Grimsby or Worksop (sorry to the residents of these towns; the towns might be nice, but the names could do with a bit of improvement).
    Margaret P

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    Replies
    1. Well I never Margaret, the very idea! Think of Pontefract and their excellent cakes...

      LX

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    2. Oh, there are places which have foods attached to them and they are scrumptious, such as the Pontefract cakes you mention, and Melton Mowbray pork pies … but I've not heard of something nice coming out of Worksop, ha ha! Sorry, all those who live and love Worksop. I've no idea where it is or what it's like, it's just the name that puts me off.
      Margaret P

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  8. Hoping you are Ok.... Missing you! x

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Frances, I am okay... we went to Norfolk on ... wait for it ...
      a house hunting trip!

      LX

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    2. But what about all that work you have had done on the house? ( and not shown us yet I might remind you !!). Are you looking on the coast or have you seen enough sea? Glad you are OK. x

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  9. I am also hoping that you are ok - really missing hearing from you.
    Wendy (Wales)

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    Replies
    1. Aah thank you ‘Anonymous Wendy in Wales’, just hope in hope, we don’t come and move next door to you!

      LX

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    2. That's a laugh - we love Norfolk/Suffolk. Watch out I don't move next door to you !! x
      Wendy (Wales)

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  10. I didn't even know Lakeland produced a catalogue! oh dear what have I been missing all this time .....

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    Replies
    1. A very stylist catalogue it is too Polly. It illustrates all the kitchen gadgets and ‘stuff’, that no self respecting domestic goddess could possibly manage without!

      LX

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