SALON

Saturday, Jun 2, 2012 11:17 AM UTC

Queen’s jubilee a fiesta for souvenir-sellers

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Queen's jubilee a fiesta for souvenir-sellersA member of the public is seen walking past a shop window with a display in honour of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee in Durham, England, Thursday, May 31, 2012. AP Photo/Scott Heppell)(Credit: AP)

LONDON (AP) — What’s red and white and blue all over? In Britain this weekend, everything.

As the country celebrates Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the throne, retailers are embracing the jubilee spirit, doing a roaring trade in tricolor British flags, bunting and party supplies.

“Anything with a Union Jack on it is selling like hot cakes,” said Matt Compton, party goods buyer for the Tesco supermarket chain. “This is the biggest week we have had since the Millennium in terms of party sales, with demand far exceeding sales (during) last year’s royal wedding.”

The patriotic outpouring stems from a mix of affection for the 86-year-old queen and delight at a four-day holiday weekend, granted for the second royal Diamond Jubilee in British history. Only Queen Victoria, Elizabeth’s great-great grandmother, ruled for longer than the current monarch.

Hundreds of thousands of people plan picnics or street parties Sunday, when the queen’s royal barge will lead a 1,000-boat jubilee flotilla along the River Thames through London.

The weather report calls for cool temperatures and rain, but stores have all but sold out of Pimms, the gin-based liqueur that — mixed with fruit and fizzy lemonade — is England’s archetypal summer drink. Supermarket chain Waitrose said sales of Pimms are up by more than 260 percent compared to last year.

It’s a welcome boost for struggling retailers. Britain has sunk back into recession, and retail sales slumped during a soggy April.

The Bank of England has warned that the extra holidays will hit economic output, but some stores, at least, have reason to celebrate.

Food and clothing chain Marks and Spencer said it had sold more than 200,000 jubilee teacakes, 50,000 commemorative cookie tins and 50 kilometers (31 miles) of bunting.

Gift shops and departments stores are stocked with souvenirs that range from classy to kitschy, and from cheap to cheekily expensive.

The Royal Collection is offering an official Diamond Jubilee tea blend, at 8.95 pounds ($13.75) and a cake (14.95 pounds or $23), from a recipe by Fiona Cairns, who baked Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding cake. Don’t forget the cake stand — yours for 395 pounds ($607).

It would not be a British occasion without a touch of the eccentric, irreverent and even downright tacky.

House and garden supply chain B&Q says it has sold 3,100 jubilee garden gnomes — pointy-headed lawn ornaments styled on the queen and her husband, Prince Philip.

An online sex toy retailer is offering — to put it delicately — glittering royal adornments for the nether regions.

And enterprising English designer Lydia Leith, who had a cult hit last year with her custom-made royal wedding sick bags, has designed a series of temporary tattoos of corgis, crowns and carriages, as well as a jelly mold in the shape of the queen’s head.

“It’s not meant to be offensive in any way. It’s just meant to be fun,” said Leith, who will be selling her wares at a jubilee festival in London’s Battersea Park on Sunday.

“There’s something for everyone. If you don’t like the royal family you can buy a sick bag. If you do, you can buy a tattoo.”

___

Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

More Jill Lawless.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments are not enabled for this story.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Judge tells lesbian couple to separate or lose kids: "unmarried sexual relationships -- including straight ones – can be grounds for losing child custody"
114 points115 points | 20 comments
vote
Anonymous rallies behind Kaitlyn Hunt
24 points25 points | 32 comments
vote
Developers evict historic women’s shelter to build luxury hotel - The 104-yr-old Anna Louise Inn has ended its 2-year legal battle with a Fortune 500 company & will now move. Many view the victory of the insurance company over a community touchstone as a major blow to the city.
29 points30 points | 2 comments
vote
Report: Nearly a quarter of Americans struggle to afford food
13 points14 points | comment
vote
I don’t hate millennials anymore! <--- not my words, but good read on Gen X. IMO
10 points11 points | comment

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations