Crunch Creep
Strange, tangential and sometimes unlikely events laid at the door of the credit crunch.
- Blood on the carpet. It's tough times for carpet makers, as Carpetright reports a 15.4% quarterly fall in sales. Its chief executive says: "It's not only in the carpet industry, it's in furniture, curtains, bedding - everything's gone quiet in that area. It's bloody tough."
- We've already been told that sales in shop-bought sandwiches are down as people make more of their own, sales of sausage rolls are up as people look for cheap lunches, and sales of chocolate are up as people want to treat themselves, but today we learn that cash-strapped customers are buying burgers at McDonalds - the company says it's got two million extra customers a month in the UK compared with last year. )
- Bad news for snooker fans though. The credit crunch means tournament sponsors are dropping out. There's a £1.5m prizemoney black hole after 888.com and Saga Insurance pulled out, blaming the economic climate. (Mirror)