Duraty, Denmark Hill

Written by Peter | Filed under General, Shopping

We needed to buy a new hoover this weekend so went to Duraty, the electrical goods shop at 72–74 Denmark Hill.

One of the things I like about Camberwell is the fact that it’s not fashionable enough for the big chains to have completely taken over yet; while there is the obvious McDonalds and a couple of supermarkets, there are still plenty of independent or small-chain shops in the area. While you may end up paying a little more, the level of service you get is often much better.

Duraty is a prime example; this is the third time I’ve been in there and every time they are absolutely bang-on in terms of service. The assistant spent plenty of time answering our questions about the hoovers, and was honest in her assesment; she didn’t steer us towards the expensive models, she just helped us with what we needed. And the owner (I think) is a walking encyclopedia of electronics; he knows everything.

Contrast that with when we went shopping for furniture in Ikea a few months ago; every query we made was met with “If that’s what it says in the catalogue.” Useless. That’s why the knowledge of the staff in Duraty is really impressive, and made the difference between us buying there or going to one of the big shops in Old Kent Road.