Category Archives: Business

Shop Window Screens in Bury Street

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Shop window screens, like these on Bury Street in Abingdon, are becoming more common as businesses look for ways to catch people’s attention.

Shops have used screens for decades. Back in the 1970s, in Bury Street, the Cathode Ray Tube TVs in Radio Rentals and Wigfalls Television would sometimes show live TV. In the 2000s, plasma and LCD screens made digital displays more practical, and by the 2010s, LED technology bought in bigger, brighter, and more flexible screens.

In Bury Street, Newbury Building Society and Oxford Vapours both use screens to promote their services.

Oxford Vapours are not only standing up against unlicensed vape traders, and promoting their own products, they also show their charity of the year: My Life My Choice – an award-winning charity run by and for people with learning disabilities in Oxfordshire.

Petrol Price Uniformity

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I more often write about petrol prices when they’re volatile and hit new highs. But this time, the question is why are all the service stations in Abingdon charging almost exactly the same price for unleaded?

For years, a certain supermarket, let us call them T, in Abingdon was the place to go for the cheapest petrol in town. That’s no longer the case. A recent snapshot (February 21st, 2025) reveals a surprising uniformity.

T now matches the Vineyard petrol station, which used to be more expensive.

And T is 0.2p per litre more expensive than the Esso station on Marcham Road, a station that used to be pricier.

T in Abingdon appears to be the most expensive T petrol station in Oxfordshire. Here’s a comparison:

Unleaded Prices on 21/2/2025:
T Abingdon: 141.9p
T Banbury: 137.9p
T Bicester: 137.9p
T Didcot: 137.9p
T Oxford: 139.9p

A look at Didcot, a town with more supermarkets and other petrol stations, reveals a wider price range – from 136.9p to 142.9p. T in Didcot prices its unleaded at 137.9p. Are T using a location-based pricing strategy? Instead of setting uniform prices across the county, and undercutting local competitors as they have done in the past, they now seem to be aligning their prices with the local market.

Figures come from https://www.petrolprices.com/.

Abingdon Homebase last few days

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The Abingdon Homebase store is set to close within the next few days. There is up to 90% off and at least 50% off what remains. Big areas are now empty.

Homebase went into administration last year. CDS Superstores, which owns The Range and Wilko, bought the brand and 71 stores for £25.6 million, but Abingdon was not included in the deal.

It is unclear what will happen to the store after closure. When the Fairacres Phase 2 development was completed in 2021, the Homebase store combined three of the proposed units into one.

Please Help Yourself: plants, pots and fittings

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For the last three years, a plant and flower seller has used the gated space between Richard Coxeter Ltd and Coxeter House.

Recently, signs have invited people to take what’s left for free — plants, pots, and fixtures and fittings.

Most of the better plants have already gone.

Do you remember how, before the current business, Richard Matthews used the same plot every Monday, Friday, and Saturday as an outdoor flower stall. That was for about 40 years. Their main shop is in Sutton Courtenay.