How important names are. Not just to us as individuals but to marketing as well. When I was a lad, and long before, one of the most prestigious jewellery shops in Liverpool was Boodle and Dunthorne. Today I see that it has altered its image and has become simply Boodles. Frankly to me Boodle and Dunthorne oozes quality and a certain 'something' but Boodles is just, well, Boodles and, frankly, could well be anything. That's probably just me though.
I do like the little touch whereby the BD is retained intertwined within the first O of Boodles. The stainless steel superlambanana is rather classy too (insofar as anything quite so whimsical can be called classy). I think, by the way, that the chap in the photos is the shop's security chap. The days of the top-hatted doorman are gone. You can, however, still find morning-coated, top-hatted security people at the Argyle (Jewellery store) Parade in Glasgow.
I wonder whether the prestigiousness lies in the name Dunthorne (which does sound rather impressive in itself, doesn't it?), or simply in the "&". (To me any English surnames combined with "&" somehow sounds like a law firm.) How would you feel about Boodle & Boodle? or Boodle & Sons? or Boodle & Smith? (for some reason, I find as I write the last one, that I think I'd prefer Smith & Boodle!)
ReplyDeleteMonica I think you have highlighted exactly why firms hire marketing consultants to decide on a business name nowadays. I suspect that Boodles decided that their image was far too old fashioned and appealed to a market sector that no longer has the money to shop there. The nouveau riche whose money they need may prefer the more modern name. Qui sait?
DeleteIt sounds like a night club or disco to me.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter what it's called. t does look very upmarket.
I have never entered a shop like this....they probably wouldn't let me.
It's always dangerous, Adrian, for a shop to judge its customers by appearance. Look what happened to Opera Winfrey in Switzerland.
DeleteI'm sure whether it's Boodles or Boodles & Dunthorne, they're still selling exquisite jewelery. Boodles does sound frivolous and a step down from the original name. I agree with Adrian, sounds like a nightclub.
ReplyDeleteI like the superlambanana at the entrance....that alone would grab my interest to have a look around inside. the store.
I'm sure they are Virginia. They used to be very expensive indeed. I doubt things have changed even in Liverpool where there are several very upmarket jewellery shops.
DeleteI concur, Boodle and Dunthorne just sounds like a better quality kind of place. Boodles is a "mall" type of experience here in the states.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you absolutely Lisa.
DeleteBoodle?
ReplyDeleteRhymes with noodle and doodle, poodle..............
I would love to look inside though!
That made me smile. We can always rely on you Jaz to see the amusing side of something.
DeleteBoodles would make a wonderful limerick! But it doesn't sound a very serious word (except perhaps for the purchase of Dame Edna-type bling).
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought you were going to produce a limerick Frances. I know one but it doesn't have anything to do with jewellery or shops.
DeleteI went to an emporium named Boodles
DeleteI thought that they might sell poodles
They had noodles and strudles and lots of doodles
But they had bugger all I wanted
Ah well, David, we won't miss Seamus whilst we have Marcel.
DeleteNames! one of my favourite subjeccts, as I said before in a comment on your blog, which back then inspired me to write my own post on the topic:
ReplyDeletehttp://librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.de/2012/04/its-all-in-name.html
Indeed, Boodle & Dunthorne has a rather different ring than just plain Boodles. They possibly had to change the name for legal reasons; maybe the Dunthorne part of the company left and they were not allowed to use their name any longer.
I like the artwork in front of the building, and at least the security chap is dressed in s auit; the ones that I sometimes see patrolling the train station in Ludwigsburg look nowhere near as elegant.
I recall your blog post It's All in a Name well Meike. It generated a lot of comment. Boodle and Dunthorne dates from 1798 when its first shop opened in Liverpool. I'm not sure when it became Boodles but I think it must have been relatively recently. It is apparently now one of the UK's premier jewellers.
DeleteWe have funny names here in Sicily too...our main bar for example is Bar Holiday, you wouldn't think you would find such a name in Trapani. I think the owner, like many Sicilians, is a returnee from American, where many Sicilian immigrants went.
ReplyDeleteLiving in the UK and New Zealand Francesca means that there is such a huge variety of nationalities that many small shops have names which might come from almost any part of the globe.
DeleteI've been trying to work out how I knew the name Boodles - just dawned on me that it's the tennis tournament just before Wimbledon (definitely associated with and presumably sponsered by the jewellers).
ReplyDeleteAccording to their website the name changed in 2004.