Rising prosperity. Plenty of innovation. Tons of stuff in the shops, loads of jobs, and a openness to fresh talent and ideas. There are lots of things to like about free-market capitalism. But every system has its counter-example. And in the UK, it comes with two letters and a single word, usually in white and blue and surrounded by shabby carpets and badly arranged half-price chocolate bars: WHSmith.
Many people might have fond memories of the High Street chain as the place where they spent their pocket money, their Christmas gift voucher, or stocked up on pencils and crayons on the last day of the summer holidays. But that is all pure nostalgia now.
It is hard to imagine even the most excitably small child looks forward to a visit to WHSmith any more. The chain has just been voted the worst retailer in the country for the second year in a row by the consumer
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