In the US there used to be a delivery service called pink dot, before the invention of deliveroo for a price they’d bring you anything food, but mainly cigarettes and alcohol at all hours when everywhere except 7/11 was closed. A way to access what you want when no one could or would drive.

In the UK and our neighbourhood of St John’s Wood particularly we have Whissons a gem of a shop where you can find the interesting to the obscure and everything in between, groceries, confectionary and toiletries and a team of friendly shopkeepers keeping the light on and the service with a smile going 24 hours a day. I cannot think of another neighbourhood place we can get anything and everything at anytime of the day or night.

It’s a really valuable service and has made Whissons like Hoover or Kleenex, Band aid or a business where the name of the business as become the noun that describes it.

It’s called genericization or genericide and in our house as I am sure in many others we Whisson it when we need a solution to a problem quickly, we even found a washing line when we needed a skipping rope on a whim. And I don’t even know who would even buy a washing line these days or where else to get one from if it wasn’t at Whissons, not a hardware shop I might add.

You can pretty much rely on Whissons to find anything you might need last minute and unlike a lot of shops that offer this level of convenience you are not going to have pay through the nose either.

Whissons have got the balance just right between service and price. Not too expensive, and not cheap low quality products, they have a pretty decent selection of wine and prices somewhere in the middle for good quality goods keeps the customers loyal and happy.

As retail shops all over London are struggling to survive Whissons have carved a niche in the neighbourhood, an old fashioned corner shop, “Open all hours” with a business model that I cannot imagine will ever go out of style.

And funnily enough if you cannot be bothered to get off the sofa just like in the days of pink dot, deliveroo will go and get you what you need from Whissons.

Want to check if they have what you need give Whissons a call on 0207 586 4050. In our house we know this number by heart.