Focus, do they really Do It All??

Advantages: Local to me, Easily accessible
Disadvantages: Lack of stock consistency between stores

...Having moved into our first house a year ago we were struck with the inclination to do something to it. A house that looked good on the surface gradually transformed into some sort of monster that needed a lot of work to make it to our tastes. Coupled with the fact that the previous owner could have been a contestant on DIY SOS we decided that our home form home would be the local DIY shop. Living where we do we have quite good access to all the major chains. IKEA is 25 minutes away depending on traffic, Homebase is just up the motorway and B&Q is in the town. Nearest to us however is Focus and that is where we have chosen to spend the bulk of our ?do the house up? cash. You can hardly fail to miss Focus if you are driving past with it?s garish Blue and Yellow corporate colour scheme, if I were you I would take the time to drop in...

josarah 26.03.2005 · Read review
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Review of Focus Do It All (Shop)

Do it all or not do it all

Advantages: offers
Disadvantages: offers ell out quickly

...Do it all, or Focus, which is the other name it trades under is a large DIY centre. My local one is at High Wycombe, but does it Do It All??? No. It does do quite a lot but there are occassions when it fails to stock it's offers. These offers can be good value, and I assume that they are loss leaders to entice you into the store, and when there you just may buy other items aswell, making them a handsome profit. However, as I say, the offers seem to expire rather quickly at my local store, so I tend to use the other stores such as B & Q warehouse, which in general is much larger and much cheaper! In my opinion it is similar to the offers at makro, if you manage to find it in stock at the offer price you have a bargain, but if not, you may aswell shop elsewhere. Staff are not as helpful or as knowledgable as B & Q either, if you...

willsmj 19.04.2001 · Read review
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Review of Focus Do It All (Shop)

Born To Do It... Well He Did It

Advantages: Lots of bangers
Disadvantages: Nothing specific

...deals with similar sort of things, but he chooses to take things from an alternative angle as instead of doing one which has him sing about a long build-up of time before finally getting to his girl, here he does straight from the clubs, then right down to it. He drops his ?Rewind? lines on this one, and it boosts the energy levels as a result. **Five Stars** 7. ?Walking Away? You should recognise this as you of the key singles from the album, and in it you find that he does things in a very different way to what you expect to get from him as he performs a song where he is forced to back off from all of the funky breaks in the 2-Step thing and do a sincere ballad-type of thing with emotive instrumentals backing him as Mark Hill, of Artful Dodger, shows his personal diversity. **Five Stars** 8. ?Time To Party? If surprised that this...

XICripZ 12.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Born To Do It - Craig David

So, What DO people Do All day?

Advantages: fun and educational, find out all about dfferent jobs and how they affect the community
Disadvantages: none really

...Simon and Schuster's effort was to produce distinctive, yet affordable and sturdy books for children with quality stories and engaging drawings. This they did, with many of the stories going on to become children's classics and available still today in the little board bound books with the gold foil binding. Initially hired as an artist for other's works, in 1963 he sealed his iconic status with his own Golden Book, The Best Word Book Ever. It proved immensely popular and paved the way for many other books, including 1968's most famous entry, What do People do All Day? A very private person, not much more is really known about Richard Scarry, other than by his works. He was quite prolific, having completed over 300 works, and was married to children's writer and fellow Golden Book author Patricia and they have a son, Richard Scarry Jr...

Shroud 17.09.2007 · Read review
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Review of What Do People Do All Day? - Richard Scarry

FOCUS on Do it Yourself

Advantages: Friendly Staff, Wide Range of Products
Disadvantages: Can be expensive

...There have been a few additions to our family recently and we needed to find them somewhere to sleep and feed them..... No, im not talking about kids here, we have two Netherland Dwarf Rabbits, (we THOUGHT were same sex) and one day we came home to 3 babies nuzzling up to their mothers belly!! A sort trip to our local Focus Do It All was in order, and their staff were very helpful in recommending a type of hutch, food for the babies, even having to seperate the parents and generally more information than we ever expected from their staff. They have a wide range of foods on offer for the Rabbits, and we now go their for our kittens needs also. At the weekend, we made some home security improvements (primarily to stop next doors little kids coming round to see the babies!) and their range of Security Equipment was very...

garycallard 04.10.2001 · Read review
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Review of Focus Do It All (Shop)

Focus Don't Do It At All !

Advantages: Local
Disadvantages: Poor and costly range of goods, staff not motivated/trained properly

...When my local Focus store in Whitehaven was to be helped by the addition of the Do It All range, I thought there may be some hope for a poorly run enterprise - how wrong can you be. No matter how many customers or staff are present in store, the queues at the checkouts are ridiculously slow. There is little evidence of what difference the additional three words 'Do It All' to the existing Focus moniker has made. The product range goes nowhere near to extending to that of the dedicated DIA store in nearby Carlisle - nor does the staff professionalism. Whilst seeking help on kitchen and bathroom fitting and products, there were no staff available - despite the store being virtually empty. Plumbing and heating fittings are overpriced as are most of the wood products. The tools 'range' is little more than a physical representation...

harpo63 17.09.2000 · Read review
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Review of Focus / Do It All (Shop)

Duncan Bannatyne, Anyone Can Do It, does what it says....

Advantages: Serves as a good reminder, inspiring
Disadvantages: leaves a few questions

..., the message seems to be "Look, if I can achieve all of this without qualifications or any education to speak of, then anyone can do it." It's clear that this man has worked tremendously hard for his fortunes; it took time and a great deal of personal and family sacrifice, but he got there. If you could bag the one singular trait responsible for Bannatyne's success it would be a very large bag of sheer hard work. Bannatyne also reminds us that no question is ever a stupid question. It is certainly true in his case, that if he hadn't of asked the 'dumb' question he wouldn't of acheived even 1% of what he has today. If I had one criticism it would be that the book leaves you looking for a deeper insight into the man himself. You are left with no doubt of his fierce determination but I believe there is more to offer regarding Bannatyne as a family...

Speakeeze 24.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Anyone Can Do It - Duncan Bannatyne

It's all about what?

Advantages: A beautiful work of art
Disadvantages: A slow and confusing film

...?s heart. Just what is Vinterberg trying to say? Should we merely put it down to an excuse to use some striking visual effects and as a catalyst for some Hitchcockian flights across an Art Deco New York? Perhaps this is the best way to look at it, Vinterberg claims that the plot of the film is unimportant to him and as for genre, he categorises it as a dream. Dream like it is and visually ?It?s All About Love? is a masterpiece. It?s one of those films that you could pause at any point and the resultant frame would always be stunning thanks to DoP Anthony Dod Mantle (also responsible for ?Dogville?). As is the fashion more recently (even in mainstream sci-fi like ?Paycheck?) the future of our planet takes inspiration from the past. Costumes and sets are very reminiscent of the forties and fifties. Production Designer Ben van Os (Oscar...

Zoe 10.09.2004 · Read review
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Review of It's All About Love (DVD)

Can Anyone Do It?

Advantages: Easy to read, gently inspiring
Disadvantages: Wont make you an overnight millionaire!

...What a clever idea. If you are publishing your memoirs, why not capitalise on the fact that your particular story appeals to the yearning we all have inside of us to create and amass wealth. You may not even know or like Duncan Bannatyne, yet be captivated by the fact that there is a book on the shelf that will show you how to achieve one of the most important things in life - make vast amounts of money! Simply entitle it: "Anyone Can Do It." Introduction Most people know Duncan Bannatyne from his appearances on Dragon's Den - a popular BBC Two television programme (Currently airing 9pm Monday's) investing in valid business opportunities, or pouring scorn on less hopeful madcap inventors. The success of the show has no doubt led to the book being of popular interest as the viewing population seems to have a keen interest...

Theworker 05.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of Anyone Can Do It - Duncan Bannatyne

The title says it all....

Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

...struggling against his deafness and learning to rebuild his life, I found that the character became just too unbelievable. Either do the knob gags or do the moving story, but don't try to mix the two. On paper this should make a good film and if it wasn't played for laughs it may well have been more all the better for it. Kaye is naturally funny, his mannerisms and strange ways do make him suited to such a role, and as we found out in his earlier Dennis Pennis days, he does have the ability to be quite vile, a skill is used here. Kaye aside though, the script is severely lacking, not even on a par with the bits from the Young Ones that ended up on the cutting room floor. In order to make the film seem more authentic, interviews with real life DJs have been grafted between scenes, the actual Pete Tong, Carl Cox and the like all pop up which as...

steerpyke 13.12.2005 · Read review
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Review of It's All Gone Pete Tong (DVD)