Retail Therapy at Sea
Quite unlike modern ships, there was no “shopping mall” to visit and part you from your hard-earned cash. That's not to say there were no shops; just two. One was the “Drug Store”. Not quite as it might first seem, a small pack of Aspirin headache tablets was probably the limit.
However, it was the place where almost anything you'd need during a voyage could be bought. Cunard even produced a little booklet for passengers to check whether for example, whether you could buy a simple thing like a gent's comb, or a sewing-set. However, there was another emporium.
The Gift Shop
Opposite the rear-most lifts, on Main Deck, and facing aft was the “Gift Shop”. All the top-name brands were represented, like ceramic figurines from Royal Doulton or fountain pens from Parker. There were several top brands of perfume and toiletries and plenty of gold jewellery or diamond clusters to admire.
For other things to wear, there was a huge range of silk scarves, or how about washable antelope gloves, direct from Paris? Oh, forget paying by credit-card, or even by cheque! Everything was bought and paid for in good old green-back cash.
Even though it was all sold as “duty free”, it was still fairly pricey! Quite often, the Caronia would be visiting ports where a lot of these goods were much cheaper to buy ashore! Nevertheless, they still did a roaring trade with their captive audience aboard.
Because of its out-of-the-way siting, there were several display cases stategically placed around the ship. With several tempting pieces to admire, the important bit was a notice advising where the shop could be found, along with its opening hours.
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North Cape 
