The author uses the words 'alternative shopping style' to describe how various groups of people help themselves to the rubbish left behind. They come in three different stages. It starts with those who might just be a little hard up (a few well-dressed women, an elderly man), then there are those who are ’completely or partially homeless’ and finally the group which is ‘so filthy and unkempt that they would be sent packing immediately if the merchants were still at work’ arrives.