Lost Shops We Wish Were Still Around | Nostalgic Memories
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 มิ.ย. 2023
- In today's video, we are going to take a nostalgic bus ride to the high streets of Britain's past and remember some of the most iconic names in retail, names that have long since disappeared from the shopping landscape.
If you were ever a Man or Woman at C&A, enjoyed taking your time choosing your pick n mix at Woolworth's or simply loved to find a bargain at Fine Fare, then this is the video for you!
All clips and photographs featured in this video remain the copyright of their respective owners and have been used under the terms of UK fair dealing and US fair use, for the purposes of commentary and review.
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When I left school in 81 I went on a government training scheme at Fine Fare, £25 a week, unemployment was very high back then, after 6 months the manager gave me a full time job, I was over the moon , there was no vacancies but he made one for me, he was a real old school shop manager, you had to have your hair cut regularly, shoes clean and tie done up properly, I owe him so much really because he taught me far more than I had learned at school, I went on to run my own business and I would not have achieved what I have if it wasn’t for him giving me a job.
Yes but Kennedy did it well
That’s wonderful
That's great to hear. I left school in 1988 and went onto a training scheme with a local company. Worked for two years for £35 a week and then got the boot when the two years were up and was replaced by another school leaver on the same scheme. So unfortunately those schemes were also abused by companies looking to exploit heap labour as well as I found out. They also ignored my pleas for a reference (which apparently they were allowed to) when I did finally find something else so they screwed me over twice. I did finally get a lucky break but it was a long time coming and no thanks to them. But I'm glad to hear not everybody had a bad experience.
Going out shopping today is generally an unpleasant experience. Town centres are becoming hostile places to visit.
Well, let’s make them friendly again.
One ☝️ example is Kirkcaldy, Fife.
I know exactly what you mean. I wouldn't set foot in Birmingham again if you paid me.
Not forgetting the rude self entitled disrespectful staff..no manners or customer sensitivity.
@@Baldrick_dogsbody. Yip,,,I agree 100% Aggressive unruly staff seem to be in all four major supermarkets.
As a schoolboy in the 70s, it was an event going to the shops in town on Saturdays. Saving up to buy your favourite record. Good times.
Cassettes for me....
Spending money earned on the paper round 😂
Oh yeah, you were stuffed if there were two singles released the same week that you wanted to buy with your £1 a week pocket money. I remember having to be patient when Jonah Lewie and Queen had big hit singles in the charts in the same week in December 1980. I bought Queen ('Flash') first and then had to wait a whole week to buy Jonah Lewie (Stop the Cavalry). That was about the same time John Lennon was killed. My parents neighbour was really upset about that. I had heard of the Beatles but didn't really know who he was at the time. 'Imagine' was re-released very quickly after and I think it may even have been number 1 that Christmas.
Saturday morning down putney high street with my mates in the mid 70s
@@trevorbrown6654 Imagine reached number one at the beginning of the new year (1981). Stop The Cavalry by Jona Lewie
ought to have been the Christmas number one, instead it was Saint Winifred's School Choir with the dire 'There's No One Quite
Like Grandma.' I blame that on Lennon's death.
Those days were good. Not just nostalgia. We didn’t realise then compared to today. We were lucky to have experienced those times and shops
It is nostalgic. They were great fixtures but so many just didn’t keep up with the times. I remember BHS cafes were terrible and costly. Littlewoods lost to Primark basically. Some of the other department stores just lost the plot. You went for service and there was never anyone on the shop floor. Many were just destined to fail - some unscrupulous investors - but also a complete slowness to adapt.
these 'iconic' shops existed for one reason and one reason only, and that was to make (and maximise ) profits, and i don't feel in the slightest bit 'lucky' then or now to live under the jack boot of capitalism.
@@johnlakin5895 We had a different capitalism prior to Thatcher. I've heard it called Keynesian as opposed to neo-liberal. I think it was better as it saw some of the best improvement in living standards ever seen in history in western europe after ww2. It wasn't perfect but it was more grounded in national sovereignty and more condusive social cohesion rather than stock market fluctuations. Even if luxury products were proportionally more expensive. Big business/monied interests jumped at the opportunity to dismantle it after the oil crisis threw the system off whack. Not saying neo-liberalism didn't create a wealthier country though, it did. But for various reasons the system which is heavily dependent on continual growth (which is not always possible in a finite unpredictable world) seems broken now almost like its beyond the point of repair.
Capitalism stunk then and it stinks now....abolish it....socialism is long overdue.
@RichieRich1234RICH To be fair the BHS cafes weren't that good were they?
Bring back, Anita Harris. We are sick of Holly Willoughby.
Thank you! I've been scratching my head trying to remember the name of the lady in the thumbnail. She's a lovely lady.
P.S. I've never watched Holly Willoughby on TV
@@Gynra She used to be everywhere in the seventies especially advertising
Yes, she definitely had a neater 'arris.
Willoughby's day's are numbered, she's a disgrace
@@Geoff4822 that's 70s saucy inneundo bring back Sid James as well
I think Woolworths was the most iconic british high street shop that is no longer. It was a part of British life especially at Xmas 😢
The Woolworths in my town has never had another shop use the building since it closed.
@@Raven4508 I have seen a few of those. Very sad to see :-(
This is really surprising as Woolies are massive in Australia, similar to your Tesco.
@@RitchieCollins The Aussies just stole the name, not associated with the UK store in any way. The UK store was more of a poor mans BHS than an out and out supermarket like Woolies AU.
RIP Wilco - Woolworths 2023.
Now we have the same old coffee shops, betting shops, charity shops and Turkish barbers. The high street I went to back in the day is now a distant memory. Great video 👍
Yes, and tattoo parlours, nail bars, kebab shops, poundland, etc
And vape shops 😔
So agree. Firstly you get robbed by the authority for parking your car, then outcome the chuggers with big plastic buckets wanting (not cash) but direct debits. There's no joy going shopping any more but the likes of Amazon killed the high street and the online shopper enabled them.
@@BB-wc9jx I don't mind saying that some of these premises attract the wrong type of clientele, doing the area no good at all.
Quite right, today's UK high street is indicative of a really bad economy. Even the once proud and forward looking Malls are becoming economic wastelands, boarded up or leased for peanuts as charity shops. Don't blame ONLINE SHOPPING that is what they want you to believe and it is fake news. High streets and Malls in Europe are doing well and believe it or not, they too have the internet and bloody eBay. The truth is simple, we are individually noticeably much poorer than our European counterparts. Underpaid and over taxed we have less to spend.
You do not know what you got until you lose it. They were better times, you enjoy going shopping, so much to see and buy. Meet people you knew, not so much now. The high street was so clean and tidy. Wish we could go back to those times as we have lost so much.
W.H.Smith might join this list any day now. Its a miracle they've lasted this long to be honest.
I agree - it used to be the go-to shop for books! Then Amazon came along...
I know , our store in Hemel Hempstead has closed cos apparently " the landlord wanted to sell it for flats " what ? Bang in the middle of a shopping centre ? 'Effing ridiculous. I mean , it's just the end of an era .
Reading WHSmith has posters up about their new toys r us section being open. They're definitely lost their way, they're next to a dedicated toy shop FFS.
I think you might be right. Bookshops and record shops. RIP.
WHSmith are closing high street stores and have substantially reduced its HQ staffing levels. They will likely continue to trade in airports/hospitals/train stations. I guess most people don’t know that they are a global company with travel retail stores all over the world. This is their main source of income and not the tired looking U.K. high street stores. They also own funky pigeon and cult pens.
Rumbelows, Freeman, Hardy and Willis, Dolcies, Russell and Bromley, Bally, Army and Navy ahh my youth in the 70s
Some great names there
Yes indeed dad used to always pronounce it rumBELLOWS😂😂😂😂
Don’t forget Ravel to, I used to love their shoes.
@Paul Woodbridge lol tell me about it I'm forever correcting people as it is my surname and yes my family started that shop way back when
I met my husband outside of Freeman Hardy and Willis on a blind date back in the 70s. How cool is that!
Woolworths was great. One could find so many different and interesting things there.
I got a gilt badge from woolies The Beatles it said. 2 shillings and 6 pence. I wish i still had it.
@@priscillaroberts7945 Now there's a subject for a t.v. show - items you gave or threw away but now wish you'd kept.
But if there's one thing from my youth that I miss and would like returned...well, that'd be my youth.
@@teeteringonthebrink.305 don't look at me ,i haven't got it. X
I really wish I had a time machine to go back and re-live it all. This video brought back so many memories. The high street is a sad place now.
It's all about shopping online now
To think about stores like C&A and BHS brings back such nostalgic memories. It’s not only the shops I miss but our whole way of life, specially half-term shopping trips with my sisters and mother, with a coffee and cake in one of the old cafés . I suppose something else has replaced all these happy memories for a new generation but , for me , the demise of the old shops has taken away something from society .
The point is shopping was not just that. Whilst out one met friends or made new ones. Browsing and getting new ideas was part of the experience. I feel sorry for Gen Z , our life was lived in colour ,for todays young it's insipid black and white.
@@johnroekoek9864the Netherlands, too.
@@ShaCaroShaCaro Totally agree with you. My grandkids don't do it. They shop on line all the time and just go to Mcdonalds for an outing.
They don't want people mixing,divide and control.wait till they get rid of money then its complete control.
The Globalists (Communists) have taken away all of our nations much loved British highstreet stores and replaced them with multinational corporate ones leaving us with homoginised high streets that all look alike. Welcome to the New World Order guys.
Littlewoods, Etam,Comet, MFI and dewhurst butchers spring to mind as lost classics
I remember buying an internet from comet. Saw the advert one TV, all the internet you can eat for £20 for the whole year. Can't remember the company name but I think they regretted it straight away. Their dial-up access number was 0800, the first ISP to do that. Freeserve! of course it was.
Army & Navy and Alders also spring to mind as well.
@@satyris410freeserve, owned by dixons
Those were the days!
Loved my Woolworths store as a Kid, the Airfix soldiers, model kits, and pick and mix were my go-to back then.
Maybe you'll remember the sixpenny Cherilea Daleks as well. .
Oh yes, the Pick N’ Mix. Good memories.
pick'n'mix was so much fun; fizzy cola bottles.
Don’t forget the broken biscuits
Amen to all!! 👍👍
I still miss Woolies ❤
Chelsea Girl was a great female clothes shop that's long gone. Plus of course BHS and C&A. Index, Littlewoods, Peter Whites, Stationary Box. Good Times 😊
Online shopping has devastated many towns all over Great Britain
Oh how very true, many now full of rough sleepers, sadly.
@@Steve14ps Gimme shelter. Ghoststowns. The consumer machine moves on.
I think shops would have done better if they opened for longer, maybe even 24/7... when the internet was creeping up most town centers would only have one day where they would open 'late' (till 7pm or 8pm), so if you wanted anything and finished work between 4 and 6 you were either rushing (which is not fun), or having to go shopping on the weekend when it was busy (which is also not fun. lol).
Also one thing I don't miss is the annoyance of going to a store and them not having what you want or sold out, making you feel like you wasted time.
@@Zauchibrick and mortar shops can’t compete like that. They can’t open 24/7, well they could but would lose money. They have costs like staff and energy bills and would likely get hardly any footfall at 3am on a Tuesday morning. Online is open 24/7 for the low cost of a server and has fully automated payment processing. High street shopping has gone for good and will never come back. Even if any given govt slashed business rates they still won’t be as competitive because fixed costs are always going to be higher.
@@Zauchi "Also one thing I don't miss is the annoyance of going to a store and them not having what you want or sold out, making you feel like you wasted time." That is where internet shopping has succeeded, you no longer have to traipse from shop to shop looking for what you want, it doesn't matter if what you want is in John O'Groats or Lands End, it will be posted to you! I said I would never do internet shopping, but.............
Christmas only really began when Woolies put their decorations out! I have fond memories of Timothy White’s, Lipton’s and The Golden Egg
Timothy White's forever immortalised in Dad's Army
Golden Egg…first weekend job I had - waiting in the Orpington branch. 45p/hr😁
Lipton. The makers of tea that you only get if you go on holiday and don't pack English tea bags.
@@SuzanneO707 I’d forgotten that Lipton’s still made tea. I was thinking of Lipton’s supermarkets.
@@missworm Last time I went to Paris the Liptons teabags with strings were in hotel room and got them if you ordered tea in the cafes. Some are lemon tea. To be honest, its probably best forgotten. Lol.
Woolworths is the one I miss most. I loved it as a kid. I worked in it as a student. I bought my first records there. My own daughter loved it as a child. The toy section was great and I liked the fact that you could find bargains there. Though their goods weren't always the best quality, they were affordable.
I remember Miners make up ...
@@Raven4508 They used to sell little glass animals, jewellery, clothes and framed wall pictures at one time. I still have a little pink glass elephant from there and a pendant my best friend at junior school bought me for my birthday. The stones are only glass but it's pretty and now has sentimental value.
I remember getting my posters from there as a kid and the pick n mix. Ah, the good old days.
Woolworths sold their own brand records called Embassy. I still have an EP of trad jazz tracks! It was also the first place I knew that sold videos !!
@@janewalker3921All the Embassy songs were covers. I was disappointed to buy a Beatles record only to discover it wasn't the Beatles singing it.
I loved and still miss Woolworths. Worked there for two years in the 1960's as a Saturday girl.
I miss Woolworths too. My mum worked there in the 1950s, she was on the stationery counter!
Glad I'm not the only one who misses a simpler time. All of this constant change gets dizzying as you get older. I'm only 51. God knows how I'll cope when I'm 81 and I'm having to deal with the metaverse, augmented reality and robots cutting my toenails!
David, I'm 65 and bludy scared! Really apprehensive about Artificial Intelligence. I think everyone should be.
It's nice to read how confident you are of reaching 81...health and circumstances permitting of course.
@@teeteringonthebrink.305 I'm certain of it. I think late 90's is my end point.
@@davidthomas-ot4cl With such a positive attitude like that, how can you fail? You have my genuine good wishes.
As young teenagers, my sister and I used to go into BHS and try on all the old lady hats. It used to make us laugh uncontrollably. Simple, happy times!
@zoefoster1873 Guess what? You weren't the only ones. We boys were just as bad. We used to hold up bra and knicker sets against each other for the embarrassment factor. We had such laughs but it was all harmless fun.
Yes we did that too, I'd forgotten about the hats 👒
Good harmless fun.
I used to pretend to be a mannequin in C&A window and made passers by jump by suddenly moving or pulling a face 😂
I still have some BHS jumpers that I wear regularly - I will need to retire some soon though, as they are getting motheaten!
As young teenagers, my sister and I used to go shoplifting in BHS. It used to make us laugh uncontrollably. Simple, happy times!
Lovely video and a lovely reminder of simpler times, when you didn’t need to download an App just to park.
My local high street has, in the last 20 years or so, ‘lost’ BHS, HMV, C&A, Waterstones, Burtons, Debenhams, M&S, Dixons, Currys,, Virgin, Toys ‘R’ Us, a large Post Office and Woolworths. And now we’ve probably lost Wilco.
Just a sign of the times I guess and very sad. I still remember my ‘old’ high street as a kid in the 60’s with actual bakers, butchers, (one of them being my grandad’s), chemists (Boots and Timothy Whites), hardware shops, ‘sweet’ shops, Odeon, Gaumont and ABC cinemas - and shoe shops galore, (with handy and totally unsafe x-ray machines.)
And most of my large vinyl collection was bought from Our Price and Woolies.
For me Our Price brings back very fond memories. It was 1987 and I'd arranged to meet my first date outside Our Price after we met at a school disco the week before. When he turned up I kept looking at him thinking his face is very familiar to me, but just cant think why. A few weeks later he invited me to a family party and I met his uncle who just happened to be the late Nick Kamen. Such a lovely family and 5 years of my life that I look back with great fondness. ❤
Oh wow, what great memories they must be.
Such a shame all those stores are gone, life was so simple then, now you need an app or have to make a phone call to even park the car! The sad thing is most people miss the way things were.😢
C&A is still here in the Netherlands 😄
Far, FAR, more simpler to use an app. What rose tinted planet are you living on?
@@Russellye5man1 You think technologies are rose tinted? You seen the toxic sweat shops that produce the mobbies? And the horrible waste dumps that all that crap goes into, usually in some third world country. Not saying that we should wallow in nostalgia, but things race ahead and its hard for some people to to handle or relate to.
@@SuzanneO707 presume you typed that on an electronic device 🤭👏
@@Russellye5man1 Of course, but the production of devices, and the waste it ultimately creates should be much better. You can't do much these days without owning a device of some sort. All the banks and most of the shops have upped sticks in my town . Just think it can all be a bit daunting for some people.
Woolworths wasn't just a shop, it was an experience, espically if you were a kid in the early 2000s. i have so many memories of those stores that will never be replicated again. Unless you were there during the time its hard to explain just how good those stores were
I am surprised that Woolworths was still somewhere that kids loved 20 years ago. As a kid in London in the 1970s, I would have thought that the 70s were its heyday with kids for the pic n mix, Airfix models, cheap paperbacks, records and cassettes etc. Just on Saturday, as I entered the Art Deco building which had been a Woolies - the main part of which is now an Iceland - I was thinking of my primary school days buying sweets in Woolies which seemed to have everything you could want when you were young.
My parents even bought our sitting room table [circular glass panel in square top] from Woolies in 1973. But as I grew older and richer, I never went to Woolies even though there was one right near me as we didn't buy the cheap stuff [and there was a Poundstretchers opposite competing with it from the 1990s] bar the odd extension lead or lightbulb. Then in 2007 I bought a DVD player from Woolies [and they mistakenly sent me 2 by mistake] my first Woolies purchase for years. Nonetheless, I felt great nostalgic sadness as it shut down in 2009 as I did with the BHS shutting a few years later which I had visited occasionally.
@@sutapasbhattacharya9471 if you're going back 50 years with all these memories just goes to show how right they got the whole shopping experience. Shame it died the way it did. Guess online ruined everything. I hope It'll make a comeback one day. Would love my kids to experience what we did as kids
I loved buying records from Woolworths in the 70s but couldn't understand why they had their own "charts" displayed which didn't match the official top 40 lol😅
A couple of weeks ago I was watching some repeats of the Channel 5 show The Cotswalds with Pam Ayres [born in 1947]. I think it was in the episode in which the ex-newsreader Anne Diamond [also from that region] appeared that both spoke of their childhood memories at the local Woolworths which out in rural England must have been even more special given the lack of competing shops.
I’m old enough to remember Woolworths it wasn’t that amazing. THe only really cool thing about it was the pick and mix and we often weren’t allowed to get those unless parents were feeling generous.
The toys were kind of mediocre compared to proper toy shops or even other department stores. The stationary and books were better in other places as well like WHSmith’s or Waterstones. I was a bit young to be interested in CDs at the time but they seemed to have a wider selection in places like HMV. I imagine the real advantage was price and having lots of things in one place. But you don’t really notice price as a child.
That model of business still exist to some extent in places like B&M and boyes. But I can’t say Woolworths ever really appealed to me that much as a child outside pick n mix.
Really if I’m honest I miss DVD and video rental shops a lot more. Imagine a world where all the movies you might want to watch are all in one place instead of spread across multiple different services that you have to pay subscription fees to access. That used to be my reality.
I agree with many people on here - there was more sense of community 40 years ago. Just out of interest, the Depeche Mode video for the song 'See You' takes me straight back to the heady days of the 1980s, and it was filmed in Woolworths in Hounslow. Not from London, myself, but that video encapsulates exactly the reason why I miss the 1980s. It is full of the sense of the way life, living and shops used to be. A much simpler and seemingly happier time. Sadly missed times.
Gosh I miss the 80s and 90s soooooo much!
Great stores, great times. People were so much more sociable and mannered then
Things were neat and folded right.
Ah the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia.
@@garyfreeman896 ... No its actually true, people were far more friendly, sociable and well mannered years ago.
@@martinwebb1681 It's nice to remember it like that but it's not true.
@@garyfreeman896 ... Well maybe not from where you were from, but certainly was the case for me.
It's sad that the "high street" as we think of it here is largely gone. Physical shopping is an amazing thing. Perhaps the greatest time for me was the sheer joy as a small child being taken around a busy high street of shops on December afternoons after dark, snowy (or wet!), cold, and looking at all the beautifully lit, animated Christmas toy displays through the shop windows, all competing to try to be the best display that year, or at least topping the previous year in some way. Memories of those trips would then become a Christmas list when I got home! There is a magic and excitement to physically being amongst actual items on sale that just isn't the same as ordering stuff online. We also lose a valuable shared social pleasure when groups of the shops that sell a variety of products are allowed to decline.
My 16 year old daughter , is into the High street. She prefers it, I think. She won't speak to me., but she trawls charity shops, for old school fashion, which is what I did. Back in the day. I couldn't even afford C&A. There was just one Oxfam in my town, and that's gone.
And she nicks my music, cassettes, and vinyl. Lol.
I agree. With the decline in the local high street there is no sense of community . There's hardly anyone around because of lack of shops, so I never bump into anyone I know like I used to. With so many people working from home, buying online (including groceries), it's creating a society where there's no need to leave home! I have noticed more people having takeaways delivered as well, rather than popping into their local branch.
@@jacquelinepearson2288
My town never had a big town centre but it had most of the basics served by independents and chains. Most gone now like Co-Op, Zodiac, Blockbusters, Dixons, Curries, Rumbelows, Woollies, International. Mostly replaced by Pound shops, coffee shops and crap restaurants. W H Smiths is still technically open but how I have no idea, I haven't seen a customer go in there for years.
Thank landlords and investment companies for buying property and jacking up the rents to stupid amounts that people would rather just close up than pay and what else doesn't help is the rates some councils charge just put off business even wanting to bother in the first place.
@@jacquelinepearson2288 if it's any comfort, times change for better or for worse.
Tower records, HMV, Toys r us, children’s world, Kwik save, Food giant. Good whole days
I worked at a supermarket called Presto back in the late 80s as my first job, it got took over by Safeway if memory serves. They tried to go upmarket and the food thrown away was criminal. My and dad used to sneak in the bin and grab stuff after work....
I went on a behind the scenes tour at a Presto from my school as a kid.
@@CartmanUK26 can you remember what your impressions were?
Dixons & Also Maplin two stores I always had to pop in when I saw both gone :(, Our Price was amazing, my local store when I was a teen was better for prices than the local HMV best part was if I was buying multiple items and could prove HMV was cheaper on one of the items they would match the price, the customer service of our price was outstanding and the staff seemed like they enjoyed the job.
It is not just lost shops but a whole way of life that is gone - because of hateful governments.
and hateful people
So true , and you see the damage that they have done on a daily basis…..
@Mr Nobody 💔
Shopping hasn’t gone anywhere 😂😂😂😂 every single supermarket is always busy, all the main shopping centres are too. Have you never been to the Trafford centre? It’s always heaving. Love Trafford
It’s the people that let them get away with it and always forget by the time of the next election.
I was born in 1977 so had the best 80s childhood! Loved C&A and Zodiac Toys💜
Has nobody mentioned John Menzies? Bought loads of stuff there like Magazines, Records, Computer games, Toys, Stationery, Sweets etc. Brilliant place. Really miss them.
It was great wasn’t it
Shoe shops Freeman Hardy Willis … Fosters, Chelsea Girl,
Menzies are still going strong in 🇬🇧
They specialise in Warehouse and Aviation.
Yes, I remember Menzes. They were competitors to WH Smiths, they were never quite as good but still great.
So many wonderful memories especially Woolworth! Now let me see, I remember Lilly & Skinner, Dolcis and Chelsea Girl. 😁
Aww Dolcis...I loved that shop❤
Trueform and freeman hardy willis
@@romystumpy1197 OMG!!! Yes!!😄
So did I. They had great styles for teenage girls/ twenty somethings in the 1980s.
When you mentioned Chelsea Girl, I instantly remembered Bus Stop. Remember them? I loved Wallis as I hit 20 thinking it was 'better class' ! Oh my! But, Bus Stop to me in Edinburgh then, was very fashionable for the girl in her teens though it wasn't exactly cheap. After I bought a new outfit, it was off to Ravel for matching shoes - the higher the better. Those were the days.
Woolworths was such a useful shop!
I think Wilkinson stores saw off Woolies.
@@flybobbie1449 they seem to be the modern equivalent of Woolies.
@@flybobbie1449 Woolies was a much larger company than Wilkinson. 813 Woolworths to 408 Wilcos at their peaks. Woolies just didn't modernise and so were left behind. They should have dropped a few of their lines, like 'White' goods and they might have made it.
I miss Woolies the most. When we were kids back in the 50s 60s, my mum used to buy our plastic summer sandals there and my brother's trouser belts with the metal S shape fastening. Sometimes we were allowed a quarter of Jazz Drops as a treat.
@@amandaduggan9051 oh God yes, the S shape fastening belts! I'd completely forgotten about them until you just mentioned it!
Woolworths… the shop you went into with no idea of what you needed until you came out with it.
I still have stuff from there that I still use - decent stuff. C&A - I still have some of the clothing.
Going into town shopping was like a morning/afternoon of exercise, also meeting up with friends/families to chat. It often was a day out - which no one does any more… and most towns had a huge market in the town centre.
So much isolation nowadays sadly.
I remember Woolworth as a child in the 1970’s for the record department and the pick and mix sweets. We also use to buy Plimsole’s (in the days before Trainers) and my soccer boots from good ole Woolies!
I remember my Mum buying me my first pair of football boots from Woolies, around 1975, for about 4 quid (couldn’t afford a brand like Adidas back then). They were yellow, with black stripes & kinda looked like Adidas boots.
But, they weren’t & I was teased mercilessly for wearing a pair of ‘bananas’. Fucking uncomfortable, too!
@@razzle1964 yes I think one of or the main brand was Gola but that was 50 years ago so I could be mistaken?
@@smiffyLevel6 Yeah, Gola rings a bell.
Shops like Index, Supasnaps, Co-op department stores, Redifusion telly shops, John Collier tailors are all gone but not forgotten.
John Collier, John Collier, the window to watch 🎶🎶
We had a big Co-op in Walsall, top floor was a ballroom. Also account dept with those vacuum tubes for sending money around the store.
@@flybobbie1449 I remember those tubes. The big Co-op in Liverpool had them also, as did Blackler's, part of The T J Hughes local chain
@@harpersmythe658 Remember the tympani bit at the end?
@@harpersmythe658 you beat me to it 😆
So nostalgic and beautiful history behind it I would do anything to go back to this times
Good old times. Hard to reconcile the fact that the 80's started 43 years ago. I am old now and only 53.
These shops provided escape from a miserable upbringing. A place to go & sometimes buy things. Woolworths was a truly happy place for me. They sold records, tapes, clothes & stationery for school, plus pick n mix.
Our Price was a shop I'd escape to so often 🎶🎧
Nowadays I dread going to a shop for anything other than food. As a kid the experience of a shop was different. I felt like I was visiting a nice place & it was civilised. I don't like using online shopping but that's now life. Buying anything is of no pleasure when the cost of living is so harsh
Grace Brothers
John Menzies, Tandy, Blockbuster, Chelsea Girl, Presto, Dolcis, Ratners……..the list is endless and it’s such a shame.
Every Saturday my sister and I used to go into Birmingham with our mum and dad and choose clothes from Chelsea Girl and Goldee.
We’d come home, mum would do dinner and dad would watch World of Sport for the footie results. Then we moved to Dubai.
Best days of our lives ❤❤❤❤
What great days they were.
Unfortunately,those days are long gone, but those that remember have those memories in their hearts
I still miss Woolworths, a part of my childhood, teen years, record buying, Christmas selection box shopping, shopping with my own children etc.. You could get almost everything there, big or small. I remember clothing stores I used to shop at, including Richard Stores. Children's clothing stores like Adams, Etam and let's not forget Mothercare. Shoe shops like Stead & Simpsons, Freeman Hardy & Willis, Dolcis, Just so many names long gone now. Such a shame.
Was the Saturday Boy at Woolies in Bracknell, 1982-1984 and was great fun, plus was one of the highest paid Saturday job in Town at £16! Had so much fun with so many happy memories .. Xmas, Easter, even Stock Staking was a laugh, and some real characters to boot. Looking back was a privilege to have worked at Woolies and was so sad when they closed in '09.
Thanks for making me feel as old as my kids constantly tell me I am . and flooding me with Nostalgia .
Aah, Woolworths! Where I had my first ever job!
I don’t think any family shopping trip was complete without a visit there!
We don’t know what we’ve got until it’s gone, do we?
I use to half inch a sweet or two from the sweety section (Farnham, Surrey), sorry about that!
@maratonlegendelenemirei3352 Ha ha! When I was in primary school some of the older boys would talk about getting toys and Airfix models from the free counter in Woolworths. I was so innocent I was surprised when I couldn't find the free counter. Then the penny dropped and I realised that they were stealing. I wouldn't have had the nerve to do it because I knew what would happen at home if I was caught 😂😂😂
I worked in Woolworths around 1964, that's when they sold fruit & veg. I worked on that counter.
Woolworth I used to go with my dad to get some sweets of sweety counter always taste better at Woolworth I lived in a sweet shop 😊
Had my first job there to, four hours on a Saturday when I was 15, full day when I was 16. I then worked there full time, toiletries department then make up counter. Great days 👍👍👍👍
I'm 48 and loved this!!! Remember them all, singing the do it all song!
What a fantastic trip down memory lane. I loved C&A!
Love C&A - went to Boden in France very recently and saw C & A - had to go in - as still a going concern, wish they would open stores again in the UK
Still alive and well in spain, but not somewhere i would shop today. Still 1990´s fasion, although maybe that´s back in fasion???
I loved C and A as well!
I loved Woolies and the Clock House dept at C&A (among others). When I got married in the 70’s, Fine Fare was my go-to midweek shop and Tesco was our main shop. I miss all the old shops including Richard Shops, their clothing lines were fantastic.
I agree , missing Richard’s shops, used to buy dresses there, good quality and decent materials. Also Laura Ashley and also M&S, which has not gone, but quality has left them.
@@joyelmes7814yes I agree and with M&S also being very expensive now, for boring and not great quality clothing.
My mum bought me a maxi coat in Richards Shops back in the 60s. I still have it to this day. Clothes were better quality back in the day. There was a clothes shop called Kibby's in our local town which catered for all ages where you could buy clothes on account and pay something off the total each week!
C&A still exist. Just not in the UK.
loved Richard Shops, until recently I still had a top from there. Its quite sad thinking about all the losses. Absolutely loved Woolies, spent my childhood there with my dad buying me little notebooks. and yes Clock House was where I got so many of my clothes. C & A was always the first choice. Got the most beautiful summer sundress there about 1982, wish I had kept it!!!
Ahh the good old days of yester year, when I had nothing but I had genuine happiness 😊
I've heard of all the shops mentioned, but our town wasn't big enough to have many of them. We had a Woolworth's, but it wasn't large enough to have a restaurant. Woolworth's is the one on the list I miss the most. I also miss the independent shops and those with a few branches that were so common in the 70s. A shopping trip back then was something to look forward to, and if you had birthday or Christmas money to spend that made it even better. Now, it's just a chore, with so many empty and boarded up shops that it is so sad what our town centres have become.
" thats the wonder of woolies , thats the wonder of good old woolies " we used to call their sweet counter "pick n nick "
Beatties model shop was my absolute favourite place as a child and teenager. I was very much into my R.C models and used to get so excited on a weekend when my parents would take me there to spend my pocket money I'd saved
I used to catch the train to Nottingham just to browse around beatties. I was into tamiya radio controlled cars at the time.
I’m 67 and I remember going to Woolworths cafe for chips n beans and a milkshake after a stint at the Saturday afternoon Locarno 💃in Coventry 😊
Aww I used to enjoy going into Woolworth's when I was a teenager, nicked loads of stuff from there.😁
On the subject of British Home Stores I still have a jumper from them from 1979 when on vacation. Darn good quality
The problem with online is that unless you actually know the product, it can be a surprise when you get it.
Now that's what you call a quality jumper!
Online shopping is a hit and miss affair. You cant see the quality of what you get.
@bogusmogus9551 I go to the shop first for hands-on and only buy know brands.
Them days if you went into town their would be a number of shops selling items you want so you could shop around for the best or cheapest. Now you are lucky to find one shop selling things you want
Very true!
True, but that's our fault mostly, had we all not deserted the high street in favour of giant superstores and more recently the Internet then the possibility of them being able to exist could well have still been here. Unfortunately convenience comes at a cost, but they are at least great memories. 👍
Its all charity shops and monstrous supermarkets. But I think thats inevitable . In the system we have?
Saturday shopping was nothing short of great back in the 80's and 90's despite having less money back then. The opposite is where we are now though. More money but nothing much to get excited about spending it on these days.
@martindunstan8043 I think it's more the internet. Younger people just want to sit with a computer or mobile and play games and order items . People have got lazier
The Christmas Woolworths advert was always packed with the TV stars, a different song every year and it lasted for the whole slot between programmes sometimes. Me and my sisters loved watching it, have us ideas for what we wanted Father Christmas to bring us 😁
P.S. Does anyone remember Hillards supermarket?
I remember all these shops back in the good ole days. Im 53 now and may sound like an old grumpy sod but Im so proud to of been a part of the last generation from the old skool. I was a 70s kid and we had the last of the best of everything.... then the evil internet was born and all is gone! Killing the high street shops & killed the music industry for sure! I watched with a happy smile & i shed a tear i have to admit😢
I worked in a record chain called "Cloud 7". They had 14 stores. I had a brilliant 4 years at the company, but when Our Price brought them out, all the freedoms of what to purchase and how many were taken away, with Our Price head office making decisions! I left pretty damn quick, and made the best career decision in my life, I trained for this new "computer industry" just starting up!
The demise of the smaller local supermarket chains, usually in high street locations, such as Kwik Save, Fine Fare, Liptons, Mace, VG, Wm Lows, Prestos etc was bad for competition and led to a decline in town centre shopping trips. The rise of the large supermarkets, usually on edge of town sites created a dominance in food retail of only 4 - Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsburys, although the German stores of LIDL and Aldi has made that dominance considerably more challenged than it was.
When I got married in 1985, Presto was my local supermarket, thanks for reminding me about it, I thought it had always been Safeway, but theres a vague Presto memory there!!!
Ah, Kwik Save. You got get a Swiss roll, 2 packs of crisps, and a big bottle of lemonade for less than a pound.
I wish I was a kid back in the 1970s again, before I knew what life really was. Dad would always take me into the electronics shops, he loved gadgets and gizmos.
Radio shack
Tandy
@@silverline6935 Forgot that one. Yeah, gadgets.
I'm old enough to remember Woolworth as a child, when the floors were wooden (with sawdust sprinkled on) and you could buy broken biscuits from big glass containers on the counters. I always shopped in Woolworth until the last one I knew, in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, closed only a few years ago (it was replaced with an Iceland store).
A master class walk down memory lane for anyone who grew up in the UK there was something great about saving up your pocket money and hitting the shops for must haves. Thanks for such a thoughtful and bon biased review for when the high street ruled and nothing was a click away!
C&A was a great shop , we had Littlewoods , Woolworths , Spooners , Zales , Ratners , Chelsea Girl , Etam. and endless shoe shops , no MacDonalds or Burger King but we had Wimpy 👍🏻 all of the above are gone 😢 plus probably half a dozen I've forgotten !
Oh boy, i used to love going to Wimpy, it was always a family treat
Actually Wimpy still exists. It doesn’t have many sites around the country but there are still a few.
@@c0d3w4rri0r ... Its not the original Wimpy, that went in 2007. The Wimpy you are referring to are owned by Famous Brands which is a South African company.
@@martinwebb1681 er I mean it got sold but I wouldn't say that makes it not the original. For example House of Fraser has been bought and sold several times.
@@c0d3w4rri0r ... Yes, but the original wimpy menu has long gone, so its nothing like the same.
C&A & BHS took me all the way through from being a baby in a buggy, buying all of my school uniforms all the way through to buying outfits for nights out, my first work outfits/uniforms & my first home ware items & I STILL miss them both.
C&A still exist in the Netherlands 😊
Brilliant, I'm old enough to remember nearly all of these...I new every word to the "do it all" advert. Going shopping in the 80s and 90s was a great day out
My first "proper" part-time job was at British Home Stores in the lighting department, mid-80s. It taught me a lot, turn up on time, keep your uniform clean and pressed, work hard. I spent all the money (6 Saturday afternoons) on a radio cassette player for my Dad at Christmas. He cried when I gave it to him & I'd spent all my wages on him. It was worth it.
Lovely video, Stu! Please keep them coming.
Here in Manchester, UK, we used to nickname C&A 'the Catholic Association' because, for one of many reasons, we kids would be brought into town (as we called it) to get either suited and booted (the lads) or try on white dresses (for girls) for First Holy Communion and Confirmation. White socks, shoes etc.
After all these years, I still miss C&A and the other shops you mentioned in your video.
Also, I went with my dad to town (Manchester), where he bought a quality tweed hat (and a couple of good shirts and ties) for going to Mass (and other occasions of note) from the late lamented Dunn & Co men's clothing shop. I remember it being quite an adventure for a young girl like me, not only to see the rows of ties and other stuff around the shop but also to gawp at those exquisite stained-glass windows above the main shop window depicting the coats of arms of all the cities where their branches were based - it was magical for me.
Peace and All Good.
Glad you liked the video. Many thanks! Oh yes, Dunn & Co - that's another proper blast from the past.
What a beautifully written comment. You did Manchester proud there. Greeting from town!
One big one that you missed is Littlewoods. The only one I miss is the recent demise of Debenhams, I still can't believe that it's gone! Thanks.
Littlewoods is mentioned.
@@elliej11j68 Oh no it isn't ! I have just rewatched the video and neither saw nor heard any mention of it
@@elliej11j68 nope, watch again!
I'll probably do a part 2 to this video so will definitely give Littlewoods a well-deserved mention there.
@@stuviewtv brilliant! Thanks.
Something so quaint and innocent about these adverts.
I worked at Tandy in Romford and I learned to play the keyboard in there 🥳🤭🤭
Fine Fare brought back memories, wow. In my neck of the woods, we had Fine Fare, which was then replaced by Shoppers Paradise, Gateway, Somerfield, the Spa.
It didn't bring back any memories because fine fare is a load of bollocks the guy made up for padding
I miss C&A. Was a damn good quality but cheap clothing store. I've still got a 32 year old C&A ski jackey. Metal zip pull broke off after some years, but the zip still works. A little worn around the cuffs, but still wearable, and for £60, the warmest best coat I've ever bought.
It’s in France and Germany still
Yes I still have a C&A herringbone coat which must be around fifty years old. And some shirts and chino's which are more recent . The quality is great. I still shop at C&A when I go abroad.
Snidey "comedians" used to make lazy jokes about C&A like they did about Skoda. But Skoda have made an impressive comeback so fingers crossed.
C&A advert
"Doo-doo doo-doo. Doo-doo doo-doo."
@@DB-np2vg The whole lot was built like tanks. If you buy something now, it disintegrates if too breath on it.
The netherlands still has c&a
My mum ,worked as manageress at fine Fare, she's now 87, brings back many memories of times gone by, HAPPY days!!
Who didn't love the Toys R Us adverts around the Holiday's.
Pollards, Radio Rentals, Victoria Wines, Dixons, and the old department stores:
Pratts in Streatham - part of the John Lewis partnership
Arding & Hobbs in Clapham Junction
Army & Navy in Victoria
Le Bon Marché in Brixton
Chelsea Girl
I loved the Clock House girls' clothing range in C&A - very trendy for its time!
Before the Aldi/Lidl invasion, there was Makro and Netto. My local Netto was forced out of business in less than a year when Lidl opened up right next door - it was brutal!
Shoe shops: Curtess, Saxone...
and Kwik Save helped my grant cheque stretch further when I was a poor student - 18p for a loaf of bread!!
Happy days....😊
wow, Saxone, always went there for all my shoes. got a shock when I discovered theyve gone, and Dolcis too, where do people buy their shoes now, I live in trainers and any occasion shoes probably go to Marks and Spencer.
I bought some underwear at a C&A store in Vienna a couple of years ago, and got ridiculously emotional when I saw the "Canda" label on the shorts:-) The two branches I saw in Austria still had "Clock House" branding too.
I’ve just put a satin pyjama shorts and top set off to charity a few months ago. They had the ‘Canda’ label, which I remembered fondly and associated with C & A.
I remember the clock house label too - quite sure I still have a few of these items in a wardrobe somewhere with that label on. They must be 30 years old at least, but that’s when clothes were made to last.
Woolworth’s - dear old Woolies- is still missed by many of the British population. I for one would welcome its return - it is so sadly missed. 😢
My dad bought my brother and I two three piece suits at Burtons…as it used to be. They had two big catalogues of the actual fabrics on offer. You then pick the one you like, go in and get measured and then return in a couple of weeks to try it on. This was probably 1975/6…two three piece suits..with flares…from memory £30 each…! Fantastic.
Physically going out to a variety of shops and department stores could never be less fun than ordering online. I wish high street shopping could return to what it once was. But, alas, those days are gone (I might add purposefully).
An excellent presentation. So nostalgic. Really enjoyed this trip down memory lane
So glad you enjoyed it! Many thanks.
@@stuviewtvwe had a Woolworths here in Dublin and i can still remember the resturant on the top floor....sadly they pulled out of Ireland in the late 80s as (from what i heard) they had been threatned by the ira that if they didnt close the shop they would be burned down
Bittersweet, nostalgic and a bit sad 😢❤
I remember my mother used to collect Green Shield Stamps but can't remember where from.
We used to call C and A "Cheap and Awful" - but it wasn't that bad. I remember meeting my friends to shop the latest fashion (!) in their Clockhouse department. So many happy Saturday mornings. I really do miss BHS and Woolworths. Thanks for the reminder!
Co-Op
I think Green Shield stamps were issued with petrol?
Tesco
I worked in C&A at Brent Cross shopping centre for over 7 years. It was the best retail chain to work for. They treated staff so well and when we were busy our store was packed. Literally hrs of queues at the cash desks, especially on a Saturday. It was a great time for me. Their clothes were well made even if the designs were a little bit dated. Even the dyes in the clothes lasted for years. Not like the disposable clothes you can buy now that are made god knows where.
Dutch quality. We always go for quality and durability. We are a thrifty people. And C&A is a Dutch retail chain, and I say is and not was. Because we still exist since 1841. Coincidentally bought a pair of jeans last week.
@@nickybookz222 I still have t shirts and jumpers from there. Bought way before they finally closed in the UK. Colours are as good as the day I bought them.
Certainly feel nostalgic watching this video. Fond memories of my childhood and teens buying music and videos from the likes of Woolworths and Our Price.
An understatement to say things have changed, and not always for the better, in my opinion.
Thanks for this trip down memory lane.
Glad to have discovered your channel.
Glad you enjoyed the memories. Many thanks!
You know your town centre is dying when Woolworths, Debenhams, British Home Stores and C&A leave.
Yep. Fond memories of all those. My favourite bright pink dungarees from C&A, sleepsuits for my daughter from Woolworths, lunch with said daughter in BHS - I remember the sadness of the staff when they closed in Lewisham. Debenhams - great for bedding and kitchen ware plus all the concessions like Principles. The high streets have so little personality these days.
@@sarac.3259 those were the good old days hen. Just memories now. God bless. Love and respect from Scotland 🏴. 👍🏼
You really think that a capitalist organisation like a chain of shops really defines a town , please go and stand in the corner and give your head a wobble, you want everything the same as you remember it, that’s not how life works , things change , we don’t wear flares anymore either
Now you know it is on the way out when M&S leave.
They didn’t “leave” they went bankrupt
Gosh, I do miss Woolies and C&A ! They were my go to shops. I’m in my late 70’s and it seems I have to buy more & more “online”.
I hate it. Our High Streets look awful with shops closing regularly and nothing of worth taking their place. I wish we could turn the clock back.
The Do-It-All jingle! This one takes me right back to my mid 80s childhood along with the Insignia, Toshiba and Birdseye Steakhouse ads
My favourite shops as a kid in the 80s at Christmas were - Woolworths, Dixons and C&A. The adverts for Woolworth Christmases were always so much fun to watch. Now the supermarkets do it. I always wondered why Woolworths never went into the food side as well.
I have wondered that, as they have Woolworths in South Africa and they have food departments.
@yolandasamuels3213 They have Woolworths in Australia, too.
If your from Scotland like me, there was John Menzies which was bought out by WHSmith in the 00's but tbh it never really felt the same after the takeover. They had a big store in Edinburgh's Princes Street which featured in the movie Trainspotting.
John Menzies a shoplifter paradise
@@IssacLHunt Like Woolies. They put blue lights in the toilets to repel shooter uppers.
@@SuzanneO707 what the dickens are you talking about you mad cat hoarder?
We had one in the Wirral, it became WH Smiths!
I was just thinking to myself why no John Menzies . Then finally seen this comment. No surprise it ended everyone stole from Menzies lol.
Dixons, Littlewoods, Tandys, Maplin. Wow waking a part of my brain that hasn’t been used for ages.
The Fine Fare I used to visit had an upstairs toy dept. Food downstairs. And if ever I disappeared in the shop, the parents didn't panic, they'd go upstairs and usually find me talking to one of the workers there.
Our Price records... The best 9 months in my entire 35 year working life. Great times, great people, great memories.
Whereabouts? I vividly remember the one in Bromley with a spiral staircase to the basement. Still have a couple of albums with Our Price stickers on. Felt so cool looking through the racks till I found a couple of records I wanted. I can understand why it must have been a fun place to work. It was _the_ place to be!
People always seem to forget the TV rental shops like DER, Rediffusion and Radio Rentals.
Great blasts from the past!
Yes, everyone rented TVs when I was a child. I rented my video recorder in the 90s and when I finally found the old paperwork and rang them to cancel the payment, they said I could have it for a tenner or something - I had probably bought it three times over!
And great service you get renting your colour set from Granada. Mine lasted almost a fortnight before we had to call out the engineer, not bad for the 1970s.
Radio Rentals, my dad rented our TV from them for years and years!!!
We didn't. The penny slots at the back.
Lewis's (not John Lewis), Arnott Simpson, Frazers, John Menzies (bought over by WHSmith), Gall's, Ethel Austin, Chelsea Girl, Graftons, Paige, RS McColl ..it's so sad that the character of town centres has changed out of all recognition
I worked in Woolworth as a Saturday boy for a little while ....very fond memories of better days gone by