Careers in focus - Retailing in WHSmith
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ต.ค. 2024
- A commercial video that was made in the early 1980s to inform young people of the opportunities in retailing. It was filmed in the Holborn Circus branch of WHSmith and we all sound like BBC newsreaders!!
I have an idea this was around 1983 to 1984. It is cheesy but brilliant as it is a snapshot of the early 80's. W H Smith used to sell quite a lot of stuff back then! RMC - The Cave brought me here as they have built a small retro style shop as it would have been back then.
I had one of those hedgehog pencil holders shown at 4:36 Everyone had one but lord knows why, they held hardly anything! Wonderful trip back in time. I can almost smell the store from back then.
Wished they'd gone to the computer section with all the Spectrums, Amstrad (I believe was released in time for this). Assume they had one, we had one in the Ealing branch.
The date: at 2:47 that issue of Motor magazine is week ending November 24, 1984.
Great detective work
If anyone is wondering how they know this when so blurred. You can find a copy of the mag on the Internet which gives you the date.
They had recently stripped out department managers by the time I joined in the mid-late 90s but the vision and values expressed in the video were still what made WHS a reliable store and desirable employer. Merchandising had been centralised so stores had less flexibility which was frustrating when we didn’t have the stock. But the ability to learn and improve yourself and the business was recognised, valued and rewarded by WHS. My store was a family and I enjoyed being there so much. They helped me through some really rough times. Today it is sadly a shop I try and avoid - breaks my heart to go back to my old store. It’s barren of life and soul.
Blimey! That takes me back. I was a management trainee back in 1981 and got to branch assistant manager. 1981-89
I loved working for Wh Smiths great company 😊
I’ve landed an interview for tomorrow and browsed through TH-cam and came across this
Did you get it. We all assume its NOTHING like this anymore :)
@@TheStevenWhiting I got the job and it’s definitely not like the video. It’s just a casual retail job
@@theonlygosha At WHSmith though?
@@TheStevenWhiting yes
Kate: “I’d like you to put the BBC Micro and Electron games at the bottom. No - right at the bottom. Yes, that’s it, just above the ground. Now I’d like you to fill this shelf, this shelf and this shelf with the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 games”
My sister Kate circa 1984
All very prim and proper in those days.
My dad says hi and thanks for uploading this Alex. Great watch!
Blessd
I was 6 back then. I miss the old type stores. The old orange cube logo, the fact that they used to sell music and a bigger section of books etc. Todays Smiths is not as good.
Must have been 1980 the bit where They are checking books umberto echo book was released then, these nostalgic videos are amazing
Great upload!
Just spotted the comment that 2:15 that is you :) did your store have a computer section by that time? As we now know it was November 1984. What ever happened to Kate (can't spell that surname)?
BlumminELL the hayday of WHS what a disaster it has been for the last 25 or so years. I worked at WHS about 20 years ago and it was awful.
5:25 original BigTrak in the background.
The Intro theme sounds like the National Lottery theme
99% sure there is no such training like this in WHSmith anymore.
you are 100% correct
Harry Potter meets Stephen Fry at 12.02.
Hi Alex. I'm interested in using a clip of this in a film I'm making. Do you own it?
Hi Caj. It will be owned by the commercial company that made it whoever they were. Sorry can't help you further
Alex
Just twigged that's you in the film! Was it a training film?
Caj Sohal . It wasn't a training film. It was an advert for the retail industry. And yes a very young me is in the film. Let me know if you use it as I would love to see it
Thanks for the swift reply Alex. Do you know where it was shown?
Also - Do you remember selling lots of football stickers? the film is about the whole sticker phenomenon in the eighties
16:25 Could of used the unscripted real customer question :)
7:38 guarantee that no longer happens.
Why does Colin look very much like a Colin? Oh god, he sounds like a Colin too....
Hey, my dad’s name is Colin! How dare you /s
What year is this?
Approx 1986
1984. Or they had that Motor Magazine that someone else pointed out for years. As the date on it as Week Ending November 1984. 2:47 www.google.com/search?q=motor+magazine+week+ending+24+november+1984
23 and she talks like she's in her 40s.
Those ghastly uniforms….and Lady Di haircuts.
Boring boring retail...never again