The Woollies further down the road was where I bought my first lipstick - Trinity Pink by Rimmel (pick and mix too ). I think John Menzies was at the other end and that's where my Granny and Grandad took me to buy my Enid Blyton books. Happy days.

Charleygirl I too had to wear the dreaded divided skirt (with horrible Aertex blouse) for Gym and Games. Both size huge so I could grow into it. There's something depressing about friction burns on your knees from those divided skirts.
Also from Forsyths -big panama hats for summer with tight elastic under the chin. I can quite believe that St Trinians was based on an Edinburgh school!

Jane10 my parents could not afford to buy my school uniform so I had one set which was very baggy and long at the age of 11 and lasted until I left school in Perthshire when I was almost 18. The hairy woollen jacket we wore on Sundays with our kilts was horrific. I loathed the blue aertex blouse for games- it could not be at all fitting in case it showed that we wore a bra. Thankfully we wore caps rather than the panama hat.

annsixty, was the other, smaller, department store in Nottingham Market Square, called 'Toby's'? My mother used to love browsing there. My school friend used to go to get her hair cut at Griffin and Spalding's (top floor?) - which was considered a very 'posh' store.

Thank you Marelli I just couldn't remember. It was a little rabbit warren of a shop.. I think it became a restaurant in the 80's. I loved Nottingham more than any city before or since.

There's nowhere 'posh' now. Just expensive! Eg Harvey Nicks.
I was miserable in John Lewis's just before Christmas -a windowless, soulless maze. Very poor to no customer service at all. I think I object so much because I remember how things were in the past.DD loves John L and can't understand my dislike of it. Sigh.

I do remember Toby's as having lots of short flights of stairs, annsixty. My mother was never good at making choices, so we were frequently and down and in and out all of the little departments. We then caught a Barton's bus back home.

The department stores of today, with their bored staff and corporate style are all your DD knows, Jane10 I suppose we are all children of our time.
One of our local garden centres has recently been taken over by a national chain and departments that had previously been successful, such as the crafts and haberdashery, have been closed simply because their other stores don't have these departments. Individuality, responding to local needs, all of that, isn't important at all. What is important is having every branch identical in every respect so that comparisons can be made to see which ones aren't performing as well as they could. And then they can put staff (oh sorry, 'colleagues') on 'performance plans'. It's no wonder they all seem so dispirited.

Wilma we had a corset shop in Bold Street in Liverpool. I think it was called Foners and mother and her friend used to gaze avidly at the window. I think you had to make an appointment.the window corsets were quite terrifying.

Jane, I too loved Fenwicks powder room and in 1972 I was sitting in one of the comfy armchairs breastfeeding my baby and two older women were tutting at me and whispering. Not like todays mothers some who openly breast feed in public.

Stansgran yes, my Granny had an appointment for each fitting. I only went with her once though!

I remember going to stay with my mum in school holidays in Chelsea ( my parents divorced when I was five).

She lived not far from Peter Jones department store and quite often we would go there for a look around.

My most abiding memory was having my feet measured in one of those X-ray machines for new shoes. Now that was service for you.
Does anyone else remember those machines.

I remember Jessops in Nottingham very well. My mum was a Nottingham girl and when we moved to Essex she insisted that we went back to Jessops every Spring and Autumn to buy our 'best' dresses - even though my dad pointed out how close we were to London! I think there was a co-op department store too with a sweeping staircase and a sparkly wall.

Victoria08 oh yes, I remember those machine well-I had my feet measured for my Clarkes shoes. I have no recollection of wearing anything else until I could afford to pay for my own.

Waveney - I remember Jessops so well. In fact, when I think of it, I think that was where my school friend had her hair done (and not Griffin and Spaldings). Jessops was on a par with how Jenners of Edinburgh used to be.

We had a Bobby's in Cliftonville too. A wondrous place, thick carpets, sweeping staircase, large and comfortable powder room, elegant assistants and those magic pneumatic tubes that took the money and delivered the change. It was always quiet and exuded an air of luxury. The last time I was in there was 1970 when I took eldest son (aged about 5 months) to get a set of Polyphotos taken. I don't know when it closed but although the building still stands it was/is now a DIY store and several smaller shops.

When I started secondary school the uniform had to be bought in Harrod's.
This meant a trip to London, plus a winter uniform, a summer uniform and a P.E. kit including a lacrosse stick! I don't know how my parents afforded it. But somehow my Mum also treated us to tea in the restaurant. Then that school closed a few years later and they had to buy another full uniform. I think that was bought locally though.

I also remember those foot measuring machines, did they use x-rays? I do hope not.

www.google.co.uk/search?q=robinson+and+cleaver+staircase+photo&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari#imgrc=6AoOq4vBVoc65M%3A

Don't know whether this link will work but it is a photo of a beautiful marble staircase that was a feature of the most upmarket department store in the centre of Belfast when I was a child in 1950s. It was called Robinson & Cleaver and my memory is of sweeping down it, head held high, pretending to be a princess going to a ball. The building is still there, miraculously intact despite the ravages of the Troubles, and now houses offices and an upmarket restaurant with the same name.

The staircase was removed when the department store closed down and sold to one of the richest men in NI.

I love watching 'Mr. Selfridge' for the social history aspect of Selfriges in 1930s. As it is based on the real life story of Mr.S, it has an extra something.

Very nice! Love the sign on the pillar - undergarments, millinery, curtains, costumes, mantles, corsetry, furs. Clearly hoping to catch a woman's eye when she's buying something for herself and sell her some new curtains too!

My aunt used to "man" the ASK ME desk in Lewis's department store, Manchester. She was very superior, with a put on posh accent and never a smile, which made me wonder how anyone ever had the nerve to ask her where to find a particular item in the store. My mother, who had operated the lifts there in the 30's, told me how shocked she was when King George VI visited and she noted at close quarters that he was plastered in make up.

I miss Lewis's in Manchester. There used to be a bargain section on the top floor where very good end-of-range garments could be bought for a fraction of the original price. Primark has the building now. Sign of the times!

Lewis's in Birmingham had a mini zoo on the roof of the building in the 1950s.

My mum managed the tobacconist counter in the 1930s. When she got married she had to pretend she was still single or she would have been sacked.

Jaxie what a shock about the king wearing makeup - never heard of that before!

NanKate I wonder how many women hid their marital status until they had a family?

Does anyone know when it became more acceptable for married women to go out to work?

I had my first child in 1965 and it was not possible to keep a job open and go back. When you left that was it full stop.

My Dad told us how shocked he was to see the King wearing lots of make up when he was inspecting their regiment in the war. They were told it was to make his face as clear as possible to the men at the back. What a thought. Wonder if Prince Philip is a Max Factor fan!