Which stores do you miss?

Rumpunch I was going to say exactly the same as you about Richard Shops and Hammels.

Amazingly, considering they weren’t expensive, the dresses were good quality. I still have a few Summer dresses which are around 25 years old!
They get dug out each Summer, and I never see anyone else wearing the same!

My friend used to call it Charles and Arthur. Sounded quite posh until she told me it was her code for C&A.

And Vokins in Brighton

Army and Navy

Richard shops and Hammels.

I was in Hannover last week visiting DS and family. We went exploring in the city and my son pointed out they have a Woolworths store. Hadn't seen one for years!

The thing I miss the most though is all the small high end gift shops and craft stores that were on a site near us. The site was sold and all the individual shops were demolished. They were replaced by a Tesco store and a number of national chain stores and restaurants. The small shops relocated, some to our village high street, but many didn't survive in the changed location. There is no longer anywhere nearby to buy the craft supplies I used to get there so I end up having to buy online or travel miles to get the things I need. I'm sure a lot of individual shops selling non essential goods may cease trading and that will force us to go online more and more. Amazon is doing very well out of lockdown but I hope people will support the smaller businesses otherwise there will be less and less choice out there.

East, always my go to shop when I needed something that made me look half way decent. Thankfully the designs were classics (with a twist) and they lasted so well I still wear some you could almost call vintage!

When I first started working I would go to C&A every pay day and buy myself a new outfit, a miniskirt or kilt and a matching jumper or a 'Mary Quant' dress. Loved that shop.

I had a saturday job in BHS so admit to a certain fondness. Back then they had a food hall and their lighting department was considered second to none. We had manual tills and had to add a customers purchases up in our heads. I was on socks so leople would sometimes buy a dozen pairs - did wonders for my mental arithmetic!!

But in later years the clothing quality went downhill imho, and the lighting and homewares were replaced by tat.

The last thing we bought was school uniform suit (bought as separates) for ds where they tried to massively overcharge me. Clearly mental arithmetic was no longer a requirement as they couldn't work out the correct amount!

Whitewavemark2 I too miss Hanningtons in Brighton, I used to love dropping my son to school on a nice day driving over the race hill down to Hanningtons and going in for breakfast tea and a meander through all the beautiful departments. Proper lingerie department, proper China department (sigh) proper gift, shoes and handbag dept with unusual gifts in different departments. Then a wander through the lanes would always cheer me up if I had things I needed to mull over in my head. I miss those days.....

Dickens and Jones in Regent street. Jaeger when they were a bit special. And East before they lost the plot.

Woolworths and BHS.

I always bought my underwear from BHS so miss that and C&A where I bought my best ever coat - a black (imitation) suede zipped jacket with fur cuffs and collar. My mum and I used to love going there for lunch when we were out shopping and also the cafe in Woolworths.

Having just moved back to our home town I'm going to miss BM Stores which was just down the road - the nearest one here is about 12 miles away

Come on, own up. How many went into the Green Shield showroom armed with books of saver stamps?

Most definitely Woolworths and Ethel Austins I got my 3 dcs most of their clothes from there

C&A and BHS my husband used to get most of his clothes from c&a always was a good fit. When we went to Germany we had to pay a visit he got a couple of shirts .

manegirl

I remember that now, we had one in Birmingham, and my mum said exactly the same to me!

We have lost our Debenhams. I am sure I read that Woolworths were coming back to the high street.

Woolies and BHS........soooo much

Mc Fisheries for the vast selection of sea food and Ethel Austin for the wide range of clothes. I now find that Asda has a good choice of clothes at very reasonable prices.

There is still a C&A in the Cite d’Europ in Calais.

Marshal and Snelgrove in Manchester was considered by my mum to posh to even go through the door! There was a Henry's and a Lewis's that we used to visit though, along with good old C&A which I love to visit when in Spain.

I loved Beatties in Wolverhampton and the staff were so helpful. They also had a great selection of beautiful underwear.

Harrington’s in Brighton was a really pricey store right by The Lanes. Granny didn’t go there but up to Bellmans. My school uniform came from Bellmans as well. Granny used to shop in the North Lanes where there were loads of small provision shops. Woolies was great for cover versions of pop music and the sweet counter was great.

My favourite shop as a teen was C&A. I had some great clothes from there. In more recent years British Home Stores was my go to place for underwear.

These days I go shopping as little as possible and no longer have a go to shop for the basics in life. I probably have enough clothes to see me through. These days The Works is my go to place for crafty stuff and books for my grandchildren.

As a teenager I used to occasionally go to Marshall & Snelgrove in Leeds. I thought the staff were really posh and snooty and I think the only thing I ever bought was a tin of dressmaking pins - I’ve still got it. I’ve also got one of their hat boxes, inherited from mil.

Lyons Corner House