Which high Street shops do you miss the most past /present

Oh and in the same vein - anybody know Monika practically opposite Hampstead Heath station?
I used to love browsing there when Paw was in the Royal Free or at a clinic - and always found something I liked.
Nice to see things not usually found on the High Street.

We had a lovely department store in the largest near town - Jackson’s - it was quite old-fashioned but had a fantastic knitting department with ladies who could give advice on knitting problems, etc. We often hear people say ‘we could have got that in Jackson’s’.

Used to love Habitat's discount store in Manchester. You could get fabulous bargains for home and garden.

Aepgirl, in the 1950s my school uniform came from Jacksons and when life took me by a circuitous route back to Reding DC's school uniforms came from them in the 1980s.

The problem was that Jackson's didn't move with the times. As Reading and East Berkshire became more and more affluent, I used to think that Jacksons should have built on its strengths, like haberdashery and developed itself as a more upmarket store with excellent craft and haberdashery and designer clothes.

When I was a child my mother went to Reading for school uniform and underwear, but Oxford for anything really nice. It was the same in the 1980s. I think it was a missed opportunity.

It won't be a popular opinion however I don't miss any of them. That's the whole reason they closed as people didn't use them enough.

As far as I'm aware alot of them are still selling online. I know that is the case with Cath Kitson that our DiL loves

Keffie12 I quite agree that most closed because they were no longer profitable. But some of us were the people still patronising them when others had drifted away - for me I was a regular customer at East right until the end and bought up items in the closing down sale.

In other cases it is sheer nostalgia. We had drifted from shopping in a store because we were now in a different age group, or they didn't keep up with the times or, as with Laura Ashley and Cath Kidson, once the brand was sold on to 'private venture capitalists' or some other such group and the eponymous founder was no longer involved, the whole brand loses its way. When Laura Ashley died her husband took over and he had a very sure eye, but the children lacked that certain something their parents had and sold it on and it was a basket case ever after.

It is happening to M&S, once the founding family was no longer involved it has staggered from problem to problem.

Oh, gosh yes, so all of the stores/shops mentioned here above. Plus Debenhams that are currently going to be no longer. Just having walked past after the first lockdown our nearest Debenhams (which they had announced this one would not ?re-open at all then), and looking through the window into a big empty space was so upsetting.

looking through all theses shops it makes you realise just what has gone,all, or in the main, thanks to the internet, amazon etc

It is forty miles to our nearest high street shop so do not miss any of them