Shops we have lost and that we miss.

Didn't we all get those large white paper spherical light shades from Habitat? They came in a flat pack and easily opened up and were so cheap!
Everyone had them. habitat was bang up to date and so trendy at the time. They also sold wonderful sofas.

Oh yes! We had those spherical shades which were the last word in contemporary decor at the time.

I ahve just retired one of thise shades...in favour of a 40s one bought in a boot sale!
I had a big one that looked like a wasps nest, and found a 6" fluffy wasp to put in the entrance.....

@Annodomini:

Yes! Memories of Edinburgh long ago. I used to think Greensmith Downes was really posh and I bought a pink and white check nylon seersucker blouse there which I had seen in their window. We had many fewer clothes then compared with what we have now and a blouse was a big buy.Thorntons on the corner of Hanover Street. That funny old mock half timbered Parker's Stores that I only ever saw from the top of a tram, near the McEwen Hall thereabouts.

There used to be a men's shop called 'The Fifty Shilling Tailors' in Princes Steet, Edinburgh.In the same period there was a specialist coffee retailer on a corner which was called Melsose's corner and was known for the lovely smell of coffee that hung around there especially on frosty mornings

I meant Melrose's

We had a Greensmith Downes in St Andrews too. I think I once bought a pair of twill trousers there and thought I was very posh. I wasn't! But I was quite warm which was all to the good.
When I was doing my Dip Ed year in Edinburgh, I used to pop in to Crawford's on North Bridge before I caught the train home to Linlithgow and pick up some crusty rolls for my mum.

As said before - we will get the Cities we deserve. Day in, day out- chains and small shops, independent cafés and restaurants, boutiques, ironmongers, haberdashers - close - possibly never to return again. Is that what we really want?

Does anyone remember Coopers in Liverpool with its doughnut making machine and same city but West Derby village had a wonder ful grocers called Brooke's where everything was sliced weighed and measured. I miss Woolworths but we have Wilkinsons and Yorkshire trading which seem to fill the gap.