Stores that are no longer in existence.

He said: "We also do cut-glass sherry decanters complete with six glasses on a silver-plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on, all for £4.95. People say, 'How can you sell this for such a low price?' I say, because it's total crap."
He wiped £500 million value off his stores in one fell swoop.
Now known as 'Doing a Ratner'

I don't think he went to prison though, he hasn't done anything illegal as far as I know.

Ratners were originally separate stores started by Gerald Rather. They went downhill after he told a share holder's meeting something to the effect of 'no one in their right mind would buy the cr*p we sell'. He went to prison for something but for the life of me I can't recall what.

How could I have forgotten Littlewoods? I used to hang about for their "Happy Hour" announcements, which came at random, and offered 10% off anything.

GertrudeGrace yes, Marshall & Snellgrove was exactly that! I don't remember ever going in but I have vague memories of ladies in big hats and fur coats getting out of big black cars to be greeted by the doorman. I am sure that unaccompanied children were greatly frowned on.

Owen Owen, Allders

Please tell me that Bentalls is still in Kingston!
One opened for a short while in Bristol but is now a very large Primark.

M & S Outlet very alive and well in Newton Abbot

DIY Stores - Focus & there was another but I can't remember name

Woolworths - I bought lots of different things from there

WFH, Dolcis etc were all owned by The British Shoe Corporation, each having it's own market sector. I believe they also owned Bally which I loved - expensive but gorgeous shoes.

Ratners was part of same Group as H Samuel & E H Hinds

GertrudeGrace-- My sofa bed originally belonged to Mr. Derry of Derry and Toms, third hand via my mother buying it at a house sale in the 1930s. I was at college in Kensington and our usual shop was Barker's, next door to Derry and Toms which was too expensive for a student's purse. Next door to Barkers was Pontins which sold things like lisle stockings and crossover pinnies--rather grim! One shop led through into the next, so they must all three have been connected in some way. Happy days.

What about Lyons teashops and the 'upmarket' Corner House after shopping in Peter Robinson in the Strand

Antonia Marshall & Snelgrove sounds just like Derry & Toms. There was a ferious dragon of a floor walker who patrolled the ground floor all day long and God help anyone who was found to be slacking. Doormen, uniformed lift attendants,, it was a world away from my life and a real eye opener to how the other half lived.

Dickie Dirts oh yes! That was a destination store for bargain jeans. I never bought from anywhere else.

Auntieflo...yes we had a Texas near us.

Any Londoners remember Derry & Toms in Kensington? I used to have a Saturday job there back in the early 70s. It was a relic from a golden age even then. We had to write the receipts by hand, roll them up with the cash, put it in a tube and post it down a Shute. It later became the flagship Biba store but they kept the rainbow restaurant and the roof garden. I think the roof garden is still there today I must try and visit again sometime. I haven't been to Kensington for years so I have no idea what the building is now.

C & A have shops all over France ...my local one is Bordeaux ..and you can order from their website (not sure if they deliver to the UK though (might be an excuse for a day trip on Eurostar ) ..used to buy loads of stuff from there but they seem to have gone downhill a bit of late !

When I was very small, the weekly shop used to involve going to Ipswich town centre on a Saturday morning to get differet things from all kinds of different shops ..Footman & Pretty for chocolate truffle cakes and cheese rolls (now Debenhams).....MacFisheries, obviously for fish ! Deeks for potted meat eggs and bacon. Woolies for broken biscuits and some iced gems ! Co op for sugar in blue bags and butter in blocks cut off a big one ! the service then was better...horse and cart bought the bread and milk everyday ! knife sharpner on his bike ! greengrocer with his horse n cart (until he changed to an electric cart) ,,,nowadays who gets service bought to the door ...well, I suppose you do if you order online from the supermarket .....but you can't give the delivery man a lump of sugar and a slice of crust ! Price's shoe shop where my mother always bought our shoes ...cheapest in town ! Jacks bargain store for the winter coat (Co op saving stamps for the school uniform !) ....were those the days, or not ?

Who remembers Chelsea Girl?

Teetime my mother bought all her furniture from Waring & Gillow, on Lord Street, Southport.

At the other end was Marshalls and Snelgrove.

Habitat!!!! I loved Habitat!

felice I remember Goldbergs, my late MIL used to work in the Glasgow branch in ladies underwear department. My favourite had to be PT's-do you remember the quartet that used to play in the dining room and waitresses in black with starched caps and pinnies? Those were the days, now it's the supermarket caff and when you look up it's just a corrugated warehouse roof. >sigh<

That's one of the brands they sold in Popham's

Pronuptia - is that still around?

Morgana that was Clark's shoe shops.

My wedding dress came from Popham's in Plymouth, long gone

Bourne and Hollingsworth were a department store in Oxford Street.

Yes Heals is still there in Tottenham Court Road.

Boardmans (another dept store in East London)

Maples

Waring and Gillow

Courts

all gone - high street are so bland now and every town is the same.

Beattie! Blimey, I bought my wedding dress there in 1967. My parents had an account with them. I think my first bra came from there as well, a 32 A. ( 42C now. That's inflation)

Anyone else remember those machines in shoe shops that x-rayed your feet to make sure the shoes fitted?!! I remember buying a blue mini dress in Etam, early 70's, buttons all down the front and it barely covered my knickers!

and Beatties in Wolverhampton

I remember going to Santa's grotto in Lewis's in Birmingham and still have photos of me sitting on Santa's knee, wearing my best hat and coat with a velvet collar.

John Collier's John Collier's
The window to watch!!

annsixty that will be my earworm for today

Individual stores swallowed up by chains
I remember lots of those:
Chiesman's in Kingston
John Yeo and Spooner's in Plymouth - next door to each other and now Debenhams
Dingles - now House of Fraser


How many more will go with the advent of online shopping especially Amazon?