Shops we have lost and that we miss.

Ariadne , on a similiar theme , we needed 5amp fuse wire for our very old house , could we get it no chance .

When we were in Birmingham few weeks back went to the market and lo and behold . 60p for a card of it .

Great .

I think it is a shame that all the little old shops , suppose hardware stores,. are vanishing.

.[fhummm]

anno , if the Didcot shop closes there is one in Abingdon, not too far away. Mason's is quite cramped but has a good range of yarns as well as furnishing fabrics in one shop, and in another street they have two neighbouring shops selling fabrics and haberdashery in one and trimmings and craft items in the other. I know of no other similar business in the area.
When I used to make all our clothes there was a Gordon Thoday in Oxford which I missed terribly when it closed.
I also miss Woolies and have resorted to ebay for all odds and ends. Unfortunately I have become a bit addicted I think, buying little items several times a week.

Definately C&A.

kITTY
When I was pregnant we were so hard up I needed a new coat. I sourced one big enough for the 'bulge' but I had to sell 5 gold rings to afford it. I went into a jewellers in Charles Street, Leicester, was it Balls? They gave me £29 and I crossed straight over the road to buy the coat in C&A's.

The next week I stood and cried outside the jewellers, one of my rings was in the window for £25 and 2 others for £20. The coat lasted for years however.

P.S

I don't really miss a shop particularly but do any of you remember asking the chip shop for 1/2p worth of 'scrumps' with your chips.

Thanks for the tip, Shysal. I do just the same on Ebay, especially when I can't be bothered going to bed. Other mail order purchases tend to be made after 11pm - Landsend, Hotter, M&S on line... Only bargains, mind you...

Dorsetpent, I agree about Borders, I really miss them, we still have a Waterstones and I certainly wouldn't want them to disappear because then we would only have W H Smith's for books and I really hate them for so many reasons.

POGS Are scrumps bits of batter left over from frying fish? One of the chip shops in Chester used to give them away free if you were buying a portion of chips or anything else on the menu. I am racking my brains to remember what we called them.

They`re called scraps round here, and they ask if you want some on your chips, no charge.

Also miss Habitat sometimes because they were edgy and trendy once upon a time and then got pushed out a bit by IKEA. I've never found shopping at that store a pleasant experience, even with free meatballs thrown in. The shop I really miss, which had a very niche following, was BIBA, I'm going to an exhibition down in Brighton early next year with one of my closest friends from way back so we can relive our youthful retail experiences.

Have Habitat now got a section in Homebase along with Laura Ashley?

Yes, Habitat are in Homebase now. We had one a mile away from my house and I picked up so many bits of kitchenalia and fabric from there over the years. I buy knitting wool online now, although there is a lovely wool and sewing shop in the middle of Didsbury (note to anno - it's just near the corner of School Lane and Wilmslow Road).

I loved Seymour Meads when I was young. My grandmother could sit on a chair and observe whilst they cut her bacon, patted her butter, bagged up raisins and sugar, and cut cheshire or 'cooking' (cheddar) cheese. I would be given a handful of broken biscuits to keep me occupied, whilst they exchanged pleasantries and gossip, then we would walk to the butcher's and the delivery boy would turn up with the groceries when we got back home.

I'd forgotten Habitat!

Habitat furnished most of our house when we first got married. We had sagbags and scoop chairs, a dining table and chairs. There was a shop in Nottingham until about 2 years ago that sold all sorts of vintage habitat, including the catalogues.

POGS don't remember a jewellers in Charles Street but I bought a fitted maxi-coat, with a fur collar, from that C&A. I also had some black patent knee high boots from a shoe shop on Granby Street - I was smart!!

I'm so pleased that I got a very stylish bedside lamp from Habitat before it disappeared.

C&A is very much alive and kicking in Switzerland still

But honestly, we will get the towns, shops and cafés we deserve. It is OUR everyday actions which will determine what happens next.

I don't know how that can be entirely true, granjura. OK so we can refuse to shop online and we can give our custom to local shops etc., but for those on a low income cheaper goods from out of town supermarkets are a godsend, and a lot of high street shops have been forced to close down because of greedy landlords pricing them out.

I still miss McKays, before they became M&Co. and became more aimed at the younger market. I still have tops I bought from McKays years and years ago, and they still look good!

I miss C & A also Littlewoods, is hard when all main shopping centres seem to have now is Debenhams, B H S Marks and Spencer and the cheapies like H & M and Primark which in my opinion stock rubbish.

o well I still seem to buy an awful lot of stuff!!

On our recent visit to UK we were really upset that Cecil Jacobs photographic had gone belly up. Not because of high rents, but because customers would go and ask for advice in the shop, then walk out and order on line - which to me is totally unfair competition.

Each of those individual 'event' is hardly going to make a difference, but taken 'en masse' the effect is disastrous. As said, we will have the towns our behaviour create.

Sorry to be late.

Sook Yes they are batter bits. I feel right cheated you lot had them for 'nowt'.

Kitty

I bet you were a 'chique chick' at the Palais or Grannies nightclub.

I miss Home and Colonial where you could buy loose everything and dry goods were weighed out into purple thick paper bags. The biscuits were in glass topped boxes and you got served.!

The Army and Navy in Victoria Street, Marshall & Snelgrove, D.H. Evans, Jenners (Oh I know it's still there but it's not the same) And while we're at it, Patrick Thomson's on The Bridges. Elegran and other Scots will know what I mean!

I went to the Top Rank Suite POGS or the one in Silver Street whose name I have, predictably, forgotten and the Penny Farthing! We knew how to live!

gracesmum, you have stirred some memories there. We were devoted to PT's in Edinburgh. When we lived in Linlithgow my parents had an account there and in our late teens we were allowed to use it for essentials like stockings. A favourite activity was to go round trying on the fancy hats in the millinery department. What fun! My duffel coat for University (and many years after) came from PT's as did a very chic (and quite short) little black and white checked pinafore dress in the 60s. A shopping trip with Mum usually included lunch in their restaurant.

A town centre with a good range of shoe shops. You used be able to go from Dolcis to Lilly & Skinner, K Shoes, Freeman Hardy Willis, etc, etc, etc.

kitty - Habitat was the epitome of chic to us when we were first married, My idea of heaven was the kitchen department at the South Ken branch. I still have a chicken brick and a hexagonal white vase from there from the early 70's! Youngest DD also started her retail career at Habitat after university 9 years ago., so I have lots of seconds and samples from her time there!!