Dearly departed shops :-(
Discussion
PlayersNo6 said:
All Doncaster :
Evans model shop on Silver Street. Aladdin's cave of model kits and Scalextric. Got gutted by fire and relocated to the nearby stationery store, eventually returned but was never the same.
Toy shop at the bottom of the stairs in the indoor market had loads of Action Man and Star Wars stock.
Wimpy (now Burger King) at the entrance to the Arndale Centre was the place to be on a Saturday - huge queues.
Sugg Sport upstairs in the Arndale to check out the latest trainers. Also Don Valley Sports next to the chippy.
Boots upstairs in the Arndale for Spectrum games and blank tapes.
Hillard's supermarket in Edenthorpe seemed big in the early 80s - eventually bought by Tesco.
Bradley's Records again upstairs in the Arndale.
Co Op department store for the excellent cafe upstairs - great building sadly became a succession of discount stores.
Proper tobacconist next to both the Black Bull and Castle pubs in the Market Place had a huge international selection of cigs and Zippo lighters. Last time I was there now just a boring paper-shop.
See Goldberg's in Edinburgh has already been mentioned. Used to go there a lot with relatives, popular as it had parking out front. Good Lego selection upstairs IIRC.
Also, Foxes Records in the Arndale and even better, Foxes Piano and Keyboard shop!Evans model shop on Silver Street. Aladdin's cave of model kits and Scalextric. Got gutted by fire and relocated to the nearby stationery store, eventually returned but was never the same.
Toy shop at the bottom of the stairs in the indoor market had loads of Action Man and Star Wars stock.
Wimpy (now Burger King) at the entrance to the Arndale Centre was the place to be on a Saturday - huge queues.
Sugg Sport upstairs in the Arndale to check out the latest trainers. Also Don Valley Sports next to the chippy.
Boots upstairs in the Arndale for Spectrum games and blank tapes.
Hillard's supermarket in Edenthorpe seemed big in the early 80s - eventually bought by Tesco.
Bradley's Records again upstairs in the Arndale.
Co Op department store for the excellent cafe upstairs - great building sadly became a succession of discount stores.
Proper tobacconist next to both the Black Bull and Castle pubs in the Market Place had a huge international selection of cigs and Zippo lighters. Last time I was there now just a boring paper-shop.
See Goldberg's in Edinburgh has already been mentioned. Used to go there a lot with relatives, popular as it had parking out front. Good Lego selection upstairs IIRC.
Morningside said:
In Lowestoft there used to be an electronics "junk" shop that had all sorts of odd 'n' sods. Spent many happy hours in there picking up some strange PCB of some totally defunct 1970s computer to take home and fiddle with.
I think I remember that shop; we spent many happy summers in Lowestoft visiting family and I seem to remember the shop was on a road close to the beach and had yellow film covering the windows? There was also a model shop we used to visit which I think is long gone.Record shops in general. Berwick Street in Soho about 15 years ago as a student was fantastic. Only one or two small ones left there now, as well as all the high street chains that have also disappeared. I have to admit to moving online for music, but perusing the shops (such as the bargain basement of the Music and Video Exchange) was a delight!
Jimmy Recard said:
thismonkeyhere said:
+ Saisho. Dixons' own, I believe. Had a few 'personal stereos' from Saisho back in the day, as well as a 'music centre' thing - turntable, twin cassette, radio, seperate speakers etc.
There's no interest here in Matsui?Scotfox said:
Goldbergs in Edinburgh. Fascinating place as kid. Roof top cafe and it's very own menagerie.
http://www.scotsman.com/heritage/more-heritage/los...
Yes! Awesome shop if you were a kid. The no opening on a Saturday was daft from a business standpoint.http://www.scotsman.com/heritage/more-heritage/los...
Bread Street Co-op had a shoe dept with an 'x-ray machine' to check your shoe fit.
My first experience of eating out was in a Wimpy bar.
It was FANTASTIC.
A waitress brought your order to the table and I could have what I wanted without Mum and Dad telling me.
I loved the tomato shaped ketchup bottle and always had a knickerbockerglory which packed with a special spoon.
I found a Wimpy in East Grinstead about three years ago,MK don't know if it's still there but it hasn't changed much.
Another sadly missed shop for me was Youngsters toy shop, I think it was a chain but I used to love buying Scalectrix there.
It was FANTASTIC.
A waitress brought your order to the table and I could have what I wanted without Mum and Dad telling me.
I loved the tomato shaped ketchup bottle and always had a knickerbockerglory which packed with a special spoon.
I found a Wimpy in East Grinstead about three years ago,MK don't know if it's still there but it hasn't changed much.
Another sadly missed shop for me was Youngsters toy shop, I think it was a chain but I used to love buying Scalectrix there.
The Oven Door bakery in Frimley High Street.
Why "dearly departed"? Because it was the only genuine 'honest' baked-on-the-premises bakers in the area. Oh, there are other shops which lay claim to the title "bakery" but most of them are 'artisan' style bakers full of posh, faddy guff.
The Oven Door was family run, made good, honest, everyday bread and rolls, and they'd even slice the loaves on request (often with a bit of swearing and bashing the slicing machine). Banter was free-flowing both ways over the counter, and the sausage rolls and doughnuts were spot on. Lovely food, lovely staff.
Like I say, there are other bakeries in the area, but none are as good, nor as conveniently located, as the poor old Oven Door. Such a sad day when the A4 sheet went up in the window, explaining that they no longer felt that they could continue to trade...
Oh, and last time I went 'home' to Gorseinon, in South Wales, it was the last day of trading for "Twin Radio" in the town. Not really dearly departed, because it was a bit of a 'junk shop', but it had been an institution in the town since before my memory. I think the last time I was a customer was about 1984, and some of the stock left on the premises after that final day's trading looked like it had been in there since then. A bit of a gold-mine for new and second-hand parts for "old school" bicycles though, along with ancient Hi-Fi equipment and obsolete electronics. It had been a long while since I'd been down that particular street and I honestly presumed it had shut long ago, as it was difficult to understand how they had a big enough turn-over to make a living, given the stock they held.
Why "dearly departed"? Because it was the only genuine 'honest' baked-on-the-premises bakers in the area. Oh, there are other shops which lay claim to the title "bakery" but most of them are 'artisan' style bakers full of posh, faddy guff.
The Oven Door was family run, made good, honest, everyday bread and rolls, and they'd even slice the loaves on request (often with a bit of swearing and bashing the slicing machine). Banter was free-flowing both ways over the counter, and the sausage rolls and doughnuts were spot on. Lovely food, lovely staff.
Like I say, there are other bakeries in the area, but none are as good, nor as conveniently located, as the poor old Oven Door. Such a sad day when the A4 sheet went up in the window, explaining that they no longer felt that they could continue to trade...
Oh, and last time I went 'home' to Gorseinon, in South Wales, it was the last day of trading for "Twin Radio" in the town. Not really dearly departed, because it was a bit of a 'junk shop', but it had been an institution in the town since before my memory. I think the last time I was a customer was about 1984, and some of the stock left on the premises after that final day's trading looked like it had been in there since then. A bit of a gold-mine for new and second-hand parts for "old school" bicycles though, along with ancient Hi-Fi equipment and obsolete electronics. It had been a long while since I'd been down that particular street and I honestly presumed it had shut long ago, as it was difficult to understand how they had a big enough turn-over to make a living, given the stock they held.
mike80 said:
We used to have a big Co-op department store in Ipswich. It was spread over several buildings with different sized rooms and corridors. I used to love the elevated walkways over the alleyways! More fun to explore and mess around in, rather than buying stuff...
It extended all the way down to the end of the blue fronted bits, and a fair way in the other direction as well.
I feel Ipswich town centre is in terminal decline.It extended all the way down to the end of the blue fronted bits, and a fair way in the other direction as well.
A much more important shop for DIYers was Martin & Newby.
Hub said:
Record shops in general. Berwick Street in Soho about 15 years ago as a student was fantastic. Only one or two small ones left there now, as well as all the high street chains that have also disappeared. I have to admit to moving online for music, but perusing the shops (such as the bargain basement of the Music and Video Exchange) was a delight!
This reminds me, as a young teen I was very much into the Mod revival & 2Tone scene would always be up Carnaby St, great record shops in basements, as well as the clothes, I even remember the Lonsdale shop at one end, before it became an in house Sports Direct label worn by chavs. Another part of London that has become (sadly) yet another identikit high st.
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