Shops that we miss

[Pikafuckingwho]

On the back of the Past Times thread. What shops do you miss:

I miss

Coast (I know it’s online but it’s gone a bit shit)
Ravel
Morgan ( well my youthful self misses it)
Disney Store I know there is one in London but there used to be one in almost every town
Bay Trading (always good for a nice top to go with jeans)

I used to love the gadget shop. Loads of cool stuff

Mark one

La senza- used to feel so grown Up going in there as a older teen. They did great pyjamas too!

Tandy
C&A
Littlewoods
BHS
Thorntons
Woolworths
Debenhams
Argos

@70isaLimitNotaTarget yes loved Tchiabo!

I think it was when people started to use mp3 players over buying cds. I worked on the woolies record bar and the volume of cds we sold was amazing.

I miss proper shopping on Saturday afternoons. Online shopping just isn't the same and having to wait 2 weeks on a SHEIN order drives me bonkers to find nothing fits or suits me lol! I'm sure there's plenty I've forgotten but really miss all these shops.
Oasis
Warehouse
Coast
Debenhams
All the Arcadia shops topshop etc
Kookai
Jane Norman
Bay trading
Internationale
Woolworths
Bhs
Barrett's
Tammy girl
Adams
Wish I could take my kids out shopping for the day like my mum took me. I always loved it and know my kids would too but there are no shops for children other than next or M&S on our local high street. It's just not the same 😢

Yes Salisburys!! Remember getting school bags in there wish it was still here, smiggle seems to be the only alternative and it's so pricey.

Mark one, used to shop there loads as a teen

Don't get the woolies love to be honest, there's nothing there that you can't get elsewhere

We had a local shop called here and now that sold loads of snoopy items, wish it was still around my dd would have loved it

It was that and that Woolworths was the distributor for CDs and DVDs to other stores. If you recall when they went HMV and Zaavi found it really hard to keep stock. They were convinced that this would see them through. Everyone know that the sales of CDs were dropping but they wouldn’t listen. From what I understand there were people at head office trying to explain this to the bosses who just stuck their heads in the sand.

Argos is still open and if you miss Tandy's shite ....

It's things rather than particular stores for me. Showing my age here but flipping through LPs and later CDs was a large part of my youth - do I spend my tenner on the new Queen album or the new Police one or the new Bowie one?.

If asked to name a specific store then I miss the old WH Smith from when I was a kid - they used to do toys, records, books, magazines (we are even before the days of videos let alone DVDs and CDs)

It's quite surprising how many stores are still around from when I was a kid 50 years ago - Tesco, Sainsbury, WH Smith, Boots - but there are also a lot that have gone - BHS, Woolworth, Virgin, HMV.

I think there is more wastage to come from the retail sector - even John Lewis is struggling and they have a stellar reputation (reckon Waitrose is keeping them afloat).

My favourite stores now are the big book stores which seem to be vanishing (Waterstones on Piccadilly is awesome), big electronic stores, and the larger stores for decent brand clothing like Gant, Ralph Lauren and Timberland. the sort of stuff I like to shop for in person rather than online

The thing is that I like shopping online. Every time I go into town I get frustrated by the lack of stock and people in my way, but I also miss browsing a full high street for ideas.

I think that in 20 years time we will see a reduced version of the old high streets. I think more shops will open, possibly independents. I think the high streets will have experience as their focus, so coffee shops, food etc. But I think the shops will be lifestyle shops selling design, interiors, household stuff.

Yep mine too.

Their tops were great

I can't believe boots and smiths are still going to be honest !

They are both at airports, this probably boosts their trade

The good high street Boots with a proper pharmacy are still better than most rivals. I certainly go in the one on my local high street regularly for medical stuff.

Smiths are just surviving on being in train stations and airports

Boots relies on the pharmacy business which is one of the highest profitability businesses around.

WHS own a lot of their own High Street premises, so aren't paying stupidly high rents, they also don't spend (Waste) huge amounts of money on their High Street stores, so many are pretty shabby, worn carpets, etc. Taking in post office counters when town centre "Main" post offices closed has also given them a new lease of life as it means a steady stream of potential customers. They're also often "last man standing" in town centres as the only place where people can buy less mainstream newspapers and magazines such as foreign newspapers, less popular "hobby" magazines, etc. They've a long term plan of closing a few under-performing High Street shops every year so the loss making ones don't drag down the entire chain (unlike the likes of Woolworths whose management allowed loss making stores to bring down all the profitable ones too!). Obviously, in the longer term, WHS high street stores will disappear, as the news/magazines market is in a long term terminal decline and sooner or late, the dowdy stores will need a refit which may not be worthwhile, also post office counters will probably decline too when there are more options re alternative couriers, "Amazon" style lockers for dropping off/picking up parcels, etc.

Our local smiths is just about clinging on for dear life but always have sales on. Everything is so dear and can be got much cheaper elsewhere. Boots the same.

WHS separate between High St and "travel" stores, and the High Street division is still profitable. So, no, the travel stores aren't propping up the High Street ones.

I didn't realise that WHS stores were separated, our WHS closed down but we have Magazine Heaven close by and they sell any magazines you could ever want, much more that WHS

Bhs. Restaurant, clothes, homewares, lighting, Christmas stuff
Woolies - everything
Allders department store- cafés, hairdresser, homeware, haberdashery, clothes

Also the perfume and toiletry counters

There was something magic about the BHS Christmas shop.

I wish I could find it but I read a really interesting article about the demise of Woolworths a few years ago. It does seem to have triggered a few closures.

My town is dead. On the same street we used to have:
Woolworths
BHS
M & S
C & A
Primark
And a huge Co-op department store.
Primark moved into the shopping centre and the rest either closed entirely or left the town.
Debenhams was on the next street and that's now gone as well. I miss all of them!

I miss the old Corn Exchange in Manchester before the bomb - it was all lovely hippy shops and market stalls and nice things to browse. Then it got expensively refurbished after the bomb and is now all glamorous and high end.

Normal shops - habitat, the pier, cargo, and Debenhams (especially pyjamas).

Jane Norman! Bring it back!!

also mark one and bay trading , Morgan , BHS and Woolworths !

debenhams and Jane Norman

Kookai
Morgan
Jane Norman
Bay Trading
Debenhams
John Menzies
BHS
Woolworths
Athena
Spoils