Nostalgia for high street shops of the past

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I'm feeling nostalgic. I'm struggling to find a winter coat and I just KNOW I would have found the perfect one in BHS. I also loved their underwear, thermals, slippers, pyjamas, dressing gowns, simple but good quality tops and jumpers and Christmas bits and bobs. My local also had a affordable but great restaurant with a little play area and decent loos. Dh and I used to take the dc there for breakfast on Saturdays as a treat.

Anyone else feeling nostalgic for long gone shops?

All my favourites have been mentioned on this thread so I’m seconding so many posts!

I also miss The Pier. I bought so many lovely unusual things in there for home and for gifts. We’ve still got a large bauble tree and matching large bauble decoration which comes out at Christmas and I used to love their hand painted Christmas baubles which had the year on them. If any of our friends had anything special to commemorate during the year (wedding/engagement/new baby/special birthday etc) I always bought them one of these for a gift.

For those missing C&A they are still around in Europe. We were on a cruise one year and people were coming back on board with bulging carrier bags!

When I was little my nan lived in Croydon. There was a department store called Allders of Croydon.

I loved it. Just typing this now I can picture it in my mind. My nan bought me a Dash tracksuit and a Pop Swatch.

As I got older warehouse, oasis and Topshop were all so good, such a shame they've all effectively gone.

The thing I miss about shopping in the past, is it would be a Saturday afternoon looking for an item and you would choose what was in offer in the different shops and come home with your purchase.

Now, you look round and think, oooh I wonder if there is anything better/cheaper online, go home and trawl the internet for hours.

Also the constant sales mean that I am reluctant to buy at full price when it will be 20% off in a weeks' time.
It used to be proper January sales. Now they start online on Christmas eve!!

I grew up in a town where Debenhams was the flagship store of the local shopping centre. I knew every inch of that shop, and so many important events of my life were marked by shopping there. My Mum had a Christmas job there demonstrating Rowenta coffee machines and we used to love going to see her in action.

I used to love coming home with bags full of blue cross bargains and showing her everything. My heart breaks to see it boarded up and empty. My Mum died about 10 years ago, but in a way it felt like losing her all over again when Debenhams closed.

Timothy Whites and Taylor, a real Aladdin's Cave for household stuff, they were taken over by Boots the Chemist.

The Reject Shop in Covent Garden.. quirky

Lombok

The Pier

I just miss the shops!

Dickins and Jones on Regent Street.
Top Shop.
Richard Shops.
Snob.
The Pier.
Debenhams.

So glad many other people loved Past Times as I did. I have lots of their things still.

I too miss The Pier, Debenhams, Etam, Madhouse for jeans C&A and BHS.

i also miss the physical shops of Ulla Popken, a plus size store. They have an online shop, but I missed trying things on. Ditto Long Tall Sally.

Robert Dyas is probably the only one I could think of, or John Lewis, though they’re only in bigger towns and I think our local Robert Dyas branch is a rarity, I didn’t have one where I grew up. Maybe House of Fraser if one still exists in your high street? (Ours is utterly depressing now since Sports Direct man took over)

Chelsea Girl,
Richards Shop
Van Allan

Logo
la senza
bay trading

Kookai do you remember that? Loved it!!

I hate online shopping. I had to buy things online for a wedding earlier in the year because one brand fits perfectly...I used to get it in Debenhams but all Debenhams here closed...I am in Ireland. I loved choosing my hat from a local hire place. A local milliner uses a clothes repair shop as a base and all the ladies who work there offer advice.
I loved old department stores especially with a nice cafe.

BHS ❤️ and Woolworths ❤️ recently Wilkinsons gone and I do miss that

When I was a pre teen I remember going to Biba 2 or 3 times with my dm and dsis. I don't think we bought anything it was just wondering around looking at all the amazing things, the exciting interior design of the shop! I totally thought this would be how I'd live my life as an adult; earning enough money to go to Biba, buying things and wearing Biba to endless parties. Sadly none of that happened! 😞😁

Other than that, generally spending days on the high street locally or the shops of Covent Garden when I was a teenager. Really happy just walking around clothes shops, stationery shops, homeware shops, poster shops, record shops and hours and hours in the 2 or 3 book shops there. Then maybe going to rhe pub or tea shop before going home to look at my few purchases.

When did you last buy personal stationery? Colourful paper by the pound and envelopes? All those handy things to give as presents pretty much gone. 😢

Yes, Kookai & Morgan for “going out” clothes.
My top three were Oasis, Warehouse & Topshop.

Basement in House of Fraser on Oxford St.
I think it had its own name, it was full of different concessions of cool brands, like Miss Sixty. There was loud dance music (Ibiza type stuff) & I’d always find the perfect Saturday night outfit. Plus, you’d come home with bags of really nice stuff, and still have the money to go out…

I have nostalgia for high street shops! Full stop!

Wow this has just unlocked a memory for me! Christmas shopping with my mum and massive queues in La Senza and those little scented beads they put into the box with your goodies

What’s strange is seeing clothes from Pilot and the like in charity shops. I don’t think I have seen Jane Norman mentioned so far. Can’t say that I bought anything but they had a concession in a local Debenhams.

York in the 1980s. The usual suspects down Coney Street: Top Shop, Miss Selfridge, Chelsea Girl, Saxone, and then around Stonegate and Coppergate, independent shops like Droopy & Brown’s where I got my going away dress and Sarah Coggles. There was also an exotic fruit shop at one end of Stonegate which has long since become a Crabtree & Evelyn or similar. It’s the place I first saw a kiwi or sharan fruit! York wasn’t my most local city but somewhere we went for special days. We’d end up in Betty’s.

Toy shop called jolly green giant and I remember a shop called What everywoman wants “whatties” and getting ripped if you got anything from there as a kid. Great toys though

Pier 1 Imports. Very long ago. Also Bejams, Fine Fare, Safeway were our local supermarkets. Loved Tower Records, and worked in Harrods when the fifth floor opened called Way In - stocked French connection and we had to wear FC as our uniform! Baggy sweatshirts and elastic aged waist wide leg pants in clashing colours. 80s!

Snob
Jeanster (for my Levis)
Sweater Shop
Bay Trading
Etam
Not sure of the name it was a shoe shop it had shoes arranged in sizes? All laid out in boxes. Was so easy looking as all size 4s etc were in their own section regardless of style.

Debenhams was brilliant as it had all the concessions in it, Wallis, Principles, Oasis etc not to mention all their own brands.

Then there was the cosmetics and jewellery, not to mention the home wear, it was the perfect one stop shop.

Sadly missed, nothing compares to it - feels like a lifetime ago that a shopping trip was actually a thing.

Designers at Debenhams was groundbreaking at the time.

There’s an Irish shop called Dunnes Stores where they’ve adopted a similar idea & it works really well for them.

@Blankscreen Oh, I really miss Allders - it was the best department store. The Whitgift Centre in Croydon was my main shopping place for years and years growing up, they had a Past Times too. I went back there a few weeks ago for the first time in several years and it was incredibly depressing.