To miss the excitement of 90's shops

[JunoLunar]

Warning: pointless nostalgia
I love shopping but it's such a dull experience these days.
Maybe it was because I was younger and had such little disposable income. I miss shops selling you a 'lifestyle' as i really only get that feeling in IKEA now.
In particular I miss:
Body shop: the little shaped sponges of oranges, lemons, strawberries and the coordinating sprays, bubble baths and those little iridescent balls that went in the bath.
Disney shop: DD was obsessed with Encanto at Christmas and I had to trawl through what they had on so many different online shops. It would be amazing to have a Disney shop to see all the different merchandise and let her choose a few things. I remember the excitement of the lion king coming out and seeing the big displays with all the cuddly toys. I chose a pencil case with different compartments which hid rubbers, pens etc, think it had a calculator too (high tech!)
The Pier: totally up my hippie mums street. Used to have one of those CD players where you could listen to a snippet of rain music, whale music, wolves howling! Did anyone buy those cds? Also selling us the dream of a coloured glass bowl of water with floating tea lights which definitely didn't end up either getting spilt or left to go mouldy on the book shelf. I remember how grown up I felt buying a wooden cat which came in a stars and moon print paper bag.
Waterstones: I still love it now but loved it even more when there was no Amazon or kindles and you had to proper commit to a book to pay £8 for the hard cover.
HMV: I bought the single of 'Smooth' by Santana on tape and the long haired guy behind the till said 'nice choice'. I was sure I could write for Kerrang magazine based on that comment alone.
Also Debenhams in Bristol had in interactive forest with talking trees and a fake drive in cinema with little cars you could sit in and watch Disney films. It was basically ok for your parents to dump you there whilst they shopped. I vaguely remember going there but we never bought anything as it was ' too dear'.

The PIER!
I lived in rented houses when that shop was around and longed to buy all the lovely stuff they sold. By the time I had my own place they had closed.
Is there anywhere remotely like it now?

I used to love Body shop! I'd travel miles to shop for the animal shaped soap (that I didn't actually use , I'd just arrange it beautifully and sniff occasionally) , but now it's terribly flat in there. I wouldn't shop there if you paid me anyway though!

And shopping for a cd single in hmv was the highlight of my week sometimes!

Athena was very cool too.

I’m going back a bit further but I still remember as a very small child regularly going to Biba with my mother and her sister. It was wonderful.

The Food Hall at my local House of Fraser, I loved it.

Shops have really taken their eye off the ball in the 2000s, going shopping used to be fun and enjoyable, now it is drudgery, it's no wonder so many people prefer to shop online.

Shops need to up their game in the same way that pubs and cinemas have. Going into a shop needs to become an experience, it shouldn't be about just going in and buying something.

@DoubleGauze yes! Was that a Bristol thing or a chain?

I loved The Pier. Also Spoils- I bought everything for my first flat from there.
And the perfume bar at the Body Shop.

I loved reading your post OP. I can remember so many of those, especially body shop.

I grew up in a small town and Woolworths was by far the best shop we had. Loved the music and poster section towards the back of the store. Nowhere near HMV's level but good enough.

We also had a family owned department store in our town from the 1970s - early 2000s that sold everything from clothes to washing machines all in their own sections on different floors, and then a cafe where we'd always end up. It was always busy enough to have an atmosphere but was just lovely to look round. I miss the simplicity of it so much.

@InFiveMins I remember that! I think I bought an A2 sized poster of Craig David's face in Woolworths. My friend got an Eminem one as she was cooler.

We had an Ethel Austin and there were metal shelves of individual vests, knickers, pairs of socks. Once after a dance exam my gran picked me up and we were going to a cafe for lunch. She realized she forgot underwear for me to change into and was horrified at me keeping my leotard on under my clothes - we went to ethels and I picked a single pair of pants and a vest, for some reason it was so exciting and they were only something like 30p. This would have been 1999-2000. You didn’t have to buy a multipack of 8 friggin vests and take one out to look at the size and end up with all the packs all messed up like you do now!

I loved the Pier, when I got my first student loan I spent £20 (a lot to me then!) on a glass vase from there. It was purple and white marbled and said made in Italy on the bottom, I thought it was the most sophisticated thing ever. Somehow it survived numerous student flats and house moves, and I still have it, and I'm married to an Italian!

Ooh, good OP! Think it was the excitement of youth, the social element, and that there was no online shopping, so shops’ stock was a surprise.

I loved Habitat and would sit on a fab sofa with friends slurping McDonalds milkshakes, we often got kicked out.

Yea to Athena!

Does anyone remember Evolution?

Athena!

Ahhh this made me nostalgic and I was born in 1990! I miss going into HMV and listening to CDs in a booth before committing to spending my pocket money on one. And the excitement of a new video/DVD. watching something new and not from our existing collection was such an Event in our house. Neighbours of ours would use the video man who came in a van or go to blockbusters once a week and I was so jealous.

@FlatSusy definitely a chain. We had one in South London.

The Sweet Factory 🙂

What I dislike about now is that every shop is so samey. There were always trends but now, every shop has similar ranges and little personality. I happen to like some of the things around at the moment but I go to the limited range of shops that we have and they are all so similar, even the supermarket home ranges

I loved Internacionale, their fake leather tote bag was the only acceptable school bag for 16 year old school girls when I was that age. Also their home section Au Naturale where I wasted a lot of pocket money on tat like inflatable furniture and fluffy photo frames.

@RoseGoldEagle yes, I had so much tat from there!

presumably these shops don't exist any more because insufficient people were using them so they closed.

I loved the pier too. I don't think I ever bought anything. But it smelt so nice.

@DoubleGauze

Athena was very cool too.

Athena was a destination! All the cool people went to Athena. I think I once bought a postcard because I couldn't afford a print or a poster.

I enjoyed the Body Shop in its 90s days and I can just remember the 80s days too. It was so aspirational, and artsy and pricey. It had a really posh folksy feel to the branding. My friend had Body Shop bubble bath as everyday bubble bath and I was insanely envious that she could be so casual with it and slosh it in every day. I got the smallest size bottle for Christmas once and used it so sparingly it lasted a year or more.

The Gadget Shop!

Technological WONDERS - lava lamps, levitating cows... those balls with raccoon tails they used to keep inside a hula hoop on the floor...