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'.

@RoseGoldEagle EVOLUTION!!

Did anyone else have a photo booth for a while in their local miss selfridge?!

@Lady1576

Did we all have one of those long-haired guys in HMV moments???

I did and dated mine for a while. As a mum of two now who struggles to find time to do anything it's nice to be reminded of simpler times on threads like this. Thank you OP, I've enjoyed thinking back to halcyon times as a result of your thread

Boxing Day was a road trip to Chester for the sales. Browns, C&A, BHS, used to kit out two children that day. Lunch in Chester then home.

Chester is depressing now.

"I blame malls, online shopping, out of town shopping soulless shopping centres with a costa and/or Frankie and Bennys and ironically people for being less social and maybe less materialistic. In many circles not buying, buying experiences is more fashionable/ ethical than shopping."

@JunoLunar I think it's probably a combination of things. A lot more women work nowadays (I'm a working Mam myself), so they don't have as much leisure time. Weekends are spent cleaning and doing laundry and batch cooking and ferrying kids around to sports activities and classes and birthday parties. Devoting an entire Saturday to a day shopping in town is a luxury they can't afford.

A lot of town centres discouraged shoppers by removing on-street parking and charging exorbitant parking fees in multi-stories. Faced with that option or free parking at an out of town retail park/shopping centre, a lot of shoppers went with the most convenient/cheapest option.

Teenagers are less independent now and are supervised more. They expect to be driven everywhere. They've also grown up with the internet and smart phones etc. We didn't have the option of internet shopping back in the day and so it simply wasn't an option for us. If we needed (or wanted) something, we had to go to a physical shop to buy it. But of course, for teenagers now, it's very much an option. Not to mention the impact of Covid - lots of people switched to online shopping when they couldn't enter a physical shop. Will they go back to shopping in person? Only time will tell.

Oldie here,, I left school at the age of 15 in 1957, I got a job in an office three weeks late. School uniform was the old style gymslip, with blouse underneath, and we had to wear big navy knickers, and white socks,

I had to ask my Mum for some money to buy something suitable for the office job. I went into a small clothes shop selling womens stuff,, the shop was Dorothy Perkins, so one day i was wearing the horrible school uniform, and here I was,looking in the double fronted windows of the small shop,, One window display had some lovely frilly and lacey bras and knickers in it, and some lovely cottton blouses and beautiful cardigans. The other window had loads of legs in it, all with different types of stockings displayed on them, and a selection of fancy suspender belts.. This changed to tights later, when mini skirts came into fashion.

I got all my new gear from Dorothy Perkins that day, they sold quite a few very slim type skirts, and you could get a belt to match any of the skirts. They also sold scarves and lacey hankies ha ha, no tissues then.

The shop kept updating their clothes styles, when the 1960 style clothes changed a lot., so you could then get mini skirts and colourful hippy types of clothes. etc.

I remember my late Mum having a bit of a fit when I showed her my new style frilly type knickers and under wear,, she said you surely cant wear all this stuff for your office, especially as you are going to cycle to work everyday, and people might see the top of your nylon stockings if your tight skirt rides up, ha ha,,

I also bought my first pair of high heeled shoes that day. not stilletos, but a medium hight, as was wearing some clarkes sandals for school a few weeks before.
I also called in at the local Woolworths,and bought some cheap perfume and cheap lipstick... happy days of shopping then, !

@WhyPaulMemory

Ah, fond memories! I used to love The Pier, Athena, Miss Selfridge, maybe a browse in French Connection if they had a sale. I had a Saturday job in the 90s in Body Shop so had an endless supply of their stuff - my friends used to beg me for freebies 😁. You could spend a whole day in a shopping centre (we often did!). This one is very specific, but in Lewisham shopping centre, their Littlewoods had a great cafe - it had obviously been created in the 60s and everything was brown, orange and maroon. It had little booths with spotted Formica tables and the ceiling lights were glowing orange globes. I loved having lunch there with my mum. I think it’s a TKMaxx now 😥. Someone should have preserved that cafe interior, it was like stepping into Austen Powers!

Oh my the Lewisham Littlewoods remember it well, also used to go there for lunch with my mum on a Saturday happy days, Lewisham also had a huge department store called Cheesemans which I think later changed to Army&Navy. Yy the pier such a fabulous shop, C&A Chelsea Girl was also another shop in on the high street called Martin Ford which as teenagers we flocked to as they had massive bell bottom trousers & shirts with the really look pointed collars.

Going to Cheshire oaks gives me a buzz, lots of little shops instead of soulless department stores, all the family teenager upwards enjoy shopping there. Stop for a lunch break and off we go again.

Shame it's not local we'd be there more often

@bendmeoverbackwards I miss 80s Selfridges full stop. Their terrible beige and brown branding, the horrible orange pine fittings on the fourth floor Crabtree & Evelyn concession. But most of all, I miss their stationery department - I had a Little Twin Star desk tray, but my real favourite was Bobby & Kate. They also had a few other Japanese brands that made really fancy pencil cases.

Also in 80s Selfridges was a huge Miss Selfridge (entrance/exit on Duke Street) with a fancy (for the time) coffee shop on a mezzanine level. I hated the giant communal changing room, and was so glad when it was made into individual fitting rooms.

My mum always parked in Selfridges car park, so many of my childhood/80s memories revolve around Selfridges. Now, far too many years later, walking around Selfridges can be quite discombobulating as I can vividly remember how it once was and all the changes along the way.

@bendmeoverbackwards
Loved the General Store in theory. In reality, there was very little other than Millie's Cookies I ever bought from there!

@Gonnagetgoing
Have never really been a fan of Neal's Yard, sadly.
Argon was at the bottom end of Neal Street, next to where the Astrology shop is, in the unit where Birkenstock had their first store. It was something of a hybrid shop, a bit like The Covent Garden General Store but cooler, and with a more Asian leaning with a mix of Americana.

Can't find the post that mentions Hyper Hyper but I used to go to sixth form college with the daughter of its founders. I loved it there - some of my friends worked there at various points. Urban Outfitter when it arrived in HSK was brilliant too, although now, well, it's dreadful. (But then I'm no longer their target market anyway)!

My favourite Covent Garden 80s shop was Tokyo Boogie Beat on Shorts Gardens. Long gone but never, ever forgotten (to me at least)

@FionnulaTheCooler I loved Internationale. What a shop! Most of my 90's wardrobe was from there. Always had different stuff in every week

The main problem with a lot of clothes shops now /oldladymode is people who shop online or in person by buying a job-lot of stuff (which they don't try on if in a shop) and then returning piles of it in store and hold up everyone behind them. As happened to me again today.

I really wish shops would have a separate minimally-staffed returns counter where these people could wait for ages rather than holding up people who are being considerate and buying stuff they intend to keep.

So much nostalgia reading this post. Takes me back to the shopping centre I lived near as a teen. The 90's were just the best.

@CounsellorTroi

I miss the Clas Olson store in my city centre. Was a great store.

There is still one in Reading! In a similar vein, I miss Tchibo.

Has anyone mentioned Benetton? All those beautiful different coloured jumpers!

Highlight of my week was going to Athena and buying stationery and beautiful sheets of writing paper and envelopes. Loved the scented rubbers too and pencil cases.

I loved the body shop in the 90s and as Anita Roddick intended, I hate it now.
I remember certain Mothercares having interactive fixtures such as a talking tree with a face and the toys that could be played with on the shop floor (possibly ELC). ELC had a stay and play thing that I used to love when they used to bring all the toys down.

@SprayedWithDettol

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.

I remember going into Biba as a teenager and buying make-up, clothes, shoes, hats and jewellery. The roof garden was fab too.

@FionnulaTheCooler

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.

I was just telling my son about Au naturale the other day! I had completely forgotten about it. I absolutely loved that shop. My room was full of shite from there 🤣

@LadyLolaRuben

OP i grew up in Bristol in the 90s. Great times. I remember when the Galleries shopping centre first opened. I loved Saxone shoes (opposite Tammy Girl) and there was a Primark (totally different to today) on same road as Debenhams on opposite side a bit further down. Does anyone recall Wax Lyrical the candle chain store?

I LOVED shopping in Bristol in the 90s. My favourite shop was Just Beauty! Originally by the bus station then moved to where Cabot's is now. Could always guarantee you'd get some rare beauty item you couldn't get anywhere else like American stuff. The make up was such a bargain so cheap. Definitely don't get that feeling of excitement going shopping anymore, it's all so bland and samey.

Yes I remember Wax Lyrical! Woolworths, bay trading and mark one in the galleries. Bow bangles (now Claire's). Warehouse, oasis and Morgan all along the same street.

West London childhood, I remember Whitely's opening with it's soda fountain and food court, Whittard teas.

@LadyLolaRuben

OP i grew up in Bristol in the 90s. Great times. I remember when the Galleries shopping centre first opened. I loved Saxone shoes (opposite Tammy Girl) and there was a Primark (totally different to today) on same road as Debenhams on opposite side a bit further down. Does anyone recall Wax Lyrical the candle chain store?

I went to the opening of the Galleries too - Rowan Atkinson opened it and he was really miserable!

@OhWhyNot

The Reject Shop, Athena, Tower Records, Covent Garden General Store, Top Shop on Oxford Street, Hyper Hyper in Kensington

All great shops to spends hours just browsing

The CG General Store was great @OhWhyNot and also Neal Street East in Covent Garden which sold all sorts of bits and pieces and had cheap small toys stocked such as tiny packets of paper water flowers from Japan and those red cellophane fortune telling fish. You could buy something with a tiny amount of pocket money which is probably impossible now.

I also remember Hyper Hyper with its Grecian figure columns outside and train carriages inside which housed a cafe I think. Opposite was Kensington Market and it was a sad day when those traders were slung out. When I was a child (well before the nineties!) my trendy, London dwelling aunty used to take me to Biba which was magical. Kensington High Street is pretty faceless now.

I miss the big Top Shop, I last went just before the pandemic. I used to work near to it and remember buying a cerise batwing jumper and some cerise and black dog-tooth checked tights. I loved that outfit and would still wear it now. Must have bought it in around 2000.

I also love Snob (it was near me up North where I grew up), Tammy Girl, Woolworths (was so sad when it closed), Bay Trading and Mark One. I still love shopping now, but its such a shame that so many shops have shut. Someone else mentioned Croydon and how it used to be, I used to love the Whitgift Centre, but its so tired these days.

Also does anyone remember Partners for stationery? There's still a Whittards in Wimbledon, which isn't too far from where I live. I used to also love Pilot. Wierdly I actually prefer River Island now, the styles are more me that they were when they first opened. Did anyone else live in the North West and have a Girls Choice near them. There was one in Runcorn Shopping City and one in Ellesmere Port?

Ethel Austin is a real blast from the past, we had one in our very small home town, my first bra was from there. You could actually buy some good stuff in there, I remember buying coloured tights and fingerless gloves. Happy Days. Also, I remember there being a Broadbents in my home town when I was very young.

Daniels in Windsor and Ealing, great for prams and Laura Ashley

I still like Mothercare

Front signage was still visible in one mall yesterday

@WhyPaulMemory

Ah, fond memories! I used to love The Pier, Athena, Miss Selfridge, maybe a browse in French Connection if they had a sale. I had a Saturday job in the 90s in Body Shop so had an endless supply of their stuff - my friends used to beg me for freebies 😁. You could spend a whole day in a shopping centre (we often did!). This one is very specific, but in Lewisham shopping centre, their Littlewoods had a great cafe - it had obviously been created in the 60s and everything was brown, orange and maroon. It had little booths with spotted Formica tables and the ceiling lights were glowing orange globes. I loved having lunch there with my mum. I think it’s a TKMaxx now 😥. Someone should have preserved that cafe interior, it was like stepping into Austen Powers!

Ahhhh the one in our home town was identical! And they did a chocolate cake that was basically a Sara Lee gateau but was sooooo good. I'd do anything to spend half an hour in there again with a slice of that cake.

Ours is a Primark now 🙄