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'.

I cant see if anyone has mentioned it but oh my god, i miss flip! 100s of velvet jackets boys like all looked like jarvis and dickies wide leg cords, that store was my heaven!!!

BoredZelda

There were relatively few out of town retail parks before the mid ‘90s.
More and more started to appear at the same time online shopping was starting to take off.
The Trafford centre for example opened in 1998.

www.visualcapitalist.com/history-of-online-shopping/

Obviously depends where you live too.

I’ve just looked and my nearest out of town retail park (and the only one for miles) opened in 2008.
Up until then, my nearest town was thriving.
It’s like a ghost town now!

Oh man, the joy of going into town to mooch round the shops. What a simple pleasure that we took for granted! This thread has made me smile a lot and also feel really very sad about what’s been lost.

@Giggorata I remember the wonderful Boodle-Ams. And a little shop I loved in the Merrion Centre, that sold real Chinese heavy silk kimonos and other treasures. I grew up in Leeds so my formative years of shopping were spent there; getting the bus in and meeting friends, that first taste of independence. Body Shop baskets. Chelsea Girl. Top Shop. HMV (to shop for boys as much as records). Then graduating to Bad and Shock and the hippy shops down in the Dark Arches.

I still have a decoupage bag from River Island! I keep my Christmas wrapping stuff in it - it must have been its home for thirty years now.

Later on in another town, I bought loads of stuff from The Pier for my little flat. I can remember feeling really quite angry when it closed down due to mismanagement. It was very sudden.

I don’t recognise Leeds when I go back now, although it has been a long, long time since I did so. And my local town now feels sadder and sadder every time I visit.

I hope there’ll be a renaissance for the High Street after covid. Everyone so sick of online shopping, and missing the experience of touching and trying clothes before buying, that it will all come back. But maybe times have changed too much.

The Pier!! I LOVED that shop. My treat when shopping as a teenager was to go in there and gawp at what sixteen year old me thought was really fancy stuff.

Ha.

I never go shopping now; your post has made me realise I miss those teenage days. Lovely thread, OP.

I remember in my local big city there was a large branch of Boots. Downstairs was the chemist/toiletries/make up section but upstairs had all sorts of gifty stuff, household and kitchen bits, stationery etc. It used to be brilliant for a browse especially at Christmas.

@VenusClapTrap I grew up in leeds too and remember Boodlams. Joss sticks, afghan coats and hippy jackets. Also the only place you could buy Kickers. This was mid 80s. Also remember Schofields, Lewises food hall. Used to love mooching round queens arcade then up to the second hand record shop and vintage clothing stall in the merion centre !

Out of town places started leaching the life from the high street waaaaay before online shopping. I can remember going to one near me around 1990 and there was one earlier than that which I can remember being taken to as a child (the excitement of a supermarket restaurant buffet!) so that would have been the late 80s. Free parking right outside and just off the motorway, shops with covered walkways in front of them, plus a big supermarket that did clothes and homewares - why schlep into town, walk round in the high street in the rain and pay for parking?

@starlilly88 It’s not worth a special trip, honest! But every time I pop in I do mourn my lovely Saffron Moon and goodness knows how many happy teenage hours.

@NinaDefoe

BoredZelda We’ll have to agree to disagree. As far as I remember out of town shopping retail parks appeared around the same time as (or even after) online shopping started to take off.

I definitely went to both Meadowhall and the Metro Centre before we even had dial up internet at home.

If you're talking about the 'Big Tesco / Boots / Next / B&M / Pets At Home / Sports Direct' kind of retail parks then maybe you're right; the first one near my parents was only developed when I was an adult.

@Moonlightdust

Faith - for the highest black platform shoes you could walk in!

I used to work at Faith on Saturdays. So often now I see shoes advertised and think 'we sold those!'

Often they were hideous in 1998 and they're still hideous now

Personally, and admitting that I am OLD, I miss the shops from the 70s. GOODNESS...we didn't wear clothes, we donned costumes every day of the week, practically! The shops were riots of color, scent, style. I was in love with Mary Quant. Even the makeup was vivid and bold!

I loved the Pier & Wax Lyrical.. they felt so grown up & sophisticated. Bath & Body Works was very cool & smelt so amazing when I walked past I was like the bisto kid floating in!
Also Allders, Oasis, Jane Norman, Athena, Morgan, Ravel, Cargo Home & Woollies. In those days shopping was such a pleasure.

@BottleOfSun

Jane Norman and Morgan for me. Every secondary age girl had one of the plastic bags.

I've still got a couple of JN bags. They were always such lovely colours 😊

Does anyone remember a shop called The Natural World? Feel like I may have imagined it!

Also Bay Trading!

@Blueeyedgirl21

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've never heard of this and am much older - but it reminds me of Marks and Sparks back in the 70s and early 80s! You've all heard about how women always bought their underwear there back in the day - well it's completely true! We did!

If you go there now there are trillions of shelves of weird coloured bras in multiple styles, and I can't believe they ever sell most of them. But when I was a teen they had far fewer styles, but they were THE place to shop. I always favoured the bikini brief style of pants, and think they cost about 50p. They had flat trays of them separated by colour rather than size, if I remember correctly, and every time they brought out a new colour we all got really excited and bought a pair!

Oh the thrill.......

@dogaibu

Also Bay Trading!

My favourite top ever came from there! It's got a small mark on the front now but I keep it for beach holidays etc because I have never found anything as flattering......

I miss the independent children’s clothes shops and toy shops. Lovely little outfits and shoes.

It was a pleasure to go shopping and browse.

Loved the independent boutiques as well.

I do miss a lot of the 90s shops and the enjoyment of shopping. But my tween DD also loves shopping now. Her favourites are Primark, H&M, Claire's, Wilko's and WHSmith!

@Lifeisaminestrone

Oh and Harrods toy department- I loved it so much - just a massive room of teddies and Hello Kitty items.

It’s awful now!

Harrod's toy department is very strange now! I was also very disappointed with the Christmas department last year.

Ooh the early days of BHS Christmas section with all sorts of tat (chocolate body paint?) and tree ornaments. It was such a novelty back then. And MandS with tins with gift set lipsticks and nail varnishes in them (I still have the tins for buttons in my sewing box).

Love this thread. I'm nostalgic for the Body shop scents that don't exist anymore like Dewberry and White Musk. I used to buy little bottles of things and just arrange them in the bathroom. Bath pearls were a great slippery excitement.
Popping into Whittard to have a sample of some iced tea. Tammy was wonderful and Topshop a cavern of possibilities. Buying a postcard for my pinboard in Athena.

Does anyone remember Culpeper? I think that was what it was called. Bath stuff and perfume bits.
Boots Naturals used to be so lovely in the 90s. Vanilla musk
I miss Bay Trading too. I used to have a lovely turquoise bodice from there that would maybe fit around my leg now!

If anyone grew up near Watford, Clements department store?