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Original poster

To miss the excitement of 90's shops

551 replies

JunoLunar · 19/02/2022 11:15

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'.

OP posts:
Daenerys77 · 19/02/2022 12:25

I spent many happy hours at Tower Records in Piccadilly, especially the early music section. A trip to London just isn't the same without a browse through Bolivian polyphony and reed drones.

Sunseasun · 19/02/2022 12:25

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal aw that’s quite sweet, a holiday in your own past

Ilikeviognier · 19/02/2022 12:25

Yep. I’m the same. Tammy Girl/Etam and that massive top shop on Oxford street was like the worlds” most exciting experience!

I can’t imagine shopping like that now. It’s so sad Sad..

If I’m honest I don’t even try / the actual shops never have my size- I’m sure they did in the 90s😥

thetemptationofchocolate · 19/02/2022 12:29

I still have some plates from The Pier. Lovely things, they are :)

Ilikeviognier · 19/02/2022 12:30

I also had a load of body shop stuff that I used to just to smell but never use 🤣

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 19/02/2022 12:31

We had a big Past Times, I still have quite a few photo frames from there.

Crackercrazy · 19/02/2022 12:31

I loved The Pier too. Still have a small chest drawers bought from there, which I’m attached to despite looking a bit ropey now.

We used to have a local Reject Shop; I’m assuming that’s the same as Spoils? I was a student in early 90s so used to go there a lot.

Miss Selfridge was popular too.

Crackercrazy · 19/02/2022 12:33

The Body Shop make your own gift baskets used to be so good for presents - White Musk was a particular favourite.

Thecazelets · 19/02/2022 12:34

I used to love what must have been one of the original Body Shop branches in Brighton in the early 1980s. It had a sort of perfume bar with test tubes and pipettes where you could test out all the different smells (before committing to a very small bottle of bath oil at pocket money prices...!)

Clothes were so much more expensive then though - it was before the explosion of cheap clothes from China. A pair of jeans was quite an investment.

MistakenHoliday · 19/02/2022 12:34

@Blueeyedgirl21 I worked at Ethel Austin when I was at uni and remember the rows of single knickers and vest with less fondness 😂

I miss old River Island, the decoupage bag era, when you’d take your PE kit to school in it until the handles broke.

Tillow4ever · 19/02/2022 12:34

@travellingturtle

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...

This is the comment I was waiting for! I LOVED The Gadget Shop!
Luredbyapomegranate · 19/02/2022 12:34

I used to love body shop (until I realised it was responsible for my eczema), but I think these shops were only exiting then, they wouldn’t stand out now, sadly..

Zilla1 · 19/02/2022 12:35

DC saw a photograph of the high street absolutely packed with people on pavements and the road. Asked if there was am amazing special event on. No, that was what it was like every Saturday in the 70s and 80s.

Might show them photographs of the pubs and clubs and the streets between on a Thursday/Friday/Saturday evening when they are old enough to see what it's like now.

SnowD · 19/02/2022 12:37

There was a big HMV in Croydon until fairly recently and my teenage dds enjoyed browsing and buying until it closed. Croydon was brilliant in the 80s when I was a teenager and it was still good in the early 2000s. I remember there was a bistro at the top of the whitgift selling raspberry Belgian beer. I liked the Thorntons cafe and Books etc too. 80s Croydon was a world away from what it is now. So run down and a lot of shops empty. The big H&M that my teenage dds liked has closed now. There was going to be a Westfield built but won't be now. There's still the big Marks and Primark and waterstones

OhWhyNot · 19/02/2022 12:37

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

RobertaFirmino · 19/02/2022 12:38

I loved Snob and Bay Trading. I don't know if this was a North-West only thing but Stolen From Ivor was great too.

SnowD · 19/02/2022 12:38

I was just thinking the old Allders had a hairdressers and a few cafes

Sunseasun · 19/02/2022 12:40

Ethel Austin now there’s a blast from the past 🤣

Oldtiredfedup · 19/02/2022 12:41

I miss pubs in the 90’s - a night out was fun snd everywhere was heaving. MY old stomping ground has been dead as a door mail for years now.

LubaLuca · 19/02/2022 12:42

I worked in HMV when I was a student in the 90s. It was the best job, really good fun.

I miss all of these shops. It was an experience to go in them and I'm sure it encouraged me to spend more. Maybe I'm just more cynical and stingy these days.

tsmainsqueeze · 19/02/2022 12:42

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

Yes, I miss 90s Body Shop! I was just thinking at Christmas that I'd have love to put together one those baskets with the little fruity soaps and bath pearls for my tween DD.

I grew up in the NE, and the Metro Centre in Gateshead was a place of wonder. I was particularly fond of the Mediterranean Village - my mates and I used to spend hours just mouching about in there.

And I have very fond memories of Fenwicks food hall. We used to go there once a month (just after pay day) and mum and grandma would treat us all to lovely cheese from the deli counter, and cream cakes from the bakery. Mum would get herself some nice coffee beans freshly ground from the coffee counter too.

Sigh. I wish it was possible to take a little holiday in your own past!

'Sigh. I wish it was possible to take a little holiday in your own past!' What a great comment ! I have such wonderful memories of shopping in the 80's , plenty of disposable income then ! and the best shops ever ,nothing compares to then . Shops are pretty boring now i'd rather not bother .
SnowD · 19/02/2022 12:44

Just remembered Howard Jones and Go West played in a pub in Croydon in the early 00s on separate weeks. Go West rushed through it but Howard Jones gave it his all!

thewhatsit · 19/02/2022 12:45

It wasn’t too many years ago I was in a Disney Store. Do they not exist now?

I think it’s only really nostalgia because you were growing up then. Your Mum probably didn’t feel quite the same about the shopping as you do. I do miss shopping for music though. If you wanted a particular CD you had to go shopping and you had to find somewhere that stocked it - a new release in Woolworths etc but if it was slightly less popular you’d have to go to an actual music shop. It’s a bit anti climatic now that you want to listen to a song and 2 seconds later you are.

SnowD · 19/02/2022 12:46

I still miss Woolies sometimes. The larger ones seemed to sell everything. I also miss BHS Christmas section and their homewares. I used to like their t shirts too

ballroompink · 19/02/2022 12:46

@RoseGoldEagle

Yea to Athena!

Does anyone remember Evolution?

Yes! Used to spend ages in there. I still have a soapstone ornament I bought from Evolution in about 2000.