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'.

Those of you saying you miss pubs/nightlife, are they not a thing anymore? I don’t know as I’m too old to go now! But assumed they were still there (certainly pre-covid anyway) - what do young people DO if they aren’t at clubs & bars?!

Bay trading, Tammy, pressies plus (giggling at the bad taste bears as a tween) wimpy, top shop and river island, Woolworths for the new Now album.

God I feel old.

You could still go to HMV, Disney store or body shop?

I remember when I moved to the U.K. in the middle of 90s shops like MK1, Morgan De Toi, Virgin, Tammy, the Bay, Index, Our Price, Dolcis, Kookai ( I loved) , Republic, Sock shop, Benetton ( oh I spent all my money there)

All these were in my local shopping centre, I remember sitting down around the water feature with my friends..

My daughter has recently discovered Panini sticker books which brought back wonderful memories of me and my best friend buying and swapping stickers every weekend

It was when local councils decided to introduce ridiculous car park charges that the high street started suffering. I remember when they suddenly did this and one by one the shops closed. I can absolutely guarantee if they reduce charges the shops will see more footfall. Loved Chelsea girl and Miss Selfridge. Ooh and Barrats always had the best boots

Yes! And the cheap knick knacks that you could buy with your £1 pocket money - smelly gel pens, miniature nail varnishes in pearlescent colours, dice shaped hair ‘bobbles’…

Totally agree with these comments it's actually making me a bit emotional. The fact that oxford circus topshop (ascending into actual heaven definitely stealing that) is turning into an ikea makes me really sad. I love ikea but wouldn't use one if I had to get the tube with my purchases.

Also brilliant in Kingston was literally the highlight of my grunge phrase saturdays

@Lady1576

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

I married one 😁

The celebrity clothing lines at Too Shop - Kate Moss and Karl Lagerfield!

Top Shop in Oxford Street was heaving. I bought some absolutely lovely things.

Now Top Shop doesn't exist. 🥲

I took my two DC shopping last week and they both said they hated clothes shopping. DD1 is 13 she loves to look stylish but the shops are BORING!

We all miss the Disney Store, our local one closed down.

I find shopping miserable and dull now.

Also loved Kookai and another french chain which I can’t remember the name of but I know they still have shops in France. Love french fashion

You could still go to HMV, Disney store or body shop

Disney closed all their shops except flagship ones in places like London last year. Seems mad because I'd often pop in for a browse and end up buying something which I don't bother with when they're online only and you have to spend ££ to get free delivery. I still miss the big one they had in Edinburgh which went many years ago.

Shopping even window shopping was a hobby! I still love it but because of the pandemic I hadn't gone for ages. I was so excited to go in November!

But our local city centre is rubbish so it means travelling to the next city.

I know it was Promod!

As a teen loved Chelsea girl, etam and Biba
I miss proper department stores in the area I grew up in we had Owen Owen, Lewis’s, Beales, Broadbents and Boothroyds as well as House of Fraser
Even Debenhams had departments - I worked in one in my 20s which had Comet, Dorma, Accord, Edinburgh Crystal, Denby, Royal Albert, Bensons Beds and many others
Anyone remember John Menzies? Ours had a record store inside and a cafe

@Thecazelets that's true, clothes were expensive but better quality. Getting a new outfit was a big deal!

Obviously we know all the clothing and shoe shops that are no longer around but this thread has really made me miss Evolution, The Pier, Cargo, Athena, random hippie shops etc. My city had all those plus all the defunct clothes shops and now the shopping centre is just an endless parade of phone shops, jewellers', perfume shops, Primark etc. Nothing you actually want to go and have a browse round. I find that more affluent towns and cities still have the interesting independent shops but here there's nothing.

@Ontheblink

Also loved Kookai and another french chain which I can’t remember the name of but I know they still have shops in France. Love french fashion

Oh is it Naf Naf?

I loved the bodyshop! Those little tiny bath pearls shaped like animals.. we used to spend ages in there browsing and trying on the makeup..
Woolies for pick and mix.. our price for cassettes.. then tammy girl, select, bay trading, Jane Norman, etc for clothes! Also loved Athena for books and posters, my mum worked there in the mid nineties.

I miss so many of these shops!

As a teen in the 80s my sister and I spent our time in HMV (lots of boys in their dad's coats), Virgo and Chelsea Girl in Glasgow and in the 90s, when we were in our 20s, in The Pier and Athena when we both bought our first flats. Happy memories indeed. Life seemed to be much simpler.

Ah yes, I was in Bluewater shopping centre this week, meeting a friend who lives down there now. We both had our kids along and were remembering the first time we went there (drove down from London when we should have been studying).

It was nearly Christmas and I remember the excitement of Sephora and Bath and Body Works, and shopping in Kookai and Morgan. It was partly because we were young and everything was exciting, but the place is now a shadow of what it was then. I suppose we didn't spend enough to keep it all going, but of course we didn't have it to spend!

Love this thread, had totally forgotten about prezzies plus and past times. Past times was such a weird concept! We had a few hippy type shops and I cringe when I think of some of the tat I used to spend money on! A good Saturday would entail coming back with a CD from HMV, A top or some jewellery from somewhere like Tammy girl and a windchime from the hippy shop!

i miss 90s high street shopping too, and lockdown really made me decide to try and use real shops wherever possible.
a lot of the big online companies do have their place and are here to stay, but if we dont actually use the real shops in our towns, we will lose them completely.

@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.

That's the name of it, Au Naturel! I was wracking my brains for the name! I used to love all the little incense and incense holders, candles etc along with the household tat.