Ive heard they may go bust. How weird would it be, a world without Woolies?! :eek:
Unfortunately I think the world has moved on and left woolies behind - it isnt sure whether it wants to be a sweetshop, a toyshop, a dvd store, or a homewares store - and all those things have bigger ranges elsewhere, not to mention that the cheap shops, well the quality isnt good, but the prices even undercut woolies.
You'd be amazed by how much some retailers have changed. For example, in the 1980s Boots was one of the biggest retailers of computer software and music.
prking is correct. Boots used to sell music and computer games heavily in the 80's/early 90's...
I can remember buying Spectrum games there and in 1996(!) came across a Limahl cassette tape in a Boots sale in Irvine (as they were ending their music/games section) that had been there since 1983!.
I remembered the tape,13 years and they still had it on the shelf (it had a distinct (mis)marking to it).
prking is correct. Boots used to sell music and computer games heavily in the 80's/early 90's...
I can remember buying Spectrum games there and in 1996(!) came across a Limahl cassette tape in a Boots sale in Irvine (as they were ending their music/games section) that had been there since 1983!.
I remembered the tape,13 years and they still had it on the shelf (it had a distinct (mis)marking to it).
Got my Commodore 64 from Boots in the mid-80s
The SoundVision department had music, TVs, video recorders, hifi systems and photo areas...
I think Woolworths on the front in Blackpool may still have a cafe/restaurant. Or at least until recently, I used to go almost every year and I'm sure there was a cafe at least some of the time.
In one of the towns near me (I forget which ), the Woolworths has a restaurant upstairs.
Something else that even smaller Boots stores used to sell
That's right, I'd completely forgotten about that! Our local Boots in North Wales definitely sold them ca. mid-90s, as I recall making some very nice death ale which kind of knocked us all for six
This thread has got me racking my brains to try and remember the brand name of Woolie's own brand food products way back in the day...it's not Winfield I'm thinking of...I'm sure there was another one. can anyone remember what it was?
That's right, I'd completely forgotten about that! Our local Boots in North Wales definitely sold them ca. mid-90s, as I recall making some very nice death ale which kind of knocked us all for six
The late 90s were funny times for Boots... out went the old 'department store' lines, in came high-glamour luxuries like dentists, chiropodists, hot spa massages and manicure bars!
It had all flopped of course by the early 2000s... bring back the coffee shops, cookshops and soundvision departments!!!
This thread has got me racking my brains to try and remember the brand name of Woolie's own brand food products way back in the day...it's not Winfield I'm thinking of...I'm sure there was another one. can anyone remember what it was?
Well I have read this...
During the 1960s Woolworths decided to give all of their exclusive and own brand products a common "Winfield" brand name, instead of having a different name for each supplier.
Would it not suggest it was all called winfield if not I cant find anything else really
This thread got me thinking of another shop I remember selling food - British Home Stores! :eek:
I remember the Broadmarsh Centre store in Nottingham selling fresh food like meat around 1985/1986.... it was as you walked in the side entrance on Collin Street (by the bus stops). Am I dreaming this???
Can anyone else from Nottingham confirm this or were there any other BHS stores in the UK that sold food?
The late 90s were funny times for Boots... out went the old 'department store' lines, in came high-glamour luxuries like dentists, chiropodists, hot spa massages and manicure bars!
It had all flopped of course by the early 2000s... bring back the coffee shops, cookshops and soundvision departments!!!
I couldn't agree more! I think the prevalence of these 'luxury' replacement for bog-standard services kind of tallied with the increase of debt-backed affluence that started to increase in the late 90s until now.
Would it not suggest it was all called winfield if not I cant find anything else really
Ah! Maybe my mind's playing tricks then! Ah, how clearly I remember the Tasty Cheddar! And weren't there some nice yummy chocolate biscuits too...oh crikey this is making me feel ancient!
This thread got me thinking of another shop I remember selling food - British Home Stores! :eek:
I remember the Broadmarsh Centre store in Nottingham selling fresh food like meat around 1985/1986.... it was as you walked in the side entrance on Collin Street (by the bus stops). Am I dreaming this???
Can anyone else from Nottingham confirm this or were there any other BHS stores in the UK that sold food?
Hmm.. I wasn't in Nottingham then unfortunately. I have a hazy recollection of buying supplied from the BHS in Reading at one of the festivals a few years ago, but can't be quite sure. Those Strongbow breakfasts make for lots of patchwork memories
Hmm.. I wasn't in Nottingham then unfortunately. I have a hazy recollection of buying supplied from the BHS in Reading at one of the festivals a few years ago, but can't be quite sure. Those Strongbow breakfasts make for lots of patchwork memories
Cor Biffo you're making me feel all nostalgic about shopping in my 'home' city of Nottingham where I lived for many years!
Back in the early 80s Nottingham had a huge Woolworths on Lister Gate, where HMV and the Home/Menswear M&S is (or was, I haven't been back in a few years).
That closed in the mid-80s, leaving Nottingham without a Woolies for years. Then they returned to the city in the 90s the Victoria Centre, where I think they still are now...
That store was originally H&M, who took the old C&A store over in the Broadmarsh...
God , This brings back memories. I remember being in BHS in the centre of Belfast in the 70's with my Mum and Dad, queing up for cheese and cooked meats.
God , This brings back memories. I remember being in BHS in the centre of Belfast in the 70's with my Mum and Dad, queing up for cheese and cooked meats.
Thanks for that Sal, that's another BHS then that sold food! :cool:
Ah! Maybe my mind's playing tricks then! Ah, how clearly I remember the Tasty Cheddar! And weren't there some nice yummy chocolate biscuits too...oh crikey this is making me feel ancient!
I still miss the great apple doughnuts and lemon doughnuts that Woolies sold in the 70s, I had a summer job in the town centre and we used to take turns doing the food run without the boss noticing we were missing. I returned to live in the town in 1982 and they had stopped selling them.
Never had a food section in my local Woolies, ever
Woolies came to my town in 1968 I think
I think it depended on the size of the store, our Wooloies had a small cold meat counter and a cheese counter but no fish. And a Cigarette booth run by TKL
I need to settle an argument with my mum. She is convinced that when she was young, in the 60's and 70's that Woolworths had a seperate floor, it was a food hall that sold fresh and cooked meats, fish, cheese and alcohol, as well as tinned foods. She can even remember apparently that above the fish counter, there was a huge plastic model of a salmon with like a waterfall thing gushing over it.
Now Im convinced that she is getting her wires crossed. That would mean that in those days Woolies was a supermarket. I think she is confusing it with Tesco's which was in the town centre in those days.
Or is she right?
Hmm! That one sounds just like my Woolies
There used to be an escalator in the middle of the store and when they closed the basement they took the escalator away and covered it over. You wouldn't know it had been there now but it still gives me the creeps thinking of it being sealed up (although in reality it is probably the store room now and not at all creepy.)
The fish counter was strange with its fish in a waterfall at the back and it used to smell sometimes too.
Thinking about it now, I can remember when I was a teen in the mid 90s that some Superdrugs sold food like Sandwiches. The one in Chester even had a salad bar type thing.
can anyone remember as well, I think it was woolworths own brand records, or at least thats where they were found in the 60s and 70s,
KTEL records - they always had some bizarre promotion, like "this is the christmas record by the award wining bloke who plays the organ on blackpool pier"????
Comments
Unfortunately I think the world has moved on and left woolies behind - it isnt sure whether it wants to be a sweetshop, a toyshop, a dvd store, or a homewares store - and all those things have bigger ranges elsewhere, not to mention that the cheap shops, well the quality isnt good, but the prices even undercut woolies.
prking is correct. Boots used to sell music and computer games heavily in the 80's/early 90's...
I can remember buying Spectrum games there and in 1996(!) came across a Limahl cassette tape in a Boots sale in Irvine (as they were ending their music/games section) that had been there since 1983!.
I remembered the tape,13 years and they still had it on the shelf (it had a distinct (mis)marking to it).
Got my Commodore 64 from Boots in the mid-80s
The SoundVision department had music, TVs, video recorders, hifi systems and photo areas...
In one of the towns near me (I forget which
Portsmouth's Woolworths has a restaurant upstairs. Not too far from Bognor...
They had one last year anyway - been a while since I was in Portsmouth!
Not that I've seen in years! :eek:
Something else that even smaller Boots stores used to sell
That's right, I'd completely forgotten about that! Our local Boots in North Wales definitely sold them ca. mid-90s, as I recall making some very nice death ale which kind of knocked us all for six
The late 90s were funny times for Boots... out went the old 'department store' lines, in came high-glamour luxuries like dentists, chiropodists, hot spa massages and manicure bars!
It had all flopped of course by the early 2000s... bring back the coffee shops, cookshops and soundvision departments!!!
Well I have read this...
Would it not suggest it was all called winfield if not I cant find anything else really
I remember the Broadmarsh Centre store in Nottingham selling fresh food like meat around 1985/1986.... it was as you walked in the side entrance on Collin Street (by the bus stops). Am I dreaming this???
Can anyone else from Nottingham confirm this or were there any other BHS stores in the UK that sold food?
I couldn't agree more! I think the prevalence of these 'luxury' replacement for bog-standard services kind of tallied with the increase of debt-backed affluence that started to increase in the late 90s until now.
Hah, stuff your detoxes and give me beer!
Ah! Maybe my mind's playing tricks then!
Hmm.. I wasn't in Nottingham then unfortunately. I have a hazy recollection of buying supplied from the BHS in Reading at one of the festivals a few years ago, but can't be quite sure. Those Strongbow breakfasts make for lots of patchwork memories
Cor Biffo you're making me feel all nostalgic about shopping in my 'home' city of Nottingham where I lived for many years!
Back in the early 80s Nottingham had a huge Woolworths on Lister Gate, where HMV and the Home/Menswear M&S is (or was, I haven't been back in a few years).
That closed in the mid-80s, leaving Nottingham without a Woolies for years. Then they returned to the city in the 90s the Victoria Centre, where I think they still are now...
That store was originally H&M, who took the old C&A store over in the Broadmarsh...
Thanks for that Sal, that's another BHS then that sold food! :cool:
I think it depended on the size of the store, our Wooloies had a small cold meat counter and a cheese counter but no fish. And a Cigarette booth run by TKL
Hmm! That one sounds just like my Woolies
There used to be an escalator in the middle of the store and when they closed the basement they took the escalator away and covered it over. You wouldn't know it had been there now but it still gives me the creeps thinking of it being sealed up (although in reality it is probably the store room now and not at all creepy.)
The fish counter was strange with its fish in a waterfall at the back and it used to smell sometimes too.
I also remember the home brew kits from boots!And using them for all kinds of home brew experiments!
KTEL records - they always had some bizarre promotion, like "this is the christmas record by the award wining bloke who plays the organ on blackpool pier"????