Want some more Nostalgia? How about Top 10 British TV Channels that Don't Exist Anymore? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--jPhYfuv2Ok.html
The most saddest aspect of the loss of the English High Street is these places were also a meeting place where one could bump into friends and speak face to face and perhaps meeting new friends. The internet has damaged our relationships on this level.
I agree with you but shopping now there is no choice and it's not a good experience any more. I hope High Streets come back and they will if there are both chains and independents. One day. M and S won't exist for department store format. 20 years tops as people 50 and over die out.
@@gabriellaj.o.6180 I cant remember the last time I "went shopping" !! I get most thingsa from amazon these days. In addition to shops being expensive, councils killed off many town centres in UK due to excessive parking penalties. If high st dies out, where will costa coffee put all their coffee shops ? ha ha !! Coffee shops and charity shops these days.. and I go in neither !
I used to work at Woolies. Was there until the very last day and was heartbreaking seeing the store completely empty. But was so pleased to work in a place that still brings happy memories to so many
It's sad that Mothercare is another casualty of online. I loved their stuff. I'm London born and bred but have lived in Oz for over 30 years. When my kids were little and we used to visit friends and family in the UK every 2 years or so, our first stops (complete with jetlag) were Mothercare, Clarke's shoes, M&S and Selfridges.
How much everyone seems to miss Woolworths makes me wonder how it went bankrupt in the first place. Clearly no-one realised what they had until it was gone.
Partly because of the 2008 recession and partly because it didn't keep up to date. Stores became old fashioned and tacky, looking more like bric-a-brac stores straight out of the 70's.
@@andyrob3259 Especially big stores like Woolworths. I remember going into Woolworths before they went under. Even in the city where I now live, it looked just like the small country town one I used to go into when I was little. It was like getting into a time machine!
My amateur level observation is that Woolworths were a victim of doing everything about okay but not doing anything well. There was always a better alternative. Wilkos seems to have inherited it's place in the high street.
The big mistake made by Thornton's was to start selling their chocolates in supermarkets. They became just another brand, rather than something more luxurious and special (I always though that the chocolates sold in the supermarkets tasted cheaper than the ones from the Thornton's shops). Hotel Chocolat have taken their place.
@@eattherich9215 maybe so, but they seem to have far more shops now. People don't mind paying a premium price for a quality product. That's why Thornton's made such a mistake selling in supermarkets.
Thornton's was beautiful chocolate so I am very sad to hear their UK stores are gone. I think at one point M&S had some own-brand chocolate that tasted suspiciously like Thornton's. - but I'm not sure. I live in Australia these days and I just know that Cadbury's has gone down the toilet and the only edible chocolate available here is Lindt.
@@SuzyQ334 If you think there is no good chocolate in Australia you haven't tried Darrell Lea, that stuff is better than anything else you can buy (and its a good Aussie brand as well)
I used to love Thorntons on the way to work I’d stop off and get an assortment of their chocolate covered cookies and nuts was gutted when they stopped producing them😢
South Africa has a version of the Woolworths franchise that still exists. Our Woolies started out as a successful retail-clothing franchise, known for it's premium quality and reasonable prices (if you want quality and is willing to pay for it, Woolies is the best choice), they then branched out to include grocery stores (both in separate locations as well as integrated in the clothing-stores). Despite the allegations of racism, the franchise is still going strong though COVID lockdowns did hit everyone hard.
Here's a few I can remember from my dim and distant past that got missed off the list: Rumbelows, Timothy Whites, Littlewoods, C&A, Fine Fare, International Stores, Safeway, Somerfield, Freeman Hardy and Willis, Wimpey burger bars.......
@@benwheeler8456 I just googled and you're right. There's one about 15 miles from me. I shall take my daughter there next week during half term holiday. Thanks
Does anyone remember the children’s clothes shop Adams? I think they were around more in the 90s, they used to shine strobe lights of apples across the floor and me and my sisters would chase them while our mum shopped! 🍎😂
Growing up as a child and teenager in NYC, I loved Virgin Megastore, Toys R' Us, Borders, Blockbuster Video, and Woolworths. One thing I loved about Woolworths was their Layaway service. If you wanted to buy something, but couldn't afford to buy it in one payment, you could pay for it in installments, and receive it once you paid for it in full. Low-income families loved Woolworths. That's where my mother bought my brother, and I our Sega Genesis.
In one of life's ironies. Amazon is now entering the highstreet. Building stores on the ashes of businesses they broke. The evil brilliance of capitalism. Grind the margins of the highstreet into dust. Then pickup the desolate real estate at a discount and expand everywhere else.
I miss woolworths,I remember one day I was craving sweets really bad,I was in my local shopping centre and all the stores had closed,then I noticed woolworths was still open so I got a pick and mix bag,just as I was paying 'a whole new world' by katie price and Peter Andre was playing on the speakers,I don't think I will ever have a moment of pure joy like that again in my life.
Thorntons was going down and closing down stores for years, it wasn't Covid. It was them selling in supermarkets that did them in really as people saw how cheap the quality was and how overpriced the same things were in store.
Thorntons having been closing for years. Canterbury went years ago in 2013 and was re-let to a charity shop and only just re-let since then. Lots of ghosts from the High Street now. We live in sad times. I quite like C and A who still exist in France and Belgium and Netherlands and wish they would come back to the UK.
I miss BHS and Woolworths the most. The heart has been ripped out of the British high street. 😔 Also liked C&A and always like to have a peek if I see one abroad.🌈
The biggest mistake Woolworths made was putting the pic n mix right next to the door...as many kids did in the 80s. I would always grab a slack handful on me way out.
There are still Woolworth stores in Germany, and I bought an umbrella in the one in Bayreuth, Bavaria, a couple of years ago. I didn't really need it, but I was so pleased to see a "Woolies" store that I thought I'd get a souvenir!
@@pedanticradiator1491: I also remember the Littlewoods stores. There was one in each of my local town centres. Tandy also had a branch where I used to live. If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can see the shop.
Littlewoods are now an online catalogue. I have loads of C&A stuff that still fits me and is better made than the high street clothes you get now, so I buy mail order clothes.
@@julianaylor4351 It was a shame when the little woods shops shut. Years ago when I was 20 I got offered a temporary job there over Christmas and I had got offered a full time permanent job somewhere else so I had gone to the littlewoods shop in Cardiff to see the manager in person to thank her for having offered me the job but I had decided not to take it as I had been offered a full time permanent job somewhere else and she had thanked me for my courtesy. Common courtesy nowadays isn't common anymore!
In all fairness, both Littlewoods and C&A have been away from the UK High street for quite a while compared to most of the names mentioned. C&A were in fact Dutch (the Netherlands), not sure if people were aware of this. I often remember that Littlewoods would have a cafe/ as many older people would meet there for a weekly chat with friends and enjoy a hot meal.
@@neilburns8869 The Littlewoods in Oxford Street had one, in my late twenties and early thirties I are a warm lunch in the winter, surrounding by people having cakes and tea, who were around the age I am now. I knew C&A were Dutch, they went back to Europe because they couldn't cater for the more fashion trend conscious British public, ironically the supermarkets took their place, because older people never went in shops, like Top Shop. But I switched to mail order clothes in my forties after I found that what some of the shops, I had used like Evans were selling dull work clothes and boring unstylish items. I'm not someone who wears jeans or black/ dull coloured clothes. But even Littlewoods and C&A started selling boring stuff. Littlewoods now sells fast fashion online clothes. Again I don't buy stuff that dies after its first wash, having brought a top from Primark, that did that. I still have clothes from C&A, Littlewoods, Evans, M&S, BHS and Debenhams that are still wearable decades later. The general quality outside of supermarket and expensive department store clothes has declined on the high street. That's why I've got mail order clothes.
Remember oh so Many of these stores. Also remember electronics bootique, C&A, Do it all DIY Store, Model Zone, and unfortunately many more!! Ring back our British high streets!!
British Ex-Pat here. In Canada, the reverse happened to HMV (I worked at 2 different locations). The company became insolvent. Sunrise Records bought and subsequently rebranded the old locations as its own.
It's just not Xmas without the Toys R Us adverts :'( As a kid I got taken to Toys R Us on my birthday. When a store opened closer to home I was taken there around the time of it's opening. Years later, in 1999, I got a job at that same store during a time when they had a big refurbishment happen and stayed on to work on the shop floor over Xmas that year. I even went back the following September and worked a second Xmas.
JJB, Woolworths and BHS were SO memorable and nostalgic for me (I am 25) most of the rest of them are not so nostalgic since they either closed very recently or were stores I hardly ever frequented or ever went to as a matter of fact. Never went to Thomas Cook (since I have never left my house whenever my family ever went to get flight tickets to go abroad and they never went to places like Thomas Cook since most of the times we have been abroad was at Pakistan my family's home country and a couple of other places which we only went to as connecting to Pakistan and stayed there for a bit before going Pakistan) Never been to Phones 4U since I got my first phone in 2014 and Phones 4U was kinda dead at that point ALSO my first phone contract was bought DIRECTLY from a carrier's physical store (My first phone was on 3 Network and I still have a sim contract with them) and not a store like Phones 4U/Carphone Warehouse ALSO never been to Thorntons since the nearest one to me was like 5 miles away in a place I hardly ever frequent and I don't shop for chocolate at chocolatiers but just get them at grocery stores. ALSO I hate the way BHS went down I used to get clothes and school uniform from there all the time and my nearest branch is still there (It did briefly get used as a Poundland store but since its a huge department store Poundland were literally only using the ground floor as retail even though there is a basement and a first floor and at the start of the pandemic the store closed but besides the fact that the BHS logo is missing from the building it looks like the BHS I remember it to be but as a closed store) the fact that it was sold to a guy for £1 who is known for bankruptcy and the poor management ruined the company so hard
Sad about BHS. Back in the day while still at school, I had a Saturday job at BHS in Southsea, Portsmouth. It was more "upmarket" than Woolies but cheaper than Debenhams. And they treated their staff very well even us Saturday kids. Nice managers and a great staff canteen. I also worked in Littlewoods on the same shopping strip. I guess that's long gone too (I moved to Australia in 1988). This oldie loves my smartphone, my laptop and 24/7 access to the internet, but I bloody don't like shopping online. I miss the old department stores.
I'm surprised that C&A aren't in this list since the Dutch clothes store, which predates H&M, used to have stores in the UK. They're still around in Europe but not in the UK.
John Menzies sold their stores to WH Smith in 1998 at the same time taking over Smith's wholesale operation. The company is now involved in Air freight
Of course it has to be Woolies. Looking around my flat there is so much stuff from Woolworths, just shows the quality. Even my cheap Woolworths DVD player is still working.
Dixons never went out of business. They BOUGHT Currys as Currys was struggling. They kept the name Currys as it was more well known. Dixons basically bought their competition. Like Hornby and Tri-ang. Tri-ang bought out Hornby but as Hornby was more well known, they kept the name
I miss Virgin Megastore! The one in my town was awesome! It was on two floors and always had knowledgeable staff. As for people moving away from physical record shops, I will always buy from HMV first and Amazon second!
The internet will continue to see the demise of more stores. It is called progress. We will all be sitting at home ordering goods rather than going to store locations and interacting with our fellow man. Sad.
A lot of the shops suffered with image issues from the next generation of shoppers. Often kids of the 90's were more interested in brands that these shop did not stock. No wonder as these people started working or became parents, that they would not go shopping in these old fashioned stores. I found the quality of the goods very questionable.
There's a Gateway some miles from my house, that's now a Llid. My local Kwik Save is now an Iceland and part of a gym. The Woolworths is a Poundland and a small phone shop. 😁
I miss Woolworths the most, it was a big part of my childhood. I used to always go there to look at the toys (specifically dolls) when I was a child. Still can't believe it went.
If you think about it since Coroni pandemic it's been Top Shop / Man, Miss Selfridge, Wallis, Evans, Burton and DP, and Debenhams, Oasis and Warehouse, Cath Kidston ( although in fairness they now have 6 stores in mainly outlet centres and a flagship in Piccadilly again) and Laura Ashley , Brighthouse and I am sure there are more but it's an awful lot that have gone pop including many non renewal of leases by the likes of Ernest Jones and H Samuel and others. COVID was the final nail in the coffin of the UK High Street. Only 79 department stores left in this country and it was 500 before. Sad. 239 are currently vacant awaiting a new use.
Woolworth UK was spawned by F.W. Woolworth, an American company founded in Pennsylvania, USA. The Woolworth building in New York City used to be the tallest building in the world till the Empire State came along. When I moved from Wakefield, Yorks. to Pittsburgh PA in the eighties I was amazed to find a Woolies in downtown Pittsburgh. It's one of those companies you think is British but isn't. It's the same with Monopoly, an American game that you think is British as it is/was made by Waddington's in Leeds but the original was made by Parker Brothers, USA and was set in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The thing I used to enjoy about Woolworths was their music and records department often at the very front of the store. Definitely missed. Phil Green aka Sir Shifty is now a notorious name within British retail culture and not for the good reasons either. Currently Sir Philip Green but I am sure that many people around the UK feel as if he no longer deserves the knighthood. I certainly don't believe that he merits the title of Sir so a very pure and simple Phil Green will suffice. Steve Coogan, Isla Fisher and David Mitchell have all been involved in making a movie entitled "GREED" but is loosely based on the vile, retail entrepreneur.
To get what Woolies had, you have to go to Wilko's, Poundland, most discount stores and the non food parts of supermarkets. It's a shame. I think most of us still miss it. 😞 My local Woolworths is now a Poundland. The last manager of my town's branch ended up as the chief security officer in a local underground car park. I've got so many Woolworths things, most of it novelty stationery. Very few shops have good novelty stationery, which I like to collect.
Comet were always pushing the extended warranty which weirdly included the manufacturers year warranty and in any event the Sale of Goods Act covered goods. As for Woolworths, yeah who doesn’t miss it.
I miss Woolworths so much, since it went, the town literally died. the building is still there and its never been anything else. The actually Woolworths signs are up still as well. Barely any shops on that side of the town are still open
I remember Index,MK one ,BHS,Tradex but I think that was only a thing here in leeds and same goes for Kwiksave😅😅, JJB Sports,Internationalle, Miss Selfridges, Summerfield and the early learning center 😍 the UK was such a happier place back then 😭🥺
Amazon beware!! If the only place I can get a product is online, I most likely didn't need it in the first place. Love old school shopping, viewing and touching the item before I purchase plus the one on one interaction. Greetings from a Brit residing in the USA.
You mentioned that other companies started in America but you forgot to mention that about Woolworths, apparently there also still open in Mexico amongst other countries
Comet closed down in 2008 I’m sure???? There’s no way it was 2012🥴🥴 I literally remember it so well , it was the year my auntie passed away... perhaps it was just all my local stores???
