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
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 !
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
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.
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! 🍎😂
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!
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.
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.🌈
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.
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.
@@pedanticradiator: 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.
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!
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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 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
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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. 😁
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
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 😭🥺
my first job in 1959, trainee manager at Woolworth. Working in the stockroom, bringing down the produce to the main floor sweeping up and keeping the coal fired boilers working in these days. You really did start at the bottom, but it was wonderful it’s the one store I really miss, ah! nostalgia; it’s not what it used to be
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 definitely remember a lot of these. I mean, I think I can understand why GameStation would cease to exist, since where else would I really need to go to get my video games?
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???
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.
Yeah, we all do as well as not only a family but as a complete community. No wonder there's a group on Facebook dedicated to the very store and their retail personnel.
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.
Zavvi closed when Woolworths did as it was reliant on them for all their supply of records. That is probably why Virgin sold the business when they did.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Want some more Nostalgia? How about Top 10 British TV Channels that Don't Exist Anymore? ruclips.net/video/-jPhYfuv2Ok/видео.html
C and a
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Is DAVE still about?
All uk Brantano stores closed in 2017 but in 2018 it went online
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
What was your pay at the time?
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.
No they haven’t , they’re all coffee shops now and people meet there instead (and pay £5 for a brew !)
*UK high street. This is happening in all 4 UK countries.
@@leeriches8841 bore off
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 !
As a British guy myself, I really miss these and will forever be in my memories.
A British what 😄
What, buying Tat?...
I see you added guy it really did sound weird you just calling yourself a British 🤣
@@Logans3Run your slow if you don't get it calling yourself a British guy or woman sounds better than just a British
This was both a trip down memory lane and upsetting at the same time, nice job!
😞
I didn’t know about Thorntons….they’re my favourite chocolate.😩
Woolworths should come back on the streets
@@minkgin3370 I remember going past there constantly when I was in town, sadly never went inside
I look back at Woolies, Our Price, C&A, Mothercare, Toys R Us, Debenhams, BHS, Dixons.. those were good days.
Those were the days when you would buy almost anything on the high street. Today it's all charity shops, nail bars and value stores.
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.
Woolies, pick and mix buffet after school and buying singles.
What about fine fare?
Where I lived there was a Woolworths and fine fare right next to each other and an Army and Navy store a few doors up. All changed now.
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.
I always wonder that, it was always busy with big long queues right up until it closed.
It was tat that you went in for small purchases. That’s why. No one can survive like that.
@@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.
I'm still not over the closure of Woolies and Toy's 'R' US!
Woolworth ain't totally closed, we got it here in Australia
@@jonnybonbon91 Your Woolworths is not the same shop as ours was.
Same. Never heard of Woolies, but Toys 'R' Us was my childhood. 😭
Same, I loved and miss those stores along with Lewises & Tandy
@@murphycreationsvideos Tandy was brilliant.
With B & M, Home Bargains, Wilkinsons etc there's obviously a customer base for a store like Woolworths. I still miss them.
Not anymore, in case of Wilkersons....
This comment aged absolutely terribly 🤣
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.
Hotel Chocolat is more expensive than Thornton's ever was.
@@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😢
I wish that Woolworths would come back, that store was my favorite place to go to growing up, everything under one roof
Yeah, you have to use several shops to get the same sort of stuff.
So true, that and Lewis'es
I miss the CDs games and the pick n mix!
Just go to Wilko
@@oliverstemp9132 Good old wilko, where Woolworths fell, Wilko grew.
Fun fact: Woolworths is in still in other countries in Europe ( mostly Germany, where pick and mix section still exists)
Most of the wolworths pick and mix stations are still in other UK stores like asda, Wilkinsons and Morrisons
Thanks for repeating exactly what is said in the first 30 seconds of the video for those that missed it.
Pick n Mix, was always a great treat!
@@stephen2466 Woolworths didn't invent pick & mix... those are just pick & mix. Nothing to do with woolies
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.......
Wimpy still exists
@@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
I remember them all
I remember walter willson's hinton's and presto.
I remember Bata shoes, Radio rentals and Tandy electronics.
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.
I used to love going to Woolworths, I'd get paid on a Saturday from my weekend job, cash in hand, and head straight to Woolies to buy videos or dvds
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! 🍎😂
They were around in the 2000s too.
There was an Adams in the Ashley Centre in Epsom once. That obviously permanently closed a very long time ago.
I used to do the same 😂
I was born in 2001 and I remember going to Adams for my clothes as a kid, it’s a vague memory though 😁
Woah that just unlocked a memory in the back of my brain ! I’m 21 but I swear I have shopped with my mum in Adams before !
The labels had a picture of a red apple 🍎 on them!
I miss Woolworths. You could get anything and everything in Woolies, but the best thing about Woolworths was the Pick & Mix.
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!
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.
I swear Woolworths pick and mix tasted so much different to other shops pick and mix! its weird xD
What about C&A? A very popular clothing store. When me and my wife go on holiday to a European destination and she sees one, we have to visit :)
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.🌈
People like Amazon, the cost of liking Amazon is the high street turns in to a ghost street and an economic impact is felt in every single town.
I hate Amazon. I just have never warmed to buying on it. I’d rather go direct to the stores website.
I no longer buy anything from Amazon. Jeff Bezos is a clown.
it's like amazon has sucked the life out of British culture! 🤬🤬
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.
Can't believe you did not mention Somerfield. Years after being bought by co-op you would still see Somerfield lorry trailers in use.
Weirdly you still saw Kwik Save trollies being used in Somerfield and the odd shop here and there before Kwik Save finally went off the grid
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.
Thornton's had been closing for years but covid was the final blow!
I used to like c and a as well.
@OcramGlobal: wasn't Thornton's a franchise operation just like Valerie Patisserie of which there are still a smattering of shops?
Yep, in my town we still have an Adams Kids store thats been closed like 15 years if not more.
Kidderminster by any chance?
@@thatitguy4453 yes, how'd you know, you're local?
I miss Woolworths, the amount of money I sent on CD’s and Pick’n’Mix probably kept them going for years
Im still deverstated that Woolworths is gone still miss it to this day
I miss Woolworths. It had literally everything under one roof.
Yup you could always buy a decent cheap gift.Also the famous or infamous pick n mix!!!
Now we have BNM. But its not the same
I miss Woolworths so much.
Also there was a catalogue store simular to Argos called Index. A gadget store called Tandy.
Index was part of Littlewoods
@@pedanticradiator: 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.
I remember Index catalogue shop
Lots of these shops where closed due to greedy council rents
and lack of parking hence online shopping
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!
Wish we could pop into woolies for a Pick n' Mix right now... 😥
Me too, they also had the biggest selection of rope lace liquorice, the good old days.
For my thirty fifth birthday I brought two of everything I liked from their pick and mix. I ended up with 64 sweets. 😆😋❤️
Most of the main Tesco supermarkets do pick n mix
I’m surprised MVC didn’t get a mention. The one we had in Gloucester was massive and definitely the go-to place for music and films…
I miss shopping at Woolworths at Christmas :((
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
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.
Childhood memories? Very much so as my dad was a Woolworths store manager for about 25 years
So many great memories from growing-up, especially Woolworths!😩
I've got tons of Woolworths stuff. ❤️
I still sing the Toys R Us theme tune every now and then
How magical was it, walking into a toys R us as a child 😍
Can I now cry please toys r us was amazing Smyths is not some of the staff can be bit off at times not all staff
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.
When i saw Woolworths, immediately clicked, it’s still crazy that they are gone 😊
So sad, I still miss them. 😞
Come to South Africa and you'll see them
Can anyone else still remember the smell in some of these shops? Omg how life is short
You forgot Littlewoods and C&A (who still have stores in mainland Europe but not the UK).
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.
@@neilburns8869 same as debenhams and the house of Fraser cafes were like friends meeting places as well!
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.
Woolworths is the sort of store that could actually still be useful today, despite online retail.
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.
Our Price anyone? Of course everyone knew that C&A stood for Coats & Ats.
I just thought of our price
There was Coda Music too.
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.
Our local Woolworths stood empty for years until Primark, which was next door extended their store into it. Primark had taken over from Littlewoods.
Primark bought out the old little woods shops and the bhs ones as well.
@@joannesaltfleet2071: the Primark store in my local town centre was once a C&A whose stock was vastly superior.
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.
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.
All of the Arcadia group stores have disappeared from the high street, not just BhS. Some brands have been absorbed into online only Asos and Boohoo.
Littlewoods, Fosters, Freeman Hardy Willis, Ethel Austin, Toy and Hobby.
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.
I miss Menzies, I could spend hours in there. I loved Woolworths, it was very sad when they closed.
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
First I've heard about Thorntons, what a shame. Was an amazing chain 😩
We have Woolworths in South Africa and it's bloody expensive. It operate mainly in clothing and has a supermarket.
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 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
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.
I think Home Bargains bought Woolies out as well!
My Woolworths is now primark
@@waynegray2284 Our Primark was a BHS about twenty years ago.
Does anyone remember the 99p Store who were brought out by Poundland, who had my town's old Woolies, before Poundland?
@@julianaylor4351yep and poundWorld right
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.
Woolworths, C&A, Wavyline, Bejams, some of my favourite childhood memory shops, from yesteryear....
"Many of their stores still stand empty" well yeah... Debenham only collapsed a couple of months ago....
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!!
I MISS WOOLWORTHS USE TO LOVE THEIR PICK N MIX
miss Woolworths had a Saturday job there best times, miss the fact that you could find everything under one foof
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.
Woolworths was the biggest loss to the high street. You could pop in there for anything. I feel their demise was stocking mostly kids toys at the end
Another company that went in 2000s is C&A if anyone remembers that store
We have C&A in Tenerife. Brilliant!
we used to have a Thorntons in our town center and its now occupied by a hotel chocolat store that does the same thing as thorntons
Wilko's sell Thorntons as do Sainsbury's. 😋 ❤️
I bought my prom dress from BHS. Oh the memories
So many fond memories of BHS, Toys R Us, Woolworths, Blockbuster and Virgin Megastore.
What about Index? Or Fine Fare? Or Gateway? Kwik Save?
Kwik Save made a come back and operates a few shops mainly in the north of England.
or safe way
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 will never forget the toys r us advert, you knew Christmas was close when it was on the TV.
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
Oh, recordshops. That was my favourite hangout spot.
I just always liked saying Woolworths.
3:19 Debenham's Churchill Square Shopping Centre, Brighton
I can't believe all of these are shut!
I didn't even notice half of these disappear!
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 😭🥺
I really miss Woolies, Toys 'R' Us and Borders the most :(
my first job in 1959, trainee manager at Woolworth. Working in the stockroom, bringing down the produce to the main floor sweeping up and keeping the coal fired boilers working in these days. You really did start at the bottom, but it was wonderful it’s the one store I really miss,
ah! nostalgia; it’s not what it used to be
RIP Geoff the Toys “R” Us giraffe
Thank you very much for the upload other names have dissapeared most recently carphone warehouse.
I loved Gamestation, there's still a Game near me but they downsized by so much
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.
Grainger games was a brilliant gaming shop to visit in northern England till it went out of business
Where we used to live, there was this supermarket we used to shop at, as a family - Safeway....
I definitely remember a lot of these. I mean, I think I can understand why GameStation would cease to exist, since where else would I really need to go to get my video games?
There is still about 50 Thornton's stores operating in the UK under franchise agreements
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???
Woolworths.. :( aww Miss the pick n mix
Also Toys R Us. Just magical this part. 6:44
x
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.
Great video and I can think of a couple more, Maplin and Lunn Poly Travel. These days only food and clothes stores really work, the rest are doomed.
I miss Wollies, mainly for their pick n mix selection.
U miss thiefing em dont ya?
@@ai_9959 😆
Gamestation and Woolworths, miss them!!
I missed going into Woolworths when we had a store here in Wolverhampton.
My local Woolworths which is now a Poundland and a small phone shop, was built in front of the local telephone exchange.
Yeah, we all do as well as not only a family but as a complete community. No wonder there's a group on Facebook dedicated to the very store and their retail personnel.
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.
Zavvi closed when Woolworths did as it was reliant on them for all their supply of records. That is probably why Virgin sold the business when they did.
I remember the Zaavi shop that replaced the Virgin store at the Tottenham Court Road end of Oxford Street.