Department stores

[amethyst]

The days when you had an assistant behind the counter when you wanted to buy something.Those chunky tills like large typewriter keys would go ping and the price would show up for you to see.The mahogany and glass cabinets to display stuff much better those days.

[awesomeguy]

Re: Department stores

Department stores? Shop assistants?

Must be before my time. I was born in 2193.

[DSCOMAN]

Re: Department stores

Yes...and lift operators...the cabinets with clothes folded neatly you could see through the glass tops

[zabadak]

Re: Department stores

I remember going to buy my first album proper (1973 I suppose). It was in Soper's (a department store in in Harrow-On-The-Hill).

I only knew I wanted a Sweet album and they had only made two. The assistant kindly showed me the tracklistings for both.

The first album, Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be, was really only a collection of pre-fame singles and the As and Bs of their few hits since. Needless to say, I knew very few of them.

The other album was Sweet's Biggest Hits, which I went for as I knew the songs, thanks to the guy's help.

[victorbrunswick]

Re: Department stores

Yes...and lift operators...the cabinets with clothes folded neatly you could see through the glass tops

And remember how the lift would leave your stomach two floors back when it stopped?

[amethyst]

Re: Department stores

And remember how the lift would leave your stomach two floors back when it stopped?

Those lifts where the cages opened and shut

[little miss sunshine]

Re: Department stores

Those lifts where the cages opened and shut

Those cages I was kept in that shut and were never opened hahahahaha

[80sChav]

Re: Department stores

In my region we still have a fair few but nothing like they used to be - like even WH Smith had they own Travel Agency department circa 30 years a-go I recall ... may-be possibly 27 in one Town I recall

These Department Stores with individual parts sure had an echo of Grace Brothers - which I could not abide as a programme (Are You Being Served) but sure indeed it is an echo of past glories lost upon thinking about it!

80sChav

[amethyst]

Re: Department stores

The staff would be smartly dressed ladies in frocks,gents in suits with plenty of smiles with good morning may I help you

[victorbrunswick]

Re: Department stores

From 1907 to 1983 the building on the right was flagship store of the Bullocks Department Store chain which was a famous name around here. I used to go there with my mom when I was a kid. One of my fondest memories was sitting at one of the second or third floor windows and gaze down at the street below while my mom shopped. The building which is seven or eight storeys is now used as a carpark with various jewelry shops on the ground floor.

[Richard1978]

Re: Department stores

Manchester had 2 big Department Stores, Lewis's which for years I thought was owned by John Lewis but wasn't.

Kendal's was the other.

[DSCOMAN]

Re: Department stores

..of course the cages - and you could see the brickwork as you went up/down- and then the light appeared from a floor and then the legs/heads until it stopped :-)

[teepee]

Re: Department stores

... Lewis's which for years I thought was owned by John Lewis but wasn't.

We had a Lewis's in Birmingham. It had a mini-menagerie on the roof where you could have your photo taken with a chimp. It was a huge place - seven floors or so to explore - and was renowned for its Christmas grotto, where all the kids went to see the real Father Christmas.

[Twocky61]

Re: Department stores

There was a department store called Shepherds in Gateshead Newcastle upon Tyne but either now closed or taken over by Debenhams/HoF

[Richard1978]

Re: Department stores

Was Binns a department store in the North East?

A lot of buses in the 1960s - 70s had Shop At Binns painted on them.