Getting lost in a big shop

[FX02]

When I was about 9 I was in a big department store with my mum and dad. I stopped to look at the skateboards, and didn't realise my parents had carried on. I start balling, one of the assistants comes up to help me, and there ends up being an announcement on the store tannoy system something like this..... "Could the parents of ..... ..... (left blank to hide the shame) please come to the toy department where their son has been found." When they got back I was still crying, but by now I had been given a lollipop by the shop in an attempt to shut me up.

Embarrassing and extremely funny when I look back now, but at the time I was bricking it. I remember my big sister taking the mickey out of me for weeks after.

[joybee]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

Awww I was always getting lost !! First time I'm aware of was at a Queen Crowning Carnival at Blackpool. I was three and I'd been watching a Punch and Judy show on the beach and turned the wrong way when going back to mum who was only yards behind me. I got myself lost and the first Mum knew of it was a Police loudhailer making the announcement Would the parent of Joyce ****** kindly collect her from the Queens tent. When tMum got there I was sitting in the middle of a group of 'Queens' all feeding me sweets and soft drinks. I wasn't crying - I was having the time of my life !! After that, my mum told me always to look for the nearest Clock and go and stand under it, she would then come and find me. I got lost in Woollies and after much searching she found me - standing on one of those big old red weighing machines that were always at the front of the shop !

[stevef]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

I remember briefly losing my parents when I was little whilst out shopping, one minute I was holding my dad's hand, next minute I was holding someone else's dad's hand lol. When I looked up I got the shock of my life, then I saw my parents not too far away.

[FX02]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

joybee. I remember those big red weighing machines. An old fashioned chemist shop had one up until about a year ago quite local to where I live.

At least you were only 3 when you were crying (and then you stopped with sweets). I was about 9!! The humiliation is getting worse.... :cry::cry::cry:

[pedro]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

Not getting lost ...but I remember in the early 60's being in C&A's in Princes Street Edinburgh on a holiday monday when there was so many people in the store that they had to close the main doors and usher everyone out the fire escapes. Pretty scary for a youngster I can tell you.

[darren]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

i was awful for running off as a kid in supermarkets etc..

i just wanted to explore as you do as a kid.
looking up at all these high shelves sometimes id maske a mess and some items would fall.

never had a shop owner announce could the parents of a ginger kid called darren thats me come and collect him he has been found.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

Remember losing my mam in Marks and Spencer's once. In reality she was just feet away behind a big clothes rack but I bawled! It's understandable being so terrified. For me I think it was more the idea that I had no idea where I was or how to get back home if I had properly lost mam. I thought I'd never see her again!

Another time I ran away from my parents in a fit of temper when they dragged me out of a kids play area in a busy shopping centre. I ran and ran dodging around the many legs until I suddenly realised I didn't know where I was, panicked and threw myself onto the floor crying. My parents were understandably furious/ panic stricken and my dad gave me a good hiding when he eventually found me!

[Richard1978]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

I managed to get lost once or twice but my parents managed to find me without outside help.

My brother once got lost in Lewis's in Manchester & took ages to find, even after some PA announcements to make himself known.

[shilton dipper]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

i'll never forget the feeling of panic in bhs in swindon as i turned around and realised i was on my own........i don't know if it was me who had walked off or if i had stopped and everyone had carried on going

[battyrat]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

I can only remember getting lost once as a wee toddler.All I can remember of it was turning around and they were not there.I have a feeling it was in one of those new fandangled shopping centers that were springing up all over the place in the late 60's early 70's.It was certainly before I started priimary school.Not sure if I moved or not but more then likely mum had seen something then rushed over to take a closer look leaving me in the middle of nowhere.I was so called found by some security/policeman and eventually returned.

[doomlord73]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

I used to get lost in Woolworths quite regularly, especially when i realised that lost kids were given sweets - probably not the done thing now!

[FX02]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

I used to get lost in Woolworths quite regularly, especially when i realised that lost kids were given sweets - probably not the done thing now!

Good one!!! I wish I'd have thought of that..... Free pic'n'mix!!!

[havasack]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

Not so much lost but I remember being really confused as a real little'un in some shops in Newcastle (Fenwicks and BHS I think) because you'd go in the shop from street level, walk through it, down a flight of stairs and back out onto street level. I thought Newcastle city centre was built on different levels.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

Not so much lost but I remember being really confused as a real little'un in some shops in Newcastle (Fenwicks and BHS I think) because you'd go in the shop from street level, walk through it, down a flight of stairs and back out onto street level. I thought Newcastle city centre was built on different levels.

I can vouch for Newcastle Fenwick's being one of the most confusing shops in the world! It's made up of about three big buildings all welded together higgledy piggledy, making a sprawling mass with several entrances onto two different streets and one inside Eldon Square. If you go in the Eldon Square entrance then you do indeed have to go down a floor to find another door out. Even now I struggle to picture how it is all joined up as the entrances seem miles apart!

I loved the shop as a child though. So huge and so many different floors and levels and alcoves and staircases and little corridors. God forbid you ever got lost in there! IIRC there were about six different cafes/restaurants in there too on various floors.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Getting lost in a big shop

Not so much lost but I remember being really confused as a real little'un in some shops in Newcastle (Fenwicks and BHS I think) because you'd go in the shop from street level, walk through it, down a flight of stairs and back out onto street level. I thought Newcastle city centre was built on different levels.

I can vouch for Newcastle Fenwick's being one of the most confusing shops in the world! It's made up of about three big buildings all welded together higgledy piggledy, making a sprawling mass with several entrances onto two different streets and one inside Eldon Square. If you go in the Eldon Square entrance then you do indeed have to go down a floor to find another door out. Even now I struggle to picture how it is all joined up as the entrances seem miles apart!

I loved the shop as a child though. So huge and so many different floors and levels and alcoves and staircases and little corridors. God forbid you ever got lost in there! IIRC there were about six different cafes/restaurants in there too on various floors.