Allotments 4 All
General => The Shed => Topic started by: ACE on November 26, 2008, 15:44:03
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I could see this coming a long way off. First they tried the catalogue, I mean who wants to order out of a book when you are in the shop, I like to see before I buy. Then it tried kids clothes before it turned into a great big toy shop. I have fond memories of woolies way back in time. It was a great place to buy an engagement ring for half a crown, which was then used as a futile attempt for a bit of hows your father.
I also see that MFI are in dire straits. I wonder if they will have a sale ;D
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Its rather sad to see Woolies will be no more. Also MFI. We bought a new kitchen from them 2007 no doubt our insurance will now be void. I cannot imagine Woolies going though. Every High Street in the Country with a decent sized population has one. All them jobs lost as well. I have so many memories of buying in Woolies in the 50s and 60s. I think my Mum had a job there for a short spell. Evening of Paris bottles and I remember choosing a tin cooker toy from Woolies. I thought it was great. Also in the late 50s buying their cheap hair colours, cheap lipstick and so on. A sad day and wonder what other high street name will go in the months ahead.
:( :(
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Yes sad if woolies go. :)
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they tried putting together a rescue package foe MFI, but the Allen key was missing
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Sad times when a firm has been trading for 100 years. When I was very young didn't Woolworths be called the 6d store?
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Yes it was Lorna. I watched a programme on the TV last night about Woolworths coming over here about 100 years ago and what they stocked. They were apparently big on Xmas decorations and everything was 6d or under. Household goods were affordable to ordinary folk. I know I have a very old glass in the house that had the Woolie decoration on it and msut have cost 6d or under.
Shame. :( :(
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:-\
Guess it's the way of the world. How many kids today get a kick out of pick n mix?
;)
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I'm heartbroken to hear about Woolies going under.
I could see this coming a long way off.
Me too, Ace, and I've loudly criticised the management and running of the company in recent years for trying to turn it into another faceless competitor on the high street in the name of 'progress' and killing its character in the process.
Now I know I like a bargain but in all honesty I'd willingly do without Lidl, Wilkos and the rest if only I could just keep Woolies. I can't imagine any other store keeping this particular household going as much as Woolies has done over the years (and my parents generation too).
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:-\
Guess it's the way of the world. How many kids today get a kick out of pick n mix?
;)
Ah, I remember the old pick n mix ;D Also, remember years ago when newsagents used to have jars and jars of various sweets to buy by the ounce in little paper bags? A new little shop has just opened up where I live selling just that - rows and rows of jars full of all the sweets I used to buy as a littlun (don't tell Rosebud) Pineapple chunks, sherbert pips, sour apples, bon bons etc etc. It's a lovely little place.
Oops, on topic, it is a shame about Woolies but as Katy says, it's the way of the world isn't it? Years ago we had a three storey Woolies in my town which did a roaring trade but it then closed down for a good twenty years or more. It re-opened as a much smaller, more versatile store about two years ago and there's nothing special about it at all - bit of a jack of all trades these days, which is probably it's downfall.
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Remember taking my pocket money to Woolworth's at Christmas,could always get mum and dad great pressies.
Remember they all had wooden floors and ladies serving behind proper counters.
When my kids were young ,I remember leaving work and going Christmas shopping in the Bull Ring,Woolworth's was so crowded,you could hardly move,you had to battle your way through.I was younger then and up for it.
I would probbally get killed if I tried that these days ;D
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I can remember the Woolworth's in Clapham High Street where there were floorboards that were pitted by stiletto heels! All the goods were sold on slanting displays in a square shaped dark wood islands with a nicely dressed lady who had her own till and everything was put in a nice brown paper bag!
In the days before queues too! ;)
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Years ago, my mate and I used to go into Woolies every Saturday morning to have our photos taken in the little black and white photo booths. It cost 40p so we used to pay 20p each out of our £1 pocket money ;D I also used to buy posters of my favourite groups from there to stick on my bedroom wall ;D
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My memory of Woolies, is my father buying a 127 camera for 2s 6d (five pieces at 6d each).
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there are a number of companies looking to take over woolies including Aldi/Lidl.. which could be intresting.
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Perhaps this excerpt from the BBC sums up the real reason behind the "downturn"..and maybe state of british society of today.. ;D
"For nearly 60 years, Maureen Dulieu has been shopping at Woolworths. On this occasion, she went in looking for a Barbie pencil case and ended up with three pairs of rubber gloves and a diary. "
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I think they were daft to turn into a CD & toy store. Way too much competition, on the CDs in particular. I think they should have focused more on home goods, which is where they were always most useful, but decreasingly so... and yet there aren't a lot of competitors at a similar level. I mean, where do you buy an ironing board, if you don't have a big department store or an Argos, these days?
I'm 42, so for me, they've always been much as they are now - except that the toys and CDs have increased and increased, till there wasn't much of anything else left.
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Wilkinson has taken over from them, i have been in a woolies maybe once this year and found it cramped and boring!Like M & S its had its day same as C & A did !
I can remember when woolies opened a 'super store' called woolco at the Hampshire centre in Bournemouth many years ago !!! it was a huge store in those days and we walked round in amazement !! It closed down about 22 years ago.
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when my ex-partner went to work for Woolies about 6 years ago, she was the most senior woman that had ever worked there. Amazing when you think of what they sell, and who to. That's what went wrong with Woolies - not enough women at the top
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there apparantly still open today not sure if its business as usual or a firesale!
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We always looked forward to taking the children to spend their christmas money at woolies. It was always the first shop to open in our town after christmas, usually boxing day.
Havent bought the pick and mix from there for years, since I saw a small child do a very wet sneeze into one of the containers :-X
cj :)
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I used to love the little dried paper flowers that you had to put into a jar of water and they would open. Most of all I liked the Christmas cards. I could spend all day looking at the glitter when I was little. All my Tony can remember doing was pinching elastic bands from there and his dad using them to put on the cos lettuce. He wasn't amused. I don't think I have been in Woolies much at all in the last 10 years.
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ooooooohh the glitter......... ;D ;D ;D I still love sparkly stuff. You'd buy a tube of glitter and take it home and make cards with that horrible smelly glue stuff and end up getting told off because there was glitter just about everywhere. Oh bliss.
twinkletoes
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Talking about Pick n' Mix reminds me of this Scallywagga sketch.....hope the link works ok, if not I'll post the BBC page, select Pick n'mix from the watch box on the right hand side.....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/comedy/scallywagga/ram/sweets?size=16x9&bgc=000000&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&nbram=1&st=no
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Found this link...It has some wonderful old pictures of Woolies and how I remember some of the layouts as a kid.
As a teen I remember our town Woolies closing down for a short while for refurbishments. When it did re-open the excitement was huge as it had an escalator....wow....never been on one before ::)
http://museum.woolworths.co.uk/
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My word Lauren that takes me back. I looked at the 50's Woolies and when I saw the calenders hanging up it brought it all back
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Me too! I'd completely forgotten that on out annual trip to Edinburgh, mum, gran & I would have lunch in the Woolies canteen on the top floor of their store at the Bridges end of Princes Street. Glass of orange juice, fish, chips and peas, and tinned fruit salad. Mum wouldn't drink the water tho - too sooty.
It was sooooo Big City to go to a restaurant like that, huge room & bright lights & I got to carry my own tray.
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So will this be the end of Ladybird clothes too? :(
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Caroline you are thinking what I was thinking. Ladybird clothes! I remember wearing Ladybird and have bought them for my own children.
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My first Saturday job was at Woolies - worked all day for a £1 and paid for my bus fare out of that aswell. ;D
They put me to work on the gardening & electrical counter. How many 14 year olds know the difference between a garden rose & a ceiling rose? ::) ;D
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I always used to look forward to the Woolworth christmas adverts.
My favourite went a bit like.......Have a happy christmas, with wooloworth ....dadadadadada christmas tree. With woolworth prices is it any wonder, christmas woolworth is the place to be.
No wonder I am so daft, my brain is filled with useless information ::)
They werent so 'magical' in latter years.
cj :)
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Yes,could find yourself humming That's the wonder of Woolworth's ;D
I love some of the old tunes,I,d like to buy the world a coke and something it with love.Apple trees and honey bees and great big turtle doves,it's the real thing.
Remember Tick a tick a Timex tra la laaa..........
Getting a bit carried away ;D
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http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RJNJCarL5ik&feature=related
Woolies ad
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I remember in the early 60's my Mum used to always go in for her sewing patterns so that she could make me a new dress ;D
I also remember being so excited to use my spends up buying a new pen or a new pencil case, they had a fab selection of stationery.
Black and white photo booths were two bob when I were a lass ;)
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i worked for woolies for 8 years wonder what will happen with my retirement trust fund ????
never ate pick n mix after i stopped working there cos they regularly had infestations of moth larvae :-X
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20% off voucher for Woolies until Sunday.....
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/discount-voucher-codes#newdeal
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Never thought i would see the day Woolies went.
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I just remember the store being like an Aladdin's cave.
Two of the things I loved were the hot roasted cashew nuts, and from the snack bar the beefburgers.
valmarg
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Oh yes,I had forgotten about the hot roasted cashews........lovely.
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I just remembered woolies and littlewoods were always next to each other. Littlewoods always had the better cafeteria. Where did they go! slipped away with C&A I expect, though you can still get C&A abroad.
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I remember the 'alternative' names for shops. C&A was cheap and awful. and MFI was made for idiots.
valmarg
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I just remembered woolies and littlewoods were always next to each other. Littlewoods always had the better cafeteria. Where did they go! slipped away with C&A I expect, though you can still get C&A abroad.
Went to Spain to visit my son last week, and bought a jumper from C & A in Malaga. Very nice too for 10 euros ;D
cj :)
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Yes,could find yourself humming That's the wonder of Woolworth's ;D
I love some of the old tunes,I,d like to buy the world a coke and something it with love.Apple trees and honey bees and great big turtle doves,it's the real thing.
Remember Tick a tick a Timex tra la laaa..........
Getting a bit carried away ;D
All the beautiful tunes in the world and you sing jingles.
I should blame myself really as I use to spend an evening now and again composing and playing jingles in a recording studio. The owner used to sell these to advertising companies and as they were rubbish I always took a recording fee instead of royalties as they were never going to make me famous.
I can't remember Thats the wonder of woolies, perhaps it was one of mine. Hum it to me ;D
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I was very sad to hear about Woolworth and not just because I have some shares in them!
I haven't been in Woolies for quite some time now. My local supermarket sells most of what I used to buy in there and so much more convenient when doing the grocery shopping. However, I always pop in there during the Spring to see what shrubs and trees they have.
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Yep Woolies holds a few memories for me as well.
However, we are living in a cut throat economy and unsuccessful businesses will fail. It will be interesting to see how long Wilkos and the other stores will last. Will the online shops kill off the high street?
Is it possible we will see sea containers dropped off in large car parks (old aerodromes may be) with walk throughs to sell goods? When empty the containers are taken away and replaced with full ones?
Will we have any money?
Bill
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Amen to all that. :( :( :(
valmarg
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Well they ain't even going to make it to 12th night. Shame about the workers, must put the mockers on Xmas. We have 5 Woolies over here only little ones, but I expect that is a hundred or so out of work.
I know other stores will take over the buildings but we cannot support another supermarket, I am glad they are too big for phone shops, we have hundreds of them already. Wilkinsons would be welcome as they have not ventured across the water yet.
There was talk on the telly about primark and poundland, but I have seen their stuff and I reckon I can get better on the market.
Who do you want to see take over your local woolies?
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ours was taken over by smiths years ago, then again, our local M&S has moved and we got a wilkies so well satisfied ;D
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The most interesting Woolworths was in Nicosia just before the border started opening.
It was 3 stories high & the best vantage point for looking into the Turkish north.
I think that's all the people went in there for?
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Bit sad really to see Woolies go. Truth is, they have not kept up and I blame bad management. They never seemed to know what they were in recent years, a cheap store, a household store, a sweet shop, a music store...
TJ Hughes have covered all their old bases and do it better, and they ADVERTISE!
Sheesh, not rocket science is it?
;)
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TJ Hughes have covered all their old bases and do it better, and they ADVERTISE!
Who is/are TJ Hughes?
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???
Ah. Maybe it's just a North West thing? Department store which does everything from furniture to knickers. Very cheap and not classy in any way, but value for money.
;)
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???
Ah. Maybe it's just a North West thing? Department store which does everything from furniture to knickers. Very cheap and not classy in any way, but value for money.
;)
ther is a t j hughes in Bristol but that is 10 miles away by car!
my daughter works for woolies and will be out of work on the 27th. she is a P/t shelfstacker ,the store is getting a small amount delivered, she is very sad but had to laugh at one of the deliveries cuz it was Woolies gift cards don,t think there will be a rush on them some how ;D
marg
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Dear Ace
After having queued up in the Game Shop for a very long time, I think Woolworth should be taken over by Wii games. Here in Enfield the must thing for Xmas for children is a Wii (no not a wee). The shops are fast selling out. I thought Woolworth was shut but it was still open but the queues were horrendous and they had no cheap seeds or gardening equipment. Well I must just go and put on my make up, sexy underwear, and cook OH's dinner, after having been playing tennis, got all the Xmas presents, tidied the house and looked at my lovely allotment where the bean frame had blown down and the sprouts had blown or flown and the PSB had been completely eaten by the pigeons or whatever, even though netted. If you watch Gardeners World tonight you will see my lovely allotment site, and Ken, Keith and Manuel but not me as it was not advertised that well and it was snowing that morning so I stayed in bed.
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Please, please Santa, could you make over the empty Woolies spaces and turn them into POST OFFICES?
Now, there's a novel idea for you ::) :(
Marg (the other one) I really feel for your daughter.. A dreadful time to lose your job. Hope the New Year is kind to her.
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...............and as there's soooooooooooo much space, a real greengrocer, a real butcher and a real baker would be nice in there too :)
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Marg (the other one) I really feel for your daughter.. A dreadful time to lose your job. Hope the New Year is kind to her.
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my daughter bless her cuz she's had one hell of a year, remains positive.we went food shopping on thursday and everytime she saw a empty shelf she sang
"it's begining to look a lot like woolies"(instead of christmas isn,t that a irritating song they are blairing out in shops?)
marg
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Who is/are TJ Hughes?
There is a T.J. Hughes in Tamworth. It's no relation to my husband or Son. One being A.J.Hughes and the other T.J.Hughes
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There's a T J Hughes in Lichfield.
valmarg
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;D
Glad it's not just me who knows of TJ's! Val and Shirl, don't you think they have stolen Woolie's customers?
;)
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I just googled them because I haven't heard of them before. They only have 50 stores so I don't think they were serious competition for Woolies 800+. But maybe in the area they operate in they didn't help? There don't seem to be any down here in London, but it's not that long since Wilko's ventured south, so maybe one day...........
My first job was with Woolies when I was 15 as a Saturday girl. It was a tiny branch in a converted church. In Woolies-speak it was a 'packet biscuit' store which meant we didn't sell loose biscuits out of those big silver tins!
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Good point Ceres, I did not know they only had 50 stores, but I am sure they have dented Woolies' profits in the towns where they compete.
Oooh, loose biscuits in a silver tin, that's taking me back!
;)
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Maybe not on their own ceres, but if you add together the branches of Poundland, Poundstretcher, home bargains, B&M, etc, I think they would have had a big impact on the Woolies trade.
Big tins of biscuits, that takes me back. Mum and dad had a small shop and used to stock those biscuits (Huntley and Palmer springs to mind). When the tins were empty they used to store pound and ten bob notes in them, to keep them crisp. ;D
valmarg
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but if you add together the branches of Poundland, Poundstretcher, home bargains, B&M, etc,
valmarg
None of those down this way either. Maybe we'll get one in the old Woolies building.
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Round your way shouldn't that be a Pyndland?
;D