From Stanley to Spennymoor – another gallery of North East former Woolies stores

Graham Soult

Retail consultant, writer, blogger; helping retailers via CannyInsights.com and CannySites.com. Say hello on Twitter at @soult!

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14 Responses

  1. Rich says:

    Gateshead Store will be Poundland which will open in a month or so (maybe sooner) :)

  2. Adam says:

    It was an empty Ethel Austin a couple of months ago but I have no idea of its current state. Back to Woolies, I think they may have ditched the ‘local’ branding from the Billingham store by the time it closed. Obviously the signage is now long gone now anyway.

  3. Graham Soult says:

    I haven’t got to Billingham yet Adam – one of the three I’m missing!

    What is the old Billingham Woolies now, anyway? I know it was Ethel Austin, but I’m not clear whether it’s one of the stores that was later rescued or not.

  4. Adam says:

    The Woolies in Peterlee is the spitting image of the one in Billingham.

  5. stephen moody says:

    blimey !! what were those new town planners on at the time ?? I know money was tight , but the 50’s and 60’s gave our high streets some hideous buildings , which only look worse with age … they all seem to be off the same blueprint – concrete where possible !!
    great blog btw , I look in daily , and find it fascinating , am trying to look at ex woolies in east anglia !

  1. July 22, 2010

    […] I try and look for the best in any of the town centres that I visit – no mean feat, given some of the places I’ve been to. Billingham, however, was a challenge indeed. I’ve already resolved that I must return in the […]

  2. July 28, 2010

    […] branches across the UK – such as the one I visited in Porthmadog, and, closer to home, in Spennymoor. Established Original Factory Shop store in Stanley (12 Apr 2010) The Original Factory Shop, […]

  3. November 2, 2010

    […] jaunt in search of old Woolies is complete without a store that has been taken over by B&M Bargains, and the Leicestershire town of Hinckley was able to oblige in this case. As is usual with the […]

  4. November 17, 2010

    […] of the town’s former Woolworths store (#434), facing Bede Precinct, back in July. Just as in Stanley, Store Twenty One has installed a modern and attractive shopfront that greatly improves the […]

  5. March 3, 2011

    […] ex-Woolies back in November, closely followed by Hartlepool and Middlesbrough. This left just Newton Aycliffe, Peterlee and Newcastle to take a look at over the last couple of days, with my visits confirming […]

  6. May 28, 2011

    […] in new towns and shopping precincts – such as Brentford (#829, opened March 1954) or Peterlee (#987, opened c.1958) – alongside some infilling in smaller market towns that had missed out […]

  7. January 16, 2012

    […] to the more elegant, cinema-style façade that existed previously – similar to the one still found at Chester-le-Street. However, the attractive turreted Next building (in the middle of both shots, above and […]

  8. August 13, 2012

    […] traded from its latterday site at 3 Festival Walk – today’s The Original Factory Shop – from 28 September 1967, but its location for the previous forty years was, I’ve […]

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