Eighty-five years on: tracking down the ex-Woolworths in Stafford and Stoke

Graham Soult

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

You may also like...

7 Responses

  1. Sandra Jordan says:

    Woolworths stoke town was there in1933. Where heart foundation shop is now. you used to go down to a ground floor with about 10 steps where China glass were sold I remember it well . sweets were on top floor you could go into the back street through double swing doors. Where stoke fish and general market then stood.

  2. sylvia fresson says:

    The old woolworths in cambell place stoke is now occupied by bargain buys

  3. Peter Hinchcliffe says:

    I’ve enjoyed reading your updates on the various Woolworth stores. I worked as a trainee manager and deputy manager from the mid sixties. The Market Place, Stafford store became a foodhall store, which must have been an experiment, when the new store replaced it in Gaolgate. Hope that helps explain why there were two Stafford stores. Peter Hinchcliffe

  4. Michael Laybourn says:

    I was born & brought up in Stafford …..and can remember the Woolworths store in Market Square,until it closed around 1974,when it became a home decorating store,called “Brian’s Wallpapers”,which lasted until the Guildhall Centre was built on the site of the old market hall,and became part of that development,becoming River Island.
    Woolworths,until it closed still retained its wooden floorboards,moulded ceiling and gas lights,which had chains hanging from the lights,along with electric lighting…..I think all of that was still in situ while the store traded as Brian’s Wallpapers.Back in the early 1970s,when the country was experiencing power cuts due to the miners strikes,Woolworths in Market Square could continue to trade using those gas lamps,whilst the new,modern store further up the road in Gaolgate Street would be closed.The goods entrance was located through an archway,sharing an entrance to the market hall in Craberry Street.

  5. Danny Bent says:

    Great stuff. It’s worth mentioning that the ex Woolies in Nuneaton near me closed and then traded as TJ Hughes.
    It is now a 99p stores, still with a double entrance(with tills both end)but no upstairs as TJ Hughes had.
    This store is massive with wide aisles and must be one of the largest 99s stores in it’s portfolio.

  1. May 7, 2019

    […] In 1962, it was intended for Woolworths to move to a bigger purpose-built store at Gaolgate Street and for the Market Square store to close. (Source: Soult’s Retail View) […]

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.