Soon-to-be Heron Foods, Wallsend (15 Nov 2011)

After much speculation, family-owned frozen food specialist Heron Foods has revealed itself as the new occupant of Wallsend’s former Woolworths store.

Following my visit two months ago, I reported that the property at 2-4 High Street East – vacant since the shortlived Well Worth It moved out – had gained a ‘let agreed’ sign. Then, by a fortnight ago, the shutters had been painted blue and the Well Worth It signage removed, revealing traces of old Woolworths lettering underneath.

Former Woolworths, Wallsend (22 Sep 2011)

Former Woolworths, Wallsend (4 Nov 2011)

Now, following a helpful Twitter tip-off from @waiteIT, I was able to pay a return visit to see the store’s new Heron Foods signage in place. It’s just a coincidence, of course, but the building’s blue and yellow cladding is a much better match for Heron Foods’ corporate colours than it ever was for Woolworths’.

When I visited, there was no indication on site of when the store would open, and the publicity-shy retailer’s web presence – just an ‘under construction’ page – means that information on Heron Foods and its 160+ (and growing) stores can be hard to come by. However, one quick call to the head office number and I was able to find out that the Wallsend store is set to open this coming Monday, 21 November.

Heron Foods website (17 Nov 2011)

The reuse of any former Woolworths is good news, but the arrival of a new supermarket on Wallsend High Street makes the story doubly significant. As I’ve noted before, Wallsend town centre was dealt a blow when the Co-op supermarket closed in 2009, and Morrisons – who had bought the site – aborted plans to open in its place. The recent conversion of the town’s Netto to Asda has partly helped to plug the gap, but its location, in Hadrian Road, means that there are limited footfall benefits for the High Street proper.

With the planned redevelopment of the Forum shopping centre – including a new, large supermarket – not expected to complete until at least 2013, Heron Foods’ move onto Wallsend High Street is a canny one. Its value offer – increasingly featuring dry as well as frozen goods – is likely to appeal to cost-conscious local shoppers, while the decent-sized ex-Woolies store is big enough to feature a wide product range.

The retailer will surely be hoping that by the time any new competitor opens, Wallsend’s shoppers have already got themselves into the Heron habit.

Poundland fascia

One of the few empty shops in Hexham will soon be occupied again, with Poundland set to move into the former Heron Foods site in Priestpopple.

Though no opening date has been confirmed yet, store jobs have been advertised and a planning application submitted for “one internally illuminated fascia sign and one internally illuminated hanging sign”. Drawings of the signage attached to the application confirm Poundland as the retailer in question. [UPDATE, 14 Nov 2011: The opening has now been confirmed for this coming Thursday, 17 November.]

The move is significant in that it’s outside Hexham’s main pedestrianised thoroughfare of Fore Street, where multiple retailers have tended to cluster. That street, however, is consistently fully let, with Mountain Warehouse (in the former Stead & Simpson) and Iceland (in the old Woolworths) among the recent arrivals.

Priestpopple, Hexham (4 Dec 2010)

Priestpopple and Market Street, in contrast, have tended to have a higher proportion of independent stores. Nevertheless, the former Heron site is in a good location – close to the bus station, opposite the side entrance to Beales department store (formerly Robbs), and on the way to the hidden Marks & Spencer in Maidens Walk – and Poundland’s arrival is likely to drive footfall further.

Beales' side entrance, Hexham (18 Sep 2011)

Hexham’s shop vacancy rate is traditionally in the low single figures, and this letting again confirms the Northumberland town’s attractiveness to retailers – as well as Poundland’s continued foray into more upmarket locations. The joy of Hexham as a shopping destination is that it combines a good mix of chains with some superb independent shops and cafés, such as Dillies (flower, chocolate and wine shop) in Market Street, and the delightful Artful gallery and Cornmill Coffee Shop in St Mary’s Chare.

Dillies, Hexham (19 Aug 2010)

As I’ve noted before, however, tentative plans for the relocation and redevelopment of Hexham’s bus station need to be progressed if the town is to capitalise on all those big-name retail space requirements that currently cannot be met.

Notice at Netto North Shields (8 Aug 2011)

I paid my first visit to an ex-Netto Asda Supermarket last weekend – more of which in the coming days – but meanwhile the process of converting 147 Netto sites by the end of November continues apace.

North Shields is one of the many Netto stores that’s been mentioned in the 60-plus-strong comments thread attached to one of my earliest posts about Asda’s acquisition of Netto, back in January. Passing by on Monday, I noticed that the store is now in the midst of a ‘Clearance Sale’, ahead of its closure as Netto on Saturday 20 August. After a two-and-a-half week makeover, it will then reopen, as an Asda Supermarket, on Wednesday 7 September.

Netto in North Shields (8 Aug 2011)

Back in June, the Chronicle newspaper ran an article under the headline “Supermarkets ‘are swamping North Shields’”, in response to one independent trader’s frustration over the growth of the big multiples in the area. While it’s true that North Shields has large Tesco and Morrisons stores on its outskirts, the town centre, to be fair, has been fairly poorly served to date.

Co-op in North Shields (8 Aug 2011)

Alongside Netto in Saville Street, the town’s main thoroughfare of Bedford Street plays host to branches of Heron Foods, Iceland and a decent-sized Co-op. However, many shoppers seeking a better balance of range, quality and value seem to head across the Tyne to South Shields’ Asda or Morrisons, judging by the carrier bags that I spot every time I use the Shields Ferry.

Morrisons, South Shields (30 Apr 2011)

Of all the Netto sites that Asda has acquired, North Shields’ has the advantage of occupying a modern building with dedicated parking, yet in a very central location right opposite the town’s Beacon Shopping Centre. If the store’s conversion to Asda encourages more people to stay in North Shields for their weekly shop then that’s certainly something to be welcomed.

Former Woolworths, Felling (17 Jun 2010)

This is my 200th blog post since starting Soult’s Retail View back in July 2009, so it seems only appropriate for it to bring together two of my favourite topics – Woolworths and Tyneside!

Regular readers will recall that I’ve written about all 33 of the North East Woolworths stores that closed following the chain’s 2008 collapse, but I’ve also tracked down many of those sites that Woolies had already vacated in the years before.

Former Woolworths (now Heron Foods), New Washington (Concord) (17 Jun 2010)

Among these are the ex-Woolworths in Crook (#529, closed in about 1972) and Seaham (#649, closed in the mid-1980s), both in County Durham, as well as the Wearside branches at New Washington (#1014, closed in 1984) and Sunderland (#144, closed 2004).

Within the Newcastle city boundaries, I’ve also covered the original Byker Woolworths (#276, closed on 1 June 1985), which occupied two different sites in Shields Road during its lifetime, and the Benwell store in Adelaide Terrace (#905), converted from a former cinema.

Former Woolworths in Benwell (28 May 2010)

For today’s post, I want to look at two more long-gone Woolies stores on Tyneside – one in the Gateshead suburb of Felling, and the other in the Arndale Centre on Newcastle’s North Kenton estate. In both cases, the information I’ve got following my visits last year is quite sketchy, with no definitive opening or closing dates, and no Woolies store number – neither gets a mention in any of the copies of The New Bond that I’ve acquired to date. Not to worry, though – let’s take a look at what we do know so far.

Felling High Street (10 Nov 2010)

Just a couple of miles from the centre of Gateshead, and only a handful of Metro stops from Newcastle, Felling’s High Street has suffered a slow decline in recent years. At the end of 2008, an article in the local paper highlighted the extent of the problem, famously revealing that the High Street had just “three shops” left – technically true, but slightly overplaying the level of vacancy by seemingly not counting those premises occupied by takeaways, betting shops or other ‘non-retail’ uses.

Former Kwik Save, Felling (17 Jun 2010)

While some big names – including Woolworths, and a branch of the Gateshead department store institution, Shephards – disappeared from Felling years ago, there’s no doubt that the collapse of Kwik Save, in 2007, was a major recent blow. Located towards the bottom of the hill, its closure has meant that there’s no longer much reason to venture down the High Street – past other (former) shops – from the main shopping precinct at Felling Square.

Shops at Felling Square (10 Nov 2010)

It would be wrong, however, to frame Felling as a completely failed retail location. Just beyond the High Street itself, the Felling Square area has been reasonably busy both times that I’ve visited, no doubt assisted by its proximity to local bus routes. The presence of some decent chains – including The Co-operative Food, Boots, Heron Foods and Greggs – a post office, newsagents and complementary indie stores ensures that Felling’s retail centre continues to have a role in meeting the area’s everyday shopping needs.

Former Woolworths, Felling (10 Nov 2010)

So what of the old Woolies? It was located at 98-104 High Street, in a building whose current occupant – William Hill, the bookmakers – is perhaps illustrative of the way in which the street’s fortunes have declined. Someone suggested to me, via Twitter, that Woolworths had previously occupied the site of today’s Heron Foods in nearby Felling Square – presumably in an earlier building – but I’m yet to find any other evidence to confirm this.

Heron Foods, Felling (10 Nov 2011)

The bland, redbrick, flat-roofed property at 98-104 High Street is rather typical of the stores that Woolworths was constructing in the 1950s and 60s, and my suspicion is that Woolies’ presence in Felling probably dates from the 1950s rather than the 1930s or earlier.

By 1953, Woolworths’ store count was already up to more than 800, and the rapid expansion at that time – with store #1000 opened just five years later, in May 1958 – meant that the chain was, frankly, rather scratching around for viable locations in which it wasn’t already represented. It’s no coincidence that many of the stores opened at this time were among the first ones to be closed again once Woolies began downsizing in the ’70s and ’80s.

A busy shot from April 1966, below – taken from a 1990 publication called Gateshead in Focus – shows that Woolworths was certainly in place by then.

April 1966 view of Woolworths, Felling. From 'Gateshead in Focus' book

From what I can gather, Felling’s Woolworths was one of the casualties of the aforementioned ’70s and ’80s downsizing, with one source pointing to a late 1980s closure date. An interesting photograph on the iSee Gateshead site from 1986 shows the store’s ‘F W Woolworth & Co. Ltd’ lettering still in situ, which is an usually late survival – by this time, most stores had long ago adopted the 1970s red and white ‘Woolworth’ fascia, as recently seen at the back of the Burton-upon-Trent store. The shop itself looks empty, so I suspect that this particular view may have been taken not long after its permanent closure.

In a slightly earlier shot, from 1985, below, the store has its shutters down, so it’s difficult again to be certain whether the store was still trading at that time.

1985 view of Felling Woolworths

Though never a particularly attractive building, the Felling Woolies was certainly more appealing before its first-floor windows were blocked up. In my photo at the top of the page, the original position of two narrow windows either side of a central wider one is apparent from the colouring of the infill brickwork. For whatever reason, four new (and less symmetrical) windows were at some point inserted in place of the originals; these, in turn, were also boarded up, giving the property as it appears today a derelict-looking upper floor above an uncongruously shiny and modern shopfront.

Rear of former Woolworths, Felling (10 Nov 2010)

Viewed from the back, above, the property is similarly unattractive. Interestingly, however, it is much bigger than it looks from the High Street – a feature typical of many former Woolworths stores – and it’s hard to imagine that today’s William Hill branch makes use of all the available space.

North Kenton shops (10 Nov 2010)

On the opposite side of the Tyne, there are many parallels between the ex-Woolies at Felling and the one at North Kenton, but even less documentary evidence about its existence.

Situated at the corner of Halewood Avenue and Kirkwood Drive, the Arndale Shopping Centre was built along with the neighbouring North Kenton housing estate in the 1950s, suggesting that the area’s Woolworths store was fairly contemporary with the one in Felling. As Britain built its postwar housing estates, it was quite common for Woolworths to be the anchor store on those developments’ shopping precincts. In the North East alone, for example, new Woolies stores opened at the Pennywell estate in Sunderland in 1953, and at Longbenton, North Tyneside, in 1959 – both of which will be covered in future posts.

Former Woolworths (now Nisa), North Kenton (10 Nov 2010)

Often – as in New Washington – Woolworths seems to have occupied premises that stood out architecturally from the rest of the parade, and that was also case in North Kenton. Though I’ve seen no photographs of the building in use as Woolworths, I understand from someone who grew up in North Kenton that Woolies occupied the prominent, projecting unit that now houses Nisa and Boots. It was apparently still there in 1966, but departed at some point in the 1970s or 80s.

North Kenton shops (10 Nov 2010)

As in Felling, there’s no doubt that the North Kenton shopping centre continues to perform a valuable function for the community that it serves. Again as in Felling, however, the large number of empty units creates a depressing and slightly unsettling feel, and a sense of a shopping centre that is simply bigger than it needs to be.

This lack of fitness for modern purpose is the reason, indeed, why so many similar postwar suburban shopping precincts – including those in Pennywell and Longbenton – have subsequently been demolished and replaced by new, more compact retail centres that are better able to accommodate their communities’ current, everyday needs.

In hindsight, Woolworths’ departure from such locations, all those years ago, feels like an inevitable part of that suburban retail evolution.

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Warrington (27 Dec 2010). Photograph by Beth Anderson

With Woolworths having occupied something like 1,400 UK sites over the years, the chances of any one person having the time (or inclination) to track them all down is pretty slim. So, I’m always pleased when friends and colleagues help me out by snapping the occasional ex-Woolies that they spot while out on their travels. Happily, the M62 corridor provides a convenient thread for linking together the latest three (otherwise fairly unconnected) submissions.

First up, Beth Anderson (from the excellent Newcastle upon Tyne Daily Photo blog) recently sent me some shots of the former Woolworths store in Warrington’s Sankey Street (store #22), which has already had two new occupants since Woolies’ demise.

The premises reopened in December 2009, to much fanfare, as the first in a planned chain of Asco-branded supermarkets, with the new venture’s bosses promising that Asco would offer a “real alternative” to the major grocers. Less than five months later, however, the business had “temporarily closed”, reportedly leaving both suppliers and staff out of pocket.

In May, the newspaper Crains Manchester Business – now itself sadly defunct – reported that Asco Stores Ltd had “been wound up following pressure from creditors”, after “five companies owed a total of £53,620 joined a petition against the company at Liverpool District Registry last week.”

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Warrington (27 Dec 2010). Photograph by Beth Anderson

The site has subsequently been taken over by Poundland, adding to the company’s ever-growing roster of former Woolworths locations. However, unlike many of Poundland’s other ex-Woolies sites – such as those in Scarborough, South Shields or Cannock – the rather beautiful and ornate property was not purpose-built for Woolies, but was constructed, as its datestone testifies, in 1861. The initials ‘RG’ stand for Robert Garnett, the Warrington cabinet maker and local benefactor who built the property as his showroom, and whose impressive but disused Cabinet Works also survive.

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Warrington (27 Dec 2010). Photograph by Beth Anderson

Heading east from Warrington along the M62 brings us to Batley in West Yorkshire, where Seamaster tweeted me this photo of the town’s ex-Woolies store (#472) in Commercial Street.

Former Woolworths (now JBM Bargains), Batley (5 Nov 2010). Photograph by Seamaster

Pictured at Flickr in its former guise, the Woolworths store on the site closed on 2 January 2009, and is now a discount store called JBM Bargains. There seems to be very little information out there about the business, though it appears that the owners also have a branch in nearby Otley that was until recently branded Captain Value. Dating from 1932, the building, of course, is classic Woolies, its wide frontage very similar in composition and materials to the slightly later (1937) store in Berwick upon Tweed.

Former Woolworths (now Boots), Beverley (5 Feb 2011). Photograph by Jon Carling

Final stop, at the far end of the motorway in the East Riding of Yorkshire, is the market town of Beverley, where Jon Carling recently captured this phone pic of the former Woolworths (store #444) at 43-45 Toll Gavel. Again, the building looks every inch an old Woolies, with a frontage that is particularly reminiscent of the Bishop Auckland store.

Since closing as a Woolworths on 2 January 2009, the store has prompted something of a retail reshuffle in Beverley. Boots took over the site in July that year, combining its three previous smaller stores in the town, with Heron Foods relocating in turn to the largest of the former Boots sites at 15-17 Toll Gavel. Meanwhile, the old Heron Foods at 10 Toll Gavel appears to have become an Oxfam Bookshop, and the old Boots Opticians at no. 12 a branch of Vision Express.

Browns' iconic York store (17 Jul 2010)

Though these various movements may not have brought in the big new names, such as Next, that were wished for immediately after Woolies’ demise, it’s impressive that Beverley seems to have such a buoyant and fast-moving retail property market, capped off by the iconic York-based retailer Browns opening a £2m department store in the town last March. With lots of retail activity, and what looks like an attractive and lively historic centre, I think I’d better add Beverley to my list of interesting places to visit.

Meanwhile, do feel free to keep sending in your pictures of former Woolworths! You can email an attachment using the contact form, or send a link to your picture via Twitter to @soult, and I’ll feature as many as I can in future posts.

UGO cake

Following my recent post about Asda’s divestment of 39 surplus Netto stores, I had the pleasure of being invited to my first press conference last Friday, in Leeds. 

Appropriately held just a short distance from Asda’s corporate HQ, the event was organised by Haldanes, the fledgling independent grocer who, as I blogged before, is acquiring 20 mid-size Netto supermarkets – including four in the North East – that it plans to relaunch under a new discount fascia, UGO (pronounced You-Go, like the 1980s car brand). 

The press conference was a great opportunity to find out more about Haldanes’ intentions for the fledgling UGO chain and the eponymous Haldanes fascia, as well as a chance to meet some of the company’s key people – including Arthur Harris (Chief Executive Officer), Richard Collins (Chief Operating Officer) and Adam Hart (the recently appointed Non-Executive Chairman). 

So, what can we look forward to as Haldanes takes its next steps towards becoming, in its own words, “a viable alternative to the major multiples”?

Certainly, when I coined the phrase “son of Netto” to describe UGO, I hadn’t quite banked upon the chain’s visual identity being so derivative of what it’s replacing. Scottie may have been banished, but the yellow and black colour scheme, bold font and (modernised) basket device are all present and correct.

UGO logo

Netto logo

Haldanes’ argument is that by capitalising on what it sees as the “distinctive and trusted” yellow and black Netto fascia, the UGO brand will provide “reassurance” and a “seamless transfer” for customers. Indeed, COO Richard Collins told me that Netto had been “very supportive” during the process of developing the UGO visual identity, and that the Danish retailer had been “surprised but flattered” by the obvious similarities with its own brand. Of course, given that Netto is exiting the UK entirely, there will be no scope for confusion between the two chains – unless UGO decides to enter the Danish market at some point in the future.

Throughout the press briefing, one thing that came across strongly was Haldanes’ respect for the Netto business and what it has achieved in the UK to date, with Richard Collins praising the “loyal staff and customers”, and emphasising Haldanes’ “excitement” over the portfolio of stores that it is acquiring. Certainly, it’s worth noting that Netto’s British operation has been consistently profitable over the last decade (making an operating profit of £7.6m in 2009), even if its operating margin (of around 1%, compared to Asda or Morrisons’ typical 4 to 5%) has been a little on on the low side.

Mock-up UGO leaflets

This sense of not messing too much with the Netto formula comes through not only in UGO’s brand identity, but also in terms of what the rebranded stores will be like as places to shop, and the marketing channels that will be used. Hence, Haldanes has no intention of increasing prices, plans to keep Netto’s popular non-food and ‘spot line’ deals, and intends to maintain a strong fresh food offer – something the retailer sees as a current strength of Netto compared to the other hard discounters. The regular offer flyers delivered to nearby homes are also set to be retained.

At the same time, Haldanes’ bosses seem to have recognised that there is scope to increase footfall, sales densities and profits by tackling those areas where the Netto business model can be enhanced – what Richard Collins referred to as “putting the icing on the Netto cake.”

The checklist of planned improvements seems logical and well informed. Some involve making it easier for customers to carry out a full weekly shop: for example, by doubling the core range of branded traditional grocery lines to around 3,000 SKUs (compared to about 7,000 in a typical Haldanes); introducing an enhanced range of health and beauty products; and offering a full range of newspapers and magazines.

Other changes are intended to address barriers that might currently put shoppers off going to Netto, such as installing ATMs at all stores, accepting credit cards, offering home delivery, and investing heavily in customer service. The scope for offering additional services, such as BrightHouse-style consumer credit, is also being explored.

Example of proposed UGO marketing

Marketing activity – led by the Darlington-based agency Charles Hollywood – is also set to be beefed up, including a campaign featuring the famous strongman Geoff Capes (“due to the strength of the UGO deals”), a rugby league sponsorship deal, and seemingly infinite scope for UGO-related messaging puns.

Against the backdrop and excitement of the UGO launch, the lack of any new Haldanes-branded stores since early 2010 has understandably raised questions among commentators about the future of the eponymous fascia, particularly following the news that one existing Haldanes store (in Biddulph) will shortly be converted to the UGO brand.

However, CEO Arthur Harris was clear that the company’s long-term strategy is based around running three separate and “very important” fascias – UGO, with its discount offer; Haldanes, seen as a market town mid-size supermarket format; and a new convenience and forecourt chain, Haldanes Xpress.

Artist's impression of Hartlepool UGO store

The Biddulph shop, he explained, is a location where a large Sainsbury’s has recently opened nearby, and where the company sees a UGO store as being able to compete more effectively than a Haldanes. He also pointed out that the conversion will allow the full UGO fitout to be trialled before it is rolled out to the acquired Netto stores – a process that is expected to involve stores being shut for only 14 trading hours, and will see all 20 shops transformed over a six-week period between mid-March and the end of April.

Harris refused to be drawn on how much Haldanes had paid for the 20 stores, but revealed that the cost of refurbishing and converting them to the UGO brand would be around £2m in total.

Haldanes logo

Following the company’s recent purchase of a petrol forecourt in Scotland, and of a post office and convenience store next to the existing Haldanes shop in Tattershall, Lincolnshire, Harris also confirmed that the firm is in advanced discussions to purchase eight convenience stores that will be rebranded under the Haldanes Xpress fascia. An announcement on this acquisition is apparently expected within the next two to three weeks.

Additionally, the business is already looking at picking up a couple more stores for UGO in Leeds – not, it would seem, among the eight Netto stores that Asda still needs to divest. However, Haldanes hasn’t ruled out acquiring one or two more stores from the OFT disposals list in the coming months.

For the moment, indeed, it seems that the Haldane Group is set to continue growing by acquisition. In response to my question, Arthur Harris said that there were no immediate plans for any new-build stores, but that it was certainly something the business would hope to achieve in the future. As the business expands, he revealed that private label products, a groupwide loyalty card and a dedicated supply chain are all likely to be on the cards. For now, however, the company’s focus would understandably be on “bedding down what we’ve got.”

Closed down Kwik Save store

Given the painful and drawn-out demise of the last big British food discounter – Kwik Save – many of whose stores were in comparable locations to UGO’s, you could be forgiven for questioning the wisdom of Haldanes’ move into a similar market. Towards the end, however, Kwik Save’s flaws typically included dowdy stores, unremarkable customer service and prices that weren’t actually all that cheap – all pitfalls that the UGO team seems to recognise, and be keen to avoid.

Rather, a better comparison is probably with those family discount chains, such as Heron Foods and Farmfoods, that have grown up somewhat below the radar into successful and profitable grocery businesses. Up against stiff competition on several fronts – the big four supermarkets, Iceland, and the hard discounters – both have become successful through a steady process of store openings and acquisitions, and by giving customers want they want: keen prices, decent quality products, and clean, bright stores in convenient locations.

If UGO is able to mesh these same qualities with what promises to be its own distinctive – and hopefully profitable – take on the discounter format, there’s every reason to think that the concept will be a success. As long as it avoids the Kwik Save recipe’s sticky mess, UGO might indeed end up being the very tasty icing on Netto’s partly-baked cake.

Former Woolworths, Whitby (16 Aug 2010)

As well as comprehensively exploring the North East, and making the occasional excursion into Cumbria or Scotland, I’ve also clocked a few of North Yorkshire’s former Woolworths stores over the last few months. 

Assuming I haven’t missed any, the county still had nine Woolworths stores at the time of the retailer’s collapse – in Harrogate (#131), Malton (#591), Northallerton (#847), Richmond (#641), Ripon (#492), Scarborough (#165), Selby (#663), Skipton (#579) and Whitby (#384) – three of which I’ve visited to date. 

One store not on that list – Knaresborough (#686; not visited yet) – came within a whisker of surviving until the bitter end. Following the sale of its lease to Tesco, the store had already closed down on 15 November 2008, just 11 days before the whole Woolworths business fell into administration.

Former Woolworths (now Boots), York (17 Jul 2010)

Another casualty from earlier in 2008 was the flagship store in York’s Spurriergate (#171), which closed in January of that year. Originally opened on 25 October 1924, the store was significantly extended and remodelled over the years. The site has now been taken over by Boots, with TK Maxx recently opening up in the smaller Coney Street premises that Boots vacated. Elsewhere in the county, Boots has also taken over the old Woolworths premises in Harrogate, relocating from a smaller unit across the street.

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Scarborough (16 Aug 2010)

Over on the Yorkshire coast, the old Woolies in Scarborough and Whitby have both acquired new occupants in recent months.  

On the face of it, Scarborough’s branch in Westborough looks like an integral part of the town’s  Brunswick Shopping Centre, opened in 1990, with its modern redbrick appearance.  

In fact, a Woolworths store first opened on the site on 13 September 1924, and its current frontage is merely a 1990 skin on the front of what is basically a 1960s building. Go around the side, and the unmodernised Vernon Road frontage is quintessential postwar Woolies, with more than a passing resemblance to the contemporaneous Linthorpe Road store in Middlesbrough.

Vernon St frontage, former Woolworths, Scarborough (16 Aug 2010)

After remaining empty for more than twelve months, Poundland opened on the site in February this year – to the dismay of some. Indeed, where Facebook has tended to be full of groups advocating the arrival of one retailer or another in their town, Scarborough’s Poundland has prompted 2,800 members to join a group called ‘Scarborough Woolworths should not be a Poundland!’. While it’s good that the site is no longer empty, it is hard to argue with the view that Poundland trading from only one of Woolies’ two floors is rather a waste of the building’s potential.

Happily, the new occupant of Whitby’s former Woolies seems to have prompted less controversy. Scottish-based Outdoor World opened two outdoor leisurewear stores there in June: The Wilderness, trading from the upper level facing Flowergate; and Pine Valley, on the ground floor with access from St Anne’s Staith. When I visited, the stores’ layout, ranges and overall feel reminded me of Mountain Warehouse, another expanding discount outdoor retailer.

Former Woolworths, Whitby - Flowergate frontage (16 Aug 2010)

The building’s unusual configuration, built into a steep slope, allows both floors of the 1930 building to be independently accessed from opposite streets, as well as creating two interesting frontages that hardly seem to bear any relation to one another.

The Flowergate side has all the typical features of a purpose-built Woolies from the era – the five bays, central pediment, etc. – but with an extra storey compared to usual. Sitting at the bottom of Flowergate, this is a fine and imposing frontage that really dominates the street.

Former Woolworths, Whitby - St Annes Staith frontage (16 Aug 2010)

Around the other side, the property is no less impressive, towering over the buildings around it. Here, logic dictates, the building is four storeys high, but the clever use of a deep fascia gives the illusion of it still being three. The overall effect is slightly quirky – almost a typical Woolies façade, but one that has been vertically stretched. Certainly, with its position overlooking the harbour, there can be few old Woolies stores that occupy a more picturesque spot.

Former Woolworths (now Heron Foods), Richmond, Yorkshire (12 Mar 2010)

North Yorkshire’s remaining Woolies sites host the usual range of expanding discount retailers. The store in Richmond – much more of which in a future post – is now Heron Foods, Northallerton’s is Wilkinson, and Ripon’s is