Soult's Retail View

Soon-to-be Wetherspoon’s (former Woolworths), Blairgowrie (11 May 2013)

If you like looking at shops and high streets, going on holiday to north west Sutherland, in Scotland – as I did earlier this month – isn’t necessarily the best choice.

The scenery is incredible, of course, but Spars and Costcutters are about as exciting as it gets retail-wise. For someone used to living in a city, the idea of the nearest proper high … Continue Reading

Plaque at former Woolworths (now Wetherspoon’s), Prestwick (21 Nov 2012)

As well as covering the long-gone Woolworths stores in Harrow Station Road and Sudbury Hill, another intriguing post on Stuart … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths (now Iceland), Sudbury Hill (10 Feb 2012)

It’s been great to see a new Woolworths-related history blog appear this week, courtesy of longstanding former Woolies staff member Stuart Kew.

His blog, Forgotten London Woolworths, does exactly what it implies, visiting “some … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths, Newton Aycliffe (5 Jan 2012)

Headlines:

• 214 ex-Woolworths stores visited, out of the 807 that closed following its collapse
• Of those, only 12 currently empty (6%)
• 7 continually empty (3%)
• 35 with two or more post-Woolies uses (16%).

Looking at my blog, you might be forgiven for thinking that I’ve forgotten about Woolworths in recent months.

It’s certainly true that the number of Woolies-related posts has slowed down a bit – partly due … Continue Reading

Nipper logo at HMV in Coventry (7 Feb 2012)

If reports tonight are to be believed, it looks like the 92-year-old entertainment retailer HMV could collapse into administration tomorrow (Tuesday 15 January), putting around 235 stores and 4,350 employees at risk. [UPDATE, 15 January: This has now been confirmed.]

No-one can say … Continue Reading

New Tiger store, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow (22 Nov 2012)

If you follow my tweets you’ll know that I’ve spent the middle part of this week in Glasgow, taking time to explore the Ayrshire coast as well as the brilliant, fascinating, bustling city itself. While I love the sophistication of … Continue Reading

Detail of late 1950s Valentine’s postcard of Bondgate Within, Alnwick

Back in April I blogged about the apparent location of Alnwick’s original Woolworths, where the chain traded for the first fifteen years of its 55-year stint in the town. As I reported then, I was “yet to find any photographic evidence of … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths (now Evitavonni), Farnham (25 Aug 2012). Photograph by Steve Hack

While former Woolworths up and down the country now play host to Poundland and B&M Bargains – with just the occasional Waitrose – the Surrey town of Farnham has arguably the poshest ex-Woolies of the lot.

Though I’ve now visited and photographed nearly 300 former Woolworths sites across the UK – about 1 in 5 of … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths (now BHS), Queen Street, Cardiff (17 Aug 2012)

Paying my first visit to Cardiff in twenty years last week, I couldn’t resist tracking down the city centre’s former Woolworths locations – despite the torrential rain making conditions for photography somewhat challenging.

Cardiff still had several Woolworths branches outside the centre at the time of Woolworths’ collapse, in Cowbridge Road East (store … Continue Reading

Promotion for Crawley store on Wilkinson website (15 Aug 2012)

Wilkinson’s “newest and most exciting concept store” has opened at 14-26 The Broadway in Crawley this morning (15 August).

Designed to “offer the community a more modern and interactive shopping experience”, the new store further evolves the modern look that Wilkinson has been rolling out across its estate, such as … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths (now Peacocks), Stowmarket (2 Aug 2012)

Alongside its new-look Clintons, the Suffolk town of Stowmarket seems to have come off fairly well from recent retail administrations.

Earlier this year, its ex-Woolworths managed to avoid also becoming an ex-Peacocks, while its … Continue Reading

Site of original Woolworths(?), High Street, Spennymoor (5 Jan 2012)

I suspect it will have passed the townsfolk by, but today – 13 August – is the 85th anniversary of Woolworths opening in the County Durham town of Spennymoor in 1927. However, the location of the new shop (store #278) wasn’t where you might think.

In previous blogs, I’ve written about how the Woolworths … Continue Reading

Wilkinson, Newcastle (28 Jun 2012)

Since Wilkinson, the family-owned hardware and variety chain, quietly launched its new logo and store format over three years ago, the refreshed look seems to have been rolled out to much of the 370-strong estate. To the company’s credit, it hasn’t simply been a case of sticking a new logo over an unchanged store environment – … Continue Reading

New Heron Foods website (18 May 2012)

Heron Foods, the Hull-based discount supermarket chain, has launched a new website as it takes its first steps into cyberspace.

Described by Retail Week in 2009 as one of “retail’s best kept secrets”, Heron Foods has traditionally kept a low profile, eschewing a web presence – other than … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths (now BrightHouse), Fleetwood (10 May 2012)

As I mentioned earlier, I paid a long-overdue visit to the North West last week, visiting smaller towns such as Prescot and St Helens as well as major centres such as Liverpool, Wigan, Preston, Lancaster and Blackpool. It’s certainly given me plenty of inspiration and … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths (now Poundland and Mountain Warehouse), Cirencester (13 Nov 2011)

I often talk about how the fate of ex-Woolworths stores provides a fascinating ‘window’ on the changing high street, and the ex-Woolies in Cirencester (store #394) – which opened on 26 April 1930, 82 years ago today – is no exception.

Looking at the new occupants of former Woolworths gives us a flavour of … Continue Reading

Postcard of unknown Woolworths shopfront, 2 April 1938

The last time I shared an old photograph of an unidentified Woolworths store, Soult’s Retail View readers were quick to identify it as the original Woolies on Aberdeen’s Union Street (store #228) – a store that closed in 1990 but whose former premises still survive.

This latest teaser is a … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths (now HomeFayre), Crewkerne (5 Oct 2011)

With a visit to Taunton on the schedule for later this month, it seems an appropriate time to write about the Somerset ex-Woolworths stores that I’ve already visited.

Back in August, I blogged about the stores that I’d checked out in North … Continue Reading

Poundstretcher (formerly Woolworths and Alworths), Tiverton (9 Sep 2011)

With another shop-spotting visit to Devon scheduled for later this month, now seems like an opportune time to share the ex-Woolies photos that I took during my last trip to the county, back in September.

I blogged about the Sidmouth store (#729; now M&Co) last month, while the Tiverton ex-Woolies at 18 Fore Street (#404) … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths (now Iceland), Monmouth (8 Oct 2011)

On 9 April 1932, Woolworths opened its doors in Monmouth, in Wales. Today – the 80th anniversary – therefore seems like a good time to dig out the photos from when I visited the store at the end of last year.

Opened as store number 464, the building at 24 Agincourt Square is one of those instantly recognisable purpose-built … Continue Reading