SWEET MEMORIES

Indulge yourself with a look back at some of our favourite chocolates

IN years to come (if you’re not doing it already) you can bore your children and grandchildren with tales of the sales of yesteryear.

The “January sales” used to be as much a seasonal tradition as Christmas trees and turkeys, the time when shops would open up early in the New Year to offload surplus stock at bargain prices.

But as every eager bargainhunter knows, it’s been many a year since the January sales started in January. Retailers tried to steal a march on the competition to lure in shoppers’ cash by constantly bringing forward the start-date, so that in more recent times the sales would start on the first trading day after Boxing Day, then Boxing Day itself …

… And now many online retailers begin their sales on December 25. Who knows? Maybe this year they’ll have started even sooner.

But back in the glory days of retailing, there was a ritual, observed by shops, shoppers and news editors alike. Readers/ viewers were treated to images of people camped out overnight outside various shops because they wanted to be first in the queue when they opened.

This sometimes happened in Broadmead, though it was more common in London, where newspaper photographers knew they could often rely on Harrods to have some campers.

And if the photographers and camera crews got really lucky, there’d be scuffles as well as shoppers struggled and fought with one another to get their hands on some particularly prized items.

In Bristol, it was more common for shoppers just to get up early to get to Broadmead to be first in line at Lewis’s, C&A, Littlewoods, British Home Stores, Marks & Spencer and many others including of course Debenhams, where the sales were always a big deal.

Of course there will be postChristmas sales in the shops this year, and next year, and for many years to come. But it’s unlikely that they will be the big events that they used to be when we had to walk, drive or catch the bus to the shops and buy everything in person. We’ve delved into the archives for some pictures of the sales of yesteryear.

Harrods, London, January 1981. The Post doesn’t seem to have any decent pictures of shoppers fighting at the sales in Bristol, so we’ve borrowed this one. The caption reads: “Shortly after 9am an estimated 400 people fought in the television department for just 40 raffle tickets to secure one of the 26” Dynatron Remote Control Television Sets offered at £399 against the retail price of £799. Think about that for a minute: a 26-inch remote control TV was a must-have in 1981, and it would normally cost £799 … For the same price you could nowadays get an all-singing-all-dancing telly with a much bigger screen. Or a laptop that could do everything your 26” telly could, and loads more besides. The caption continues: “One lady fell and split her head in the melee to get the tickets. The sales manager, Mr Mackey, although badly roughed up, was unhurt.” (Photo: Mirrorpix)

Bentall’s, Broadmead – formerly Lewis’s – December 1999

Compared to the picture on the right, sales shoppers in Bristol, were far better behaved. This one is dated December 18 1982 but is just marked “Broadmead” but we don’t know which shop. BHS? C&A? Littlewoods? Anyone know?

Broadmead, 1977, though “Heraldshops” (right) isn’t having a January sale, but a closing-down sale. Can’t remember what Heraldshops sold, but it looks like clothing. Anyone know?

The sales in Broadmead, 1957, as seen from the roof of the Post building in Silver Street. Crowds outside Woolworth’s, Dolcis, H. Samuel and (left) Marks & Spencer.