Remembering Woolworths, from records to the sweets
THE SHOP BRITS MISS THE MOST 13 YEARS AFTER ITS DEMISE
LOSING Woolworths hit us more re than any other retailer when their ir Grimsby and Cleethorpes stores es closed after the 2008 collapse.
The beloved chain was a mainnstay of British high streets for deccades and held a very special place e in the hearts of shoppers. It was as the place where many bought their ir first record while few will have forrgotten the bounty of sweets it stocked!
Woolworths was voted the most missed high-street retailer in a Watchdog Which? survey. It scored a whopping 49 per cent of the votes and it isn’t surprising why. Anyone who went into the one-stop shop, especially during the Christmas months, was quick to understand the reason its slogan was Wonder Of Woolies.
Children, now grown ups and many with kids of their own, have memories of tasty pick n’ mix and aisles on aisles of every kind of toy you could imagine. Of course, it has become a place of whimsy that exists only in our memories now.
For many, a trip to Woolies with £3 in your pocket would be a Saturday well spent. Not to mention the introduction of their own kidswear clothing line, Ladybird, in 1985. Anyone who was anyone got their school shirts from there for the year. The most popular product was the Ladybird Dressing Gown that came in a royal blue or a bright red with black and white trim around the collar and belt.
Woolworths’ eventual fate saw it become one of the first in a long line of several high-profile highstreet brands that we have said goodbye to in town centres across the country since the 2008 financial crisis resulted the demise of the likes of MK One, Floors-2-Go, Ethel Austin and Toyzone.
Since then, the rise of online shopping and the accumulation of corporate debt are among the factors that have led to the end of many other giants of shopping past such as BHS.
Woolworths originally found a home in Grimsby since 1912 when its first store opened on Cleethorpe Road, before moving to Freeman Street 13 years later.
The 4,174 sq ft store opened to the public on April 24, 1925, and in the first day and half welcomed nearly 9,000 people through the doors. The store employed around 50 assistants, and closed in 1984 with the loss of 28 jobs in all.
However, the one that sticks in the mind of Grimsby and Cleethorpes locals the most is the Victoria Street store. It opened in November of 1957 and, during its 51-year history, it became a firm favourite.
In an effort to keep up with the times it was remodelled twice. Once in 1971 and again in 1982 - which cost the company around £200,000. It saw the introduction of brand new sections like DIY, a fruit and nut bar, and a massively updated and extended music section. A further £400,000 overhaul of the store took place in 1993.
In 1966, the company wanted to build a £500,000 Woolco superstore, with parking for more than 1,000 cars on a six acre area of land off Cambridge Road.
Woolworths wanted to build a 100,000 sq ft building which would sell entirely different merchandise. However, after a year of negotiations, the plans for the new Grimsby store were scrapped.
As recently as 2004, the chain had plans to expand in the area with a proposal to build one of its larger Big W stores. Though work on the Victoria Street site was completed, it never opened and it ultimately became Tesco Extra.
By the year 2000, Woolworths was still in business with both their Victoria Street store and their smaller outlets in Louth and Cleethorpes.
On January 3, 2009, the Victoria Street store shut its doors for the final time. Shoppers who attended their final closing down sale would have snapped up some bargains on CDs, DVDs, toys, food and kidswear but were left without a retailer that had been a part of the lives of generations of people in the Grimsby area.
Woolworths remained weighed down with £385 million of debt causing them to finally collapse in November of 2008. By January 2009 every single one of their 815 stores had closed.