100 years of North East retail therapy
Nostalgia Editor RETAIL therapy – it’s one of our favourite pastimes
But, when Napoleon famously labelled the British as a “nation of shopkeepers”, he couldn’t have foreseen the difficulties they would be facing in the 21st century.
Sadly, many of the shops that were commonplace on our street corners and in our town centres 30 or 40 years ago have gone under.
Out-of-town shopping malls have been luring away customers since the 1970s and ‘80s, while many of us nowadays are going online to indulge in our passion for retail.
Giant companies like Amazon and Ebay are at the forefront of a consumer revolution which has seen online shopping divert away millions of pounds that, in the past, would have been spent in the high street.
In April this year, we reported how more shops are closing than opening in our region.
Statistics compiled by the Local Data Company showed 193 shops opened and 207 closed in the North East last year, as the high street responded to changing customer demand and continued economic uncertainty.
The trends are clear: more traditional shops selling the likes of clothes and shoes are pulling down the shutters.
At the same time, the “leisure” market is on the up, with food, entertainment and beverage stores doing well.
Who can fail to have noticed, for example, the number of coffee shops that have proliferated in the last decade?
On a brighter note, not everyone wants to sit behind a computer screen, clicking on goods they want to buy.
Wander up a main retail thoroughfare like Newcastle’s Northumberland Street and you’ll see thousands of shoppers happily splashing the cash - or plastic.
There is no denying, however, that shopping has changed forever.
Our pictures, from the Sunday Sun archive, come mainly from the first seven decades of the last century.
They range from the traditional corner shop, specialising in fruit or meat, to grand old department stores, many of which, like the famous Shephard’s of Gateshead, have fallen by the wayside.
For now though, grab your basket and enjoy a trip up and down the shopping aisles of yesteryear. Front: The dome and the revolving restaurant in Eldon Square shopping centre, Newcastle, 1983; market stalls, at the Metrocentre, Gateshead, 1987. The age of the shopping mall had arrived