Plenty of big names have shut up
NINO WILLIAMS takes a look at the shops we used to visit in Swansea city centre that have disappeared, most of them for ever
WHEN well-known local music store Cranes announced it was closing, it was just the latest in a long list of shops that have departed the city centre.
While there are still plenty of shops to choose from in Swansea, its departure is another blow for the city, which has lost Starbucks, Coffee Punks, and Crepe Vine in recent months, the latter revealing that a lack of footfall had made its business unviable.
Much the same was said by the owners of the Cocina Mexican restaurant which closed in Princess Way last month.
Swansea Council has previously pointed to exciting plans to transform the city centre, including with work on The Kingsway and the new indoor arena near the LC.
But, while many parts of the city centre remain busy and full of shops, there are a worrying number of empty ones.
Here are some of the shops we have lost from Swansea over the past two decades . . .
CRANES
The music shop in St David’s Shopping Centre announced earlier this month it was to cease trading. The firm was established in Cardiff in 1851, but the Swansea branch, which had been trading in the city since 1987, was its only remaining store.
BRITISH HOME STORES
Once a familiar sight on high streets across the UK, the department store went into administration in 2016, with retail billionaire Sir Phillip Green coming under criticism for leaving it with a multi-million pound deficit. It once had 150 stores across the UK, but the end came in 2016 for its store in Oxford Street.
OUR PRICE
The record shop had branches across the country, and was bought out by Virgin in the mid Nineties. It was situated in Oxford Street, near the junction with Union Street.
LITTLEWOODS
Littlewoods pulled out of the city in 2006, after 50 years in Swansea. When it opened in 1955 it was located in High Street, before moving to St Mary’s Square in 1981, in the unit now occupied by Primark.
CHELSEA GIRL
A favourite with teenage girls during the Seventies and Eighties, the business traded from inside Swansea’s Quadrant Shopping Centre. It was rebranded in 1988 as River Island and continues to trade under that name, now in Oxford Street.
TOYS R US
Once the go-to place for parents of young children, the retail giant went into administration at the start of the year, forcing the closure of all its UK stores.
PICTON MUSIC
The family-run music shop in Picton Arcade was started by former West Glamorgan County Council leader John Allison, and stayed in the family for 40 years. The store, known for its stock of musical instruments and sheet music, later transferred to Mansel Street before it closed for good.
DAVID EVANS
The business was a Swansea landmark, and the imposing department store in Princess Way was at the core of city centre shopping for nearly 100 years. The building was pulled down two years after it closed for good in 2005 and replaced with a new development incorporating businesses including Tiger and Zara.
HALFORDS
The cycling business, which also sells camping and car parts, once had an outlet in Oxford Street. It’s now on Swansea Enterprise Park
WOOLWORTHS
Once ubiquitous on high streets across the UK, the Swansea store in Oxford Street closed its doors for good in 2009 when the com-