Over the years, we’ve lost quite a few amazing high street stores, from Woolworths to BHS. They disappeared from our streets in the recent years and we will probably lose more stores in the coming years. Here are 14 British high street stores, how many of them do you remember?
1. Woolworths.
Woolworths was such a great shop, they sold literally everything, didn’t they! They had about 800 stores pen until their shock closure in 208. Woolies was founded in 1909 and it was the place to go as a child for a big bag of pick n mix, if you were really naughty, you’d eat a few of your sweets out of the bag when you were walking around. They went online but that wasn’t enough and the shop was forced to close all of its online doors in 2015 Sad times for the UK.
2. BHS.
Over 11,000 jobs were lost when BHS went bust last year and some of the poor people who lost their jobs lost their pensions as well. The shop has since re-launched as an online store by Topshop owner Phillip Green. It won’t be the same though, will it!
3. Tammy Girl.
Tammy Girl was every teen girls dream shop in the 90s and early 00s. It didn’t end well for this little shop though. It was bought by BHS in 2005, you can see where I’m going with this…
4. JJB Sports.
JJB sports went into administration n 2012, despite being one of the high streets most popular go-to shop for sportswear, trainers and trackies. 130 shops were closed down and Sports Direct bought about 20 stores and the website. Kids these days will never get to experience spending half thier day wandering around JJB sports looking for those perfect trainers.
5. Blockbuster.
Ahhhh Blockbuster, it still feels a bit too raw to write this. It wasn’t a Saturday without a trip to Blockbuster to rent a videotape, you’d scroll through each row to find that perfect videotape to watch with your family and you could even buy popcorn at the till. This amazing store shut its doors in 2014 but 12 independent stores are still operating in the USA.
6. C&A.
C&A was an extremely popular store in the 1980s, before stores like H&M, Matalan and TK Maxx came about. The chain of stores still operates in Europe but was pushed out of the UK in 2001 when people started shopping elsewhere. C&A had been operating in the UK since 1922 so it was quite a shame when it disappeared from our high streets!
7. Gamleys.
Gamley’s was the ultimate toy store but it just couldn’t compete with the online market (like a lot of shops nowadays) and the threat of Toys R Us (which has also now gone bust!). It closed its last store in 2008 in Bromley, Kent just before it’s 90th anniversary – which is pretty sad. So many stores have had to shut down because of the online market which is a real shame, isn’t it!
8. Virgin Megastores.
Virgin Megastores had that extra edge on HMV and its first store opened in London’s Oxford Street in 1979. It still exists in the Middle East and North Africa but Sir Richard Branson decided to sell his UK stores to Zavvi in 2007 and it lasted just 1 year before going into administration the year later on Christmas Eve of 2008. CD and DVD sales plummeted which forced all of the shops to close. Now pretty much everything is done online, there is no need for shops like this.
9. Gadget Shop.
The Gadget Shop was one of those shops you’d stop by to mess around with all of the gadgets in there. It was packed full of gizmos and gadgets and it used to be particularly popular around Christmas time. This store, like many others, had to sadly close down in April 2005, can you believe it was that long ago?! Most of the people who went into the store didn’t actually use to buy anything, which was probably the biggest contributing factor for it closing down. The Gadget Shop spiraled into £3m of debt after sales slumped over Christmas 2004 and over 620 people lost their jobs.
10. Phones 4 U.
Remember the incredibly annoying Phones 4 U adverts? The stores opened in 1996 and there were around 600 shops around the UK at its peak. I’m pretty sure most of us bought a phone at Phones 4 U, but in September 2014, it went into administration when EE and Vodafone ende their contracts with the store. Sad times!
11. Dixons.
Dixons closed their doors to the public in 2006 after 70 years in operation. They were re-branded as Currys which came to founder Charles Kalms when he was flicking through a telephone directory. The chain was founded in 1937.
12. MK One.
Another bloody brilliant store from Sir Phillip Green’s empire. This cheap clothing store was extremely popular in the 1980s and 90s but the Topshop boss sold all 10% of his stake in MK One in 2003 and it was bought by Icelandic group Baugur for 55m (11m of debts) a year later. Baugur collapsed in 2009 and the 45 stores closed with th remaining ones being bought up and rebranded as Internacionale. It’s just not the same though.
13. Gamestation.
Gamestation was the second biggest video game retailer, founded in 1993 their arch-rivals were Game who ended up buying the chain in 2007 but Gamestation was finally binned in 2012 for good.
14. Comet.
Comet failed to survive the 21st century and collapsed in 2012. The store was founded in 1993 but couldn’t keep up with the online market. A year before it went into administration, owners Kesa sold the chain to OpCapita for £2.
