Want some more Nostalgia? How about Top 10 British TV Channels that Don't Exist Anymore? kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y9CAm7yX2tyWf58.html

The most saddest aspect of the loss of the English High Street is these places were also a meeting place where one could bump into friends and speak face to face and perhaps meeting new friends. The internet has damaged our relationships on this level.

I used to work at Woolies. Was there until the very last day and was heartbreaking seeing the store completely empty. But was so pleased to work in a place that still brings happy memories to so many

How much everyone seems to miss Woolworths makes me wonder how it went bankrupt in the first place. Clearly no-one realised what they had until it was gone.

As a British guy myself, I really miss these and will forever be in my memories.

I'm still not over the closure of Woolies and Toy's 'R' US!

I look back at Woolies, Our Price, C&A, Mothercare, Toys R Us, Debenhams, BHS, Dixons.. those were good days.

The big mistake made by Thornton's was to start selling their chocolates in supermarkets. They became just another brand, rather than something more luxurious and special (I always though that the chocolates sold in the supermarkets tasted cheaper than the ones from the Thornton's shops). Hotel Chocolat have taken their place.

This was both a trip down memory lane and upsetting at the same time, nice job!

Fun fact: Woolworths is in still in other countries in Europe ( mostly Germany, where pick and mix section still exists)

I wish that Woolworths would come back, that store was my favorite place to go to growing up, everything under one roof

With B & M, Home Bargains, Wilkinsons etc there's obviously a customer base for a store like Woolworths. I still miss them.

Here's a few I can remember from my dim and distant past that got missed off the list: Rumbelows, Timothy Whites, Littlewoods, C&A, Fine Fare, International Stores, Safeway, Somerfield, Freeman Hardy and Willis, Wimpey burger bars.......

Does anyone remember the children’s clothes shop Adams? I think they were around more in the 90s, they used to shine strobe lights of apples across the floor and me and my sisters would chase them while our mum shopped! 🍎😂

Can't believe you did not mention Somerfield. Years after being bought by co-op you would still see Somerfield lorry trailers in use.

What about C&A? A very popular clothing store. When me and my wife go on holiday to a European destination and she sees one, we have to visit :)

People like Amazon, the cost of liking Amazon is the high street turns in to a ghost street and an economic impact is felt in every single town.

I used to love going to Woolworths, I'd get paid on a Saturday from my weekend job, cash in hand, and head straight to Woolies to buy videos or dvds

Growing up as a child and teenager in NYC, I loved Virgin Megastore, Toys R' Us, Borders, Blockbuster Video, and Woolworths. One thing I loved about Woolworths was their Layaway service. If you wanted to buy something, but couldn't afford to buy it in one payment, you could pay for it in installments, and receive it once you paid for it in full. Low-income families loved Woolworths. That's where my mother bought my brother, and I our Sega Genesis.

Lots of these shops where closed due to greedy council rents and lack of parking hence online shopping

I miss Woolworths. You could get anything and everything in Woolies, but the best thing about Woolworths was the Pick & Mix.

Thorntons was going down and closing down stores for years, it wasn't Covid. It was them selling in supermarkets that did them in really as people saw how cheap the quality was and how overpriced the same things were in store.

I miss Woolworths. It had literally everything under one roof.

When i saw Woolworths, immediately clicked, it’s still crazy that they are gone 😊

I miss woolworths,I remember one day I was craving sweets really bad,I was in my local shopping centre and all the stores had closed,then I noticed woolworths was still open so I got a pick and mix bag,just as I was paying 'a whole new world' by katie price and Peter Andre was playing on the speakers,I don't think I will ever have a moment of pure joy like that again in my life.

I miss Woolworths so much.

Wish we could pop into woolies for a Pick n' Mix right now... 😥

The biggest mistake Woolworths made was putting the pic n mix right next to the door...as many kids did in the 80s. I would always grab a slack handful on me way out.

I miss BHS and Woolworths the most. The heart has been ripped out of the British high street. 😔 Also liked C&A and always like to have a peek if I see one abroad.🌈

Woolworths is the sort of store that could actually still be useful today, despite online retail.

I still sing the Toys R Us theme tune every now and then

Also there was a catalogue store simular to Argos called Index. A gadget store called Tandy.

Im still deverstated that Woolworths is gone still miss it to this day

There are still Woolworth stores in Germany, and I bought an umbrella in the one in Bayreuth, Bavaria, a couple of years ago. I didn't really need it, but I was so pleased to see a "Woolies" store that I thought I'd get a souvenir!

I miss Woolworths, the amount of money I sent on CD’s and Pick’n’Mix probably kept them going for years

I miss nearly all of these. The High Street will never be the same again.

I miss shopping at Woolworths at Christmas :((

Our Price anyone? Of course everyone knew that C&A stood for Coats & Ats.

You forgot Littlewoods and C&A (who still have stores in mainland Europe but not the UK).

Yep, in my town we still have an Adams Kids store thats been closed like 15 years if not more.

Can anyone else still remember the smell in some of these shops? Omg how life is short

Littlewoods, Fosters, Freeman Hardy Willis, Ethel Austin, Toy and Hobby.

I'm surprised that C&A aren't in this list since the Dutch clothes store, which predates H&M, used to have stores in the UK. They're still around in Europe but not in the UK.

The thing I used to enjoy about Woolworths was their music and records department often at the very front of the store. Definitely missed. Phil Green aka Sir Shifty is now a notorious name within British retail culture and not for the good reasons either. Currently Sir Philip Green but I am sure that many people around the UK feel as if he no longer deserves the knighthood. I certainly don't believe that he merits the title of Sir so a very pure and simple Phil Green will suffice. Steve Coogan, Isla Fisher and David Mitchell have all been involved in making a movie entitled "GREED" but is loosely based on the vile, retail entrepreneur.

Today Paperchase went out of business and their shops will be no more. I miss Woolworths, Allders (got thrown out of one in the late 90s!), Virgin Megastore, old PC World, Our Price, the travel agent Holiday Hypermarket, Comet, Debenhams, Gamleys Toys, Children's World (there was one in Croydon and it had a huge slide at the entrance), Savacentre in Colliers Wood, Electronics Boutique, MK One, Safeway, Tammy Girl, Etam, Hawkin's Bazaar, Toys R Us and many more. The internet and big supermarkets have killed off all the good shops

A lot of the shops suffered with image issues from the next generation of shoppers. Often kids of the 90's were more interested in brands that these shop did not stock. No wonder as these people started working or became parents, that they would not go shopping in these old fashioned stores. I found the quality of the goods very questionable.

Dixons never went out of business. They BOUGHT Currys as Currys was struggling. They kept the name Currys as it was more well known. Dixons basically bought their competition. Like Hornby and Tri-ang. Tri-ang bought out Hornby but as Hornby was more well known, they kept the name

So many great memories from growing-up, especially Woolworths!😩

The internet will continue to see the demise of more stores. It is called progress. We will all be sitting at home ordering goods rather than going to store locations and interacting with our fellow man. Sad.

Of course it has to be Woolies. Looking around my flat there is so much stuff from Woolworths, just shows the quality. Even my cheap Woolworths DVD player is still working.

JJB, Woolworths and BHS were SO memorable and nostalgic for me (I am 25) most of the rest of them are not so nostalgic since they either closed very recently or were stores I hardly ever frequented or ever went to as a matter of fact. Never went to Thomas Cook (since I have never left my house whenever my family ever went to get flight tickets to go abroad and they never went to places like Thomas Cook since most of the times we have been abroad was at Pakistan my family's home country and a couple of other places which we only went to as connecting to Pakistan and stayed there for a bit before going Pakistan) Never been to Phones 4U since I got my first phone in 2014 and Phones 4U was kinda dead at that point ALSO my first phone contract was bought DIRECTLY from a carrier's physical store (My first phone was on 3 Network and I still have a sim contract with them) and not a store like Phones 4U/Carphone Warehouse ALSO never been to Thorntons since the nearest one to me was like 5 miles away in a place I hardly ever frequent and I don't shop for chocolate at chocolatiers but just get them at grocery stores. ALSO I hate the way BHS went down I used to get clothes and school uniform from there all the time and my nearest branch is still there (It did briefly get used as a Poundland store but since its a huge department store Poundland were literally only using the ground floor as retail even though there is a basement and a first floor and at the start of the pandemic the store closed but besides the fact that the BHS logo is missing from the building it looks like the BHS I remember it to be but as a closed store) the fact that it was sold to a guy for £1 who is known for bankruptcy and the poor management ruined the company so hard

I’m surprised MVC didn’t get a mention. The one we had in Gloucester was massive and definitely the go-to place for music and films…

British Ex-Pat here. In Canada, the reverse happened to HMV (I worked at 2 different locations). The company became insolvent. Sunrise Records bought and subsequently rebranded the old locations as its own.

It's just not Xmas without the Toys R Us adverts :'( As a kid I got taken to Toys R Us on my birthday. When a store opened closer to home I was taken there around the time of it's opening. Years later, in 1999, I got a job at that same store during a time when they had a big refurbishment happen and stayed on to work on the shop floor over Xmas that year. I even went back the following September and worked a second Xmas.

I miss Menzies, I could spend hours in there. I loved Woolworths, it was very sad when they closed.

I miss Virgin Megastore! The one in my town was awesome! It was on two floors and always had knowledgeable staff. As for people moving away from physical record shops, I will always buy from HMV first and Amazon second!

Childhood memories? Very much so as my dad was a Woolworths store manager for about 25 years

First I've heard about Thorntons, what a shame. Was an amazing chain 😩

Our local Woolworths stood empty for years until Primark, which was next door extended their store into it. Primark had taken over from Littlewoods.

Remember oh so Many of these stores. Also remember electronics bootique, C&A, Do it all DIY Store, Model Zone, and unfortunately many more!! Ring back our British high streets!!

If you think about it since Coroni pandemic it's been Top Shop / Man, Miss Selfridge, Wallis, Evans, Burton and DP, and Debenhams, Oasis and Warehouse, Cath Kidston ( although in fairness they now have 6 stores in mainly outlet centres and a flagship in Piccadilly again) and Laura Ashley , Brighthouse and I am sure there are more but it's an awful lot that have gone pop including many non renewal of leases by the likes of Ernest Jones and H Samuel and others. COVID was the final nail in the coffin of the UK High Street. Only 79 department stores left in this country and it was 500 before. Sad. 239 are currently vacant awaiting a new use.

Another company that went in 2000s is C&A if anyone remembers that store

We have Woolworths in South Africa and it's bloody expensive. It operate mainly in clothing and has a supermarket.

I MISS WOOLWORTHS USE TO LOVE THEIR PICK N MIX

Woolworth UK was spawned by F.W. Woolworth, an American company founded in Pennsylvania, USA. The Woolworth building in New York City used to be the tallest building in the world till the Empire State came along. When I moved from Wakefield, Yorks. to Pittsburgh PA in the eighties I was amazed to find a Woolies in downtown Pittsburgh. It's one of those companies you think is British but isn't. It's the same with Monopoly, an American game that you think is British as it is/was made by Waddington's in Leeds but the original was made by Parker Brothers, USA and was set in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

To get what Woolies had, you have to go to Wilko's, Poundland, most discount stores and the non food parts of supermarkets. It's a shame. I think most of us still miss it. 😞 My local Woolworths is now a Poundland. The last manager of my town's branch ended up as the chief security officer in a local underground car park. I've got so many Woolworths things, most of it novelty stationery. Very few shops have good novelty stationery, which I like to collect.

What about Index? Or Fine Fare? Or Gateway? Kwik Save?

Thank you very much for the upload other names have dissapeared most recently carphone warehouse.

I just always liked saying Woolworths.

I bought my prom dress from BHS. Oh the memories

"Many of their stores still stand empty" well yeah... Debenham only collapsed a couple of months ago....

RIP Geoff the Toys “R” Us giraffe

I miss Woolworths so much, since it went, the town literally died. the building is still there and its never been anything else. The actually Woolworths signs are up still as well. Barely any shops on that side of the town are still open

Gamestation and Woolworths, miss them!!

Woolies!!! I remember there massive pick n Mix Isle, such fond memories, our old store is now a shabby BnM

So many fond memories of BHS, Toys R Us, Woolworths, Blockbuster and Virgin Megastore.

miss Woolworths had a Saturday job there best times, miss the fact that you could find everything under one foof

I remember Index,MK one ,BHS,Tradex but I think that was only a thing here in leeds and same goes for Kwiksave😅😅, JJB Sports,Internationalle, Miss Selfridges, Summerfield and the early learning center 😍 the UK was such a happier place back then 😭🥺

I miss Woolworths the most, it was a big part of my childhood. I used to always go there to look at the toys (specifically dolls) when I was a child. Still can't believe it went.

we used to have a Thorntons in our town center and its now occupied by a hotel chocolat store that does the same thing as thorntons

Woolworths, C&A, Wavyline, Bejams, some of my favourite childhood memory shops, from yesteryear....

You mentioned that other companies started in America but you forgot to mention that about Woolworths, apparently there also still open in Mexico amongst other countries

I will never forget the toys r us advert, you knew Christmas was close when it was on the TV.

You should do follow up video on other high profile retailers go under like somerfields, do it all!, there are also quite a few supermarkets end of the 90s early 2000s that closed. Index was rival to argos. Also could do one on restaurant as I can think of quite few of them too.

Sad about BHS. Back in the day while still at school, I had a Saturday job at BHS in Southsea, Portsmouth. It was more "upmarket" than Woolies but cheaper than Debenhams. And they treated their staff very well even us Saturday kids. Nice managers and a great staff canteen. I also worked in Littlewoods on the same shopping strip. I guess that's long gone too (I moved to Australia in 1988). This oldie loves my smartphone, my laptop and 24/7 access to the internet, but I bloody don't like shopping online. I miss the old department stores.

Comet were always pushing the extended warranty which weirdly included the manufacturers year warranty and in any event the Sale of Goods Act covered goods. As for Woolworths, yeah who doesn’t miss it.

I can't believe all of these are shut! I didn't even notice half of these disappear!

Great video and I can think of a couple more, Maplin and Lunn Poly Travel. These days only food and clothes stores really work, the rest are doomed.

I really miss Woolies, Toys 'R' Us and Borders the most :(

I shop in woolies every day in Australia 😂🦘

Oh, recordshops. That was my favourite hangout spot.

my first job in 1959, trainee manager at Woolworth. Working in the stockroom, bringing down the produce to the main floor sweeping up and keeping the coal fired boilers working in these days. You really did start at the bottom, but it was wonderful it’s the one store I really miss, ah! nostalgia; it’s not what it used to be

Woolworths was my favourite shop from my childhood memories from getting toys, games, music and videos and religiously pick n mix miss it so much. Debenhams and BHS were too

Grainger games was a brilliant gaming shop to visit in northern England till it went out of business

I miss Maplin

Amazon beware!! If the only place I can get a product is online, I most likely didn't need it in the first place. Love old school shopping, viewing and touching the item before I purchase plus the one on one interaction. Greetings from a Brit residing in the USA.

Always remember the toys r us adverts as a kid especially around Christmas and loved going in blockbuster and woolworths to have a look around

Comet closed down in 2008 I’m sure???? There’s no way it was 2012🥴🥴 I literally remember it so well , it was the year my auntie passed away... perhaps it was just all my local stores???

I remember the JJB Sports in Hunts Cross, Liverpool had a basketball court, memories flooding back

I miss Wollies, mainly for their pick n mix selection.