Friday 12 December 2008

the wonder of woolies


so where will the modern teen of today in search of a slipped out of the charts/never quite got in the charts 49p box on the counter slightly creased over thumbed through singles from now goddamnit ? all those didn't like it enough to pay full price for it but it's a bit better than all the other crap in here and now i've got it home it's actually flipping genius singles ? the poor little tykes. c'mon people just think about the children. oh and all the poor buggers with no job now. damn you whoevers fault this is! damn you all to hell!



bananarama - love in the first degree

and yet more nanas

9 comments:

Unknown said...

I find it rather sad. More than 25 years ago I got my first ever proper job, as the Saturday Boy in a small Woolworth's store in Glasgow.

After washing the windows, cleaning up the stockroom and sort out all the cardboard waste, I was allowed to work on the record counter for 3 hours each week when staff went for lunch. For those three hours, the customers were spared the usual fayre of The Difters, Abba, Neil Dimaond and Glen Campbell and instead got Soft Cell, Echo & The Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes among other acts who managed to be in stock as they had reached the Top 30 (we were, unbelievably, a chart return store....)

Happy days indeed.

ally. said...

to be honest much as i like yer bunnymen and yer teardrops and yer soft (got my blackpool tower celebration thingy disappeared buggers) cell these days i think i'm all for diamond and campbell and the drifters and have you got any johnnie ray sweetheart ?
x

dickvandyke said...

I think 'Two Little Boys' (Christmas '69) was my first record purchase downstairs at Woolworths.

The lemon bon bon probably still gathers lint in my coat pocket.

And, "Saturdays Kids work in Tesco and Primarks" don't have the same ring to it.

We should mourn the demise of our heritage down the High St drains. Albeit a money-losing commercially clusterfuck of a store.

That's the Wonder of ... 'progress and piss-poor management'.

xx

Piley said...

Donr mind admitting I was gutted. Felt sure someone would come in a 'save' the little darlings, but it wasn't to be. 99 and out. Have great memories of just that, out of chart singles at bargain prices. Even in later years: out of chart bargain cd singles!! Bought a stack of em at 10p each once! fab stuff! Funny enough, everyone keeps saying "yeah, but when was the last time YOU shopped there" but i honestly did shop there all the time...

It's all Wilkingsons fault... ;-)

Dane said...

Welcome back!

When our downtown Columbus Woolworths closed and had the final clearance sale, I went in, mostly to say goodbye - the stores in my hometown 45 minutes away were a huge part of my childhood - but also hoping to score some old-fashioned, long-unsold beauty aids. I got some Jergens cold cream with Vargas label.

Love the bananarama, by the way.

davyh said...

Me and Dad at the Pick 'n' Mix before Christmas - "Ooh some of those Dave, your Mum likes those...".

Anonymous said...

I used to be a regular browser in the Brixton Woolies cheap bins in the early Eighties. Singles would come and singles would go - but you could always rely on seeing the same half-dozen increasingly soiled and dog-eared copies of 'Never In A Million Years' by the Boomtown Rats.

You pictured the manager poring over a clipboard. 'Make sure that we're well stocked up on the new Boomtown Rats', he'd pronounce confidently, 'They'll be banging on the doors for that!'

The best thing I ever found there was War's soundtack to the Youngblood movie for 99p, featuring that terrific 'Flying Machine' track, later to become such a staple of Gilles Petersons set. Bet he didn't get change out of a quid...

marmiteboy said...

No more 15 minute epic Woolies ads on Christamas telly either.

There is a lot to miss now Woolworths has gone to the big High Street in the sky.

I'm not sure how to explain to an 8 year old that the shop she insisted on going in to look at the toys when ever we went shopping is no longer about either. It was the only decent place to get toys in a lot of towns. Where do we go now?

ally. said...

oh jeez marmite that's awful - i'd not thought of that. just think of the little children people! what about the little children?
x