Do you remember the good old days before the Ghost Town?

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

I grew up in Dumbarton and Clydebank. Dumbarton high street was always a wee bit shite but ever since Woolworths and Menzies shut it died. I remember buying my first CD in the Woolworths there, Stereophonics Performance and Cocktails. Also remember my granny going in and ‘testing’ the pick and mix (probably why they went bust). 
High street now seems to be Vape shops, Chemists for methadone, pawnbrokers, pound shops, card shops and shops that sell cards for a pound. 
Clydebank shopping centre is ok, but you can see the impact of Braehead/Amazon. 

[HeartsOfficialMoaner]

6 minutes ago, carpetmonster said:

Excellent, their omelette paninis were a fantastic hangover fixer. Not that I could afford to get pished in Edinburgh these days, likely. 

Aye, it's a treat going in there. A wee bit expensive but a good memories place. Everything they sell. 

[19QOS19]

4 hours ago, HeartsOfficialMoaner said:

All the shops should be closed on Princes Street so that hotels can take over the place with casinos and strip bars and night clubs.

^^^ 

 

 

[Boghead ranter]

25 minutes ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

I grew up in Dumbarton and Clydebank. Dumbarton high street was always a wee bit shite but ever since Woolworths and Menzies shut it died. I remember buying my first CD in the Woolworths there, Stereophonics Performance and Cocktails. Also remember my granny going in and ‘testing’ the pick and mix (probably why they went bust). 
High street now seems to be Vape shops, Chemists for methadone, pawnbrokers, pound shops, card shops and shops that sell cards for a pound. 
Clydebank shopping centre is ok, but you can see the impact of Braehead/Amazon. 

My kids will (probably) never know the joy of going into somewhere like the old upstairs record dept in Menzies, and passing an hour or more leafing thru the vinyl.*

Ooft, there's that record I've been wanting for ages, but shit, I've not got enough money on me. Never mind, I'll stash it in a completely different rack under a different letter of the alphabet, and come back for it tomorrow.

Also, had enough, feel like going home for a chug. Quick swatch of the Roxy Music selections, that'll give me plenty inspiration for when I get home.

 

*sadly also, the deep despair of taking a jumpy LP back, only for them to test it on the turntable with the heaviest needle arm in the world, so that it didn't jump, and you didn't get your swap.

At that time, Clydebank Shopping Centre was like Rodeo Drive, compared to Dumbarton High St. The best shops D'ton had to offer were either on Glasgow Rd in the Newton, or over the old bridge, near The Waverley.

[Richey Edwards]

15 minutes ago, Boghead ranter said:

My kids will (probably) never know the joy of going into somewhere like the old upstairs record dept in Menzies, and passing an hour or more leafing thru the vinyl.*

Ooft, there's that record I've been wanting for ages, but shit, I've not got enough money on me. Never mind, I'll stash it in a completely different rack under a different letter of the alphabet, and come back for it tomorrow.

Also, had enough, feel like going home for a chug. Quick swatch of the Roxy Music selections, that'll give me plenty inspiration for when I get home.

 

*sadly also, the deep despair of taking a jumpy LP back, only for them to test it on the turntable with the heaviest needle arm in the world, so that it didn't jump, and you didn't get your swap.

At that time, Clydebank Shopping Centre was like Rodeo Drive, compared to Dumbarton High St. The best shops D'ton had to offer were either on Glasgow Rd in the Newton, or over the old bridge, near The Waverley.

Going shopping for albums, choosing them, taking them home and listening to them was some buzz. 

The streaming generation will never get to experience that. Sad.

[Shotgun]

37 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

Going shopping for albums, choosing them, taking them home and listening to them was some buzz. 

The streaming generation will never get to experience that. Sad.

And reading the liner notes as you listened. 

For auld lang syne, my dears.

[Richey Edwards]

11 minutes ago, Shotgun said:

And reading the liner notes as you listened. 

For auld lang syne, my dears.

Yep. Streaming has its uses, but can't beat actually having an album. I still have my collection and will never get rid of them.

[Richey Edwards]

6 hours ago, G_&_T said:

Love The Specials.

I was actually listening to that song earlier. It was what prompted the thread.

[TxRover]

1 hour ago, Boghead ranter said:

My kids will (probably) never know the joy of going into somewhere like the old upstairs record dept in Menzies, and passing an hour or more leafing thru the vinyl.*

Ah, there was a music store just off the campus in Baton Rouge, with a magical second floor (U.S.) record section. Wandering through, I can still remember when they pulled the initial issue Roger Waters “The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking” because of the bare bum and replaced them with the censored version. Amusingly, both the original covers for Blind Faith’s “Blind Faith” and The Scorpions “Virgin Killer” were still on display, and never censored. For those of you knowledgeable, that puts it as 1984.

Now, that being said, here in the big bad DFW Metroplex, we still have two or three used record stores with huge vinyl selections you can browse for hours…and a chain called Half Price Books that has a solid little vinyl section in every store. There’s still life in some areas, but downtown anywhere urban is pretty much f’d in the U.S. too. The suburban shopping/townhome development is working however, and it’s not the same (all chains), but it’s something.

[Hillonearth]

When it comes down to it, I think a lot of people quite like the idea of everybody else continuing to shop the way they always did while they themselves shop online or visit retail parks/hypermarkets, which would allow the old-style shops to remain open as an exercise in nostalgia the once or twice a year they want to use them.

It doesn't work when a critical mass of people are thinking the same way though. Record shops are the classic example...the vast majority of people either buy online, stream or download, and all that's left on the UK high street is HMV which itself is a bit of a basket case that has been in administration twice in the last ten years.

[Derry Alli]

1 hour ago, Richey Edwards said:

Going shopping for albums, choosing them, taking them home and listening to them was some buzz. 

The streaming generation will never get to experience that. Sad.

Walking around Virgin and all the different jak'd headphones listening to whatever CD was in the player at that station.

[Silvio Tattiescone]

7 hours ago, Richey Edwards said:

Going shopping for albums, choosing them, taking them home and listening to them was some buzz. 

The streaming generation will never get to experience that. Sad.

Going to Woolies, choosing the album you wanted, making sure the store detective wasn't watching before you nonchalantly slipped it under your jersey and walked to the back door, away from the checkouts. The shout, the bang of the fire escape handle, the panicked ecstasy and adrenaline rush of the chase, not running straight home but in a different direction (rookie error avoided), the joy of knowing that a 13 year old can always outrun a 50 year old overweight alcoholic. That's how I got Setting Sons and Parallel Lines. 

 

CCTV has killed that. 

Edited December 25, 2022 by Newbornbairn

[Cosmic Joe]

If you walked up Leven High Street in the 1970s you had a draper then Williamson's the arcade (with a brilliant toy department), butchers (still there) on the left. On the right was a fishmonger (still there - although don't be expecting anything more exotic than smoked haddock), Woolworths, Galloway's Mens outfitters, Boots, Deas the bakers, John Menzies. 

Back on the left there was Cummings clothing store, Walker's electrical shop that started hiring VHS and Betamax tapes a few years later with, I'm told, some naughty ones under the counter, a couple of banks, a couple of pubs (still there), Ladbrokes, Victoria Wine, Lightbody's the bakers, across the road was the Caledonian Hotel, which is still there. There were more wee shops that I've forgotten about. 

It was pedestrianised sometime the following decade, which was a good move in my opinion, but every time I return more and more car wankers are flagrantly ignoring this, which irks me greatly. 

Edited December 25, 2022 by Cosmic Joe

[effeffsee_the2nd]

6 hours ago, Hillonearth said:

When it comes down to it, I think a lot of people quite like the idea of everybody else continuing to shop the way they always did while they themselves shop online or visit retail parks/hypermarkets, which would allow the old-style shops to remain open as an exercise in nostalgia the once or twice a year they want to use them.

It doesn't work when a critical mass of people are thinking the same way though. Record shops are the classic example...the vast majority of people either buy online, stream or download, and all that's left on the UK high street is HMV which itself is a bit of a basket case that has been in administration twice in the last ten years.

This  is pretty much the answer. Nobody likes to see run down town centers but at the end of the day they are like that for a reason. Most places have seen their population increase since the 1990's yet the footfall for in person retail has plummeted. 

I think a large majority will continue to buy groceries in person,

A smaller majority will keep buying clothes in person

A significant minority will go to showrooms for furniture etc

The rest of in person retail will be purely service oriented with a few niche shops and holders out from the old world. Even the bookies are starting to disappear  from the high street now they can't cream in from the roulette machines

[Silvio Tattiescone]

22 minutes ago, Cosmic Joe said:

If you walked up Leven High Street in the 1970s you had a draper then Williamson's the arcade (with a brilliant toy department), butchers (still there) on the left. On the right was a fishmonger (still there - although don't be expecting anything more exotic than smoked haddock), Woolworths, Galloway's Mens outfitters, Boots, Deas the bakers, John Menzies. 

Back on the left there was Cummings clothing store, Walker's electrical shop that started hiring VHS and Betamax tapes a few years later with, I'm told, some naughty ones under the counter, a couple of banks, a couple of pubs (still there), Ladbrokes, Victoria Wine, Lightbody's the bakers, across the road was the Caledonian Hotel, which is still there. There were more wee shops that I've forgotten about. 

It was pedestrianised sometime the following decade, which was a good move in my opinion, but every time I return more and more car wankers are flagrantly ignoring this, which irks me greatly. 

Hardys next to Cummings, Mastertons the jewellers, Barrons (school shirts wrapped in brown paper and string), jumpers for goalposts, the Italian chippy on the corner.  When did the Turret start? 

['WellDel]

Living in a small town a couple of miles outside the sprawling metropolis of mighty Motherwell, I used to love the anticipation travelling in on the bus with a few, saved up quid in my pocket.

A pair of jeans out of Burtons, a new t-shirt from Picadilly and that was you sorted for your next night out. Then a wander round the corner to Impulse for some vinyl and a swatch at the lassie behind the counter who was a bit of a teenage crush (would love to have stuck my wee needle in her groove). Like others have said though, getting a refund/replacement for a dodgy record was often tricky. Can remember going back with a copy of Happy Mondays Thrills Pills and Bellyaches which jumped all over the place, and having to fight tooth and nail to get it changed.

Then it was over for a burger in Wimpy to admire your haul. There was also Woolies and WH Smith etc, but like everywhere else though, that is all long gone, and what is left is a wasteland of all the generic pound shops, vape stores, charity shops, and your usual B&M and Wilkos type places.

There is a lot of nostalgia around all these things, but it was a pleasure that the younger generation today will never experience, in a world that is now completely driven by convenience and folk unwilling to walk the length of their arse.

[Cosmic Joe]

1 hour ago, Newbornbairn said:

Hardys next to Cummings, Mastertons the jewellers, Barrons (school shirts wrapped in brown paper and string), jumpers for goalposts, the Italian chippy on the corner.  When did the Turret start? 

It was certainly open in 1983 when I became the proud owner of a pair of burgundy staypresses 

[Hillonearth]

2 hours ago, effeffsee_the2nd said:

This  is pretty much the answer. Nobody likes to see run down town centers but at the end of the day they are like that for a reason. Most places have seen their population increase since the 1990's yet the footfall for in person retail has plummeted. 

I think a large majority will continue to buy groceries in person,

A smaller majority will keep buying clothes in person

A significant minority will go to showrooms for furniture etc

The rest of in person retail will be purely service oriented with a few niche shops and holders out from the old world. Even the bookies are starting to disappear  from the high street now they can't cream in from the roulette machines

Absolutely - there seems to be a wistfulness about old established names disappearing, almost like people wish town centres could be artificially kept open as nostalgia theme parks for the once in a blue moon they deign to visit them.

Case in point was when Woolworth's closed...everybody seemed to be united in the view that it was "terrible" although they hadn't actually set foot in one for years. There was a kind of folk memory of pick & mix and record bars, whereas the truth was for decades the place had been an incoherent shithole of a shop that seemed to specialise in poor quality homeware that wasn't even that cheap. When you pointed that out it was always a case of "Still terrible though..."

 

[DA Baracus]

There are still plenty of places that sell vinyl where you can spend time browsing them, especially since it's become more popular recently.

[Derry Alli]

2 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

There are still plenty of places that sell vinyl where you can spend time browsing them, especially since it's become more popular recently.

Must admit, I miss groucho's.  I spent a lot of time (and money) in there.