Woolies

The end of an era! Woolworths closing forever!
So many memories, right back to when I was four years old when I got my head stuck in a revolving door in Woolworths at Blackpool. I loved 'going in town' with my Mam where we would go to Woolies to look at the toys and get some 'pick n mix' to take home. It was best when the counters were long with different stalls, make-up, cheap toys, stationary, pick n mix with the girls in the middle and you paid at each counter. I remember a girl called Carol that worked on the make-up counter. When the checkouts arrived so did the queues and Woolworths changed as we know it. My daughter Jacquie worked Saturday and Sunday at Woolies, her first job. I collected repairs from Woolworths when I worked at TAM and usually had to wait ages while they found them!
When they opened up the new 'Super Woolworths' in place of Burnden Park I was a bit confused, how could they sustain a huge store with stuff that could be bought at ASDA? Even the selection of toys was dubious. I must admit that I did get some bargains at the new store, like the first video mobile phones which they sold at a giveaway price of £45. I bought a telescope from Woolworths at less than half price and this launched me into the world of Astro-imaging.

I seem to remember that Woolworths were bought by Comet at one stage. Woolies never did get it right in the modern world ...such a pity that the store is closing ...so many memories!

Woolworths were everywhere, in Radcliffe (now Homemakers), in Farnworth and in Walkden. When I worked at Thornley's Butchers in Walkden with my Uncle Tom, when I was about 16, we were quite pally with the manager at Woolworths so when the shops shut on Saturdays Tom would sort him some meat and in return we got as much 'pick n mix' and we wanted! One of the girls I worked with at Thornley's, Gill, came from Woolworths, such a small world!