From Blockbuster to Woolworths: The nine high street shops we miss the most

Retailers rise and fall on Britain’s high streets.

What was once a cinema may now be a McDonald’s, while many of our favourite brands have vanished from storefronts.

Some of them were titans of their age, with a nationwide network of branches where generations made memories of weekend shopping trips in our youth.

Here are some you may have forgotten.

Blockbuster

Can you remember a time before streaming services, when deciding what to watch on a Friday night meant trawling through shelves at a Blockbuster store?

Netflix actually started as a by-mail competitor of the DVD rental chain, 22 years after Blockbuster was formed.

Despite being a late starter, Netflix has grown into a streaming giant while Blockbuster closed the last of its UK stores in 2013.

It had had roughly 800 at its peak just a decade before.

C&A

There are still more than 1,000 C&A stores around the world, and you can buy their clothes online.

But the Dutch-born chain called it quits in the UK in 2001 after 89 years in the market, selling some of its 109 stores to Primark.

Its demise in this country came due to competition from rising high street brands, some of which – like Topshop – have also not survived.

Tie Rack

Forged on the most iconic street in British retail – London’s Oxford Street – in 1981, this brand rose to be a chain of more than 300 stores in 31 countries by 2009.

You could find a new tie for your first day in the office, cufflinks for special events, or a last minute Father’s Day present.

But by 2013, the shutters were down for good.

JJB Sports

This store was once as iconic for its hometown of Wigan as owner David Whelan, who went on to buy Wigan Athletic.

Under his control, the brand grew from a single shop on the high street to one of the largest sportswear retailers in the country.

But shares had fallen from a total value of £500million in 2010, to just £1.2million by the time it went bankrupt and its 180 stores closed in 2012.

Mothercare

How many memories were formed by parents buying clothes or prams for their first, second or third children during Mothercare’s 58 years on the high streets?

It was the go-to shop for most parents until the big supermarkets, fast fashion brands and online shopping chipped away at its business.

With baby and children’s clothes available all over the place, it no longer held enough market dominance to keep 150 stores open.

While they closed in 2019, the Mothercare brand survives in products sold by Boots.

Woolworths

Roughly 27,000 jobs were lost when Woolworths closed more than 800 stores in 2009.

It had been trading for just a few months short of 100 years, ever since the New Yorker founder of the American brand opened a store in Liverpool.

Selling anything from sweets to jewellery, and clothes and electronics, it was a convenient one-stop shop for almost anything you needed.

But it just couldn’t survive the financial crash with the low cash reserves and large debts it had accrued.

Laura Ashley

This high street fashion and furniture brand fell victim to the Covid-19 pandemic along with hundreds of other businesses, big and small.

It was the first major retailer to go bust here in 2020, leading to an end of the 67 years of it selling clothing, cushions and curtains as a standalone brand.

But it’s survived on the shelves of hundreds of Next stores, and online, where it continues to be sold.

Wilko

The last 111 of Wilko stores shut their doors for a final time in October last year, sparking memories of days spent pushing trolleys down their aisles.

Its stock of stationery, bedding and even garden tools made it an ideal spot for anyone from young families to students furnishing their flats as they left home for the first time.

For the 10,000 people who worked their, it was a lifeline.

Dixons

Once the leading high street retailer of electronic goods like sat navs, fridges and digital cameras, Dixons ever present sight for nearly 70 years.

But even with 190 stores, it just couldn’t keep up with changes in technology and the demands of the market.

It sold its 190 stores to Currys in 2006, shifting instead to an online store.

At the time, chief executive John Clare said: ‘Some customers will feel nostalgic about the decision and it’s not a decision that we have taken lightly.

‘The high street has become an increasingly challenging environment and the cost of maintaining a presence there has increased, largely through increases in rent and rates.’

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