Woolies

[poliphilo]

Woolworths has gone into receivership. The news shocked me slightly.  It had always been there. It was a fixture of the British high street.  Not that I'm sorry- except for the staff, for whom its a bummer- because I never loved it.  I had my reasons. One reason is I'm a snob, another is I don't like my shops brassy, ugly and fluorescent and a third is that in 1959 one of their shop assistants grabbed me,  told me I looked a mess, straightened my collar and rolled my sleeves up neatly- and if there's one thing I hate it's being fussed over by mother hens.  Ailz's pa says it's her fault for doing all her shopping online and- while we've never ever done our real-life shopping at Woolies so can't be accused of deserting it- he does have  a sort of a point. Woolies is the lazy store, the one that that refused to move with the times. It was the prototype of both the budget shop and the supermarket, but stayed exactly where it was- continuing to offer the mid-century shopping experience- cheap, cheaper, cheapest- whilst the fully-evolved budget shops and supermarkets under-cut and outstripped it.  When you think about it ,"The wonder of Woolies" (remember that slogan?) is that it lasted as long as it did .

Comments

[mummm.livejournal.com]

Our Woolworth stores have been gone for a long time. The company eventually became K-Mart.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We're waiting to see if anyone will take over the British Woolworths. At the moment it seems unlikely. There are huge debts.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately that is happening to MANY companies over here. :^(

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

And here too. Woolworths is simply the best known- a household name, in fact.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Actually, it was Kresge's, another five and dime store chain, that become K-Mart. Kresge's did well with its metamorphosis. The K-Mart stores are much bigger, something like the old intown Boston Woolie's. Lots of variety, low prices, even a lunch counter. However, now they are located in malls rather than in the center of town.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

I believe that Kresge's bought out Woolworth's.