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Rackhams Store

The window displays were usually striking, especially at Christmas. This one from the B’ham Mail archives looks about 1960s. I
loved ski pants - although this scenario probably hinted at Christmas at a ski lodge in the Alps, and not clothes for hanging out with your mates on the street. Viv.

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My wife was briefly a very junior member of the window dressing team, but at the old Rackhams before it became part of House of Fraser in 1960's
 
From the Birmingham Mail archives images.

I remember the lovely window displays
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And the make-up counters - of course

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Never queued for the January sales but plenty of people did
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And if you were well heeled it must have been THE place to buy your wedding dress

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Viv

Although not at all well heeled, I did actually buy my wedding dress from Rackhams! Mind you this was in the '80s so perhaps it had come a bit more down market by then! Nice dress though...

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The window displays were usually striking, especially at Christmas. This one from the B’ham Mail archives looks about 1960s. I
loved ski pants - although this scenario probably hinted at Christmas at a ski lodge in the Alps, and not clothes for hanging out with your mates on the street. Viv.

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As a Christmas temp we were offered overtime to help with the decoration and window displays over a weekend and during the night. I helped, under direction, dress a window with others and have all the Saturday night revellers go past looking at us. It was strange being in such a large store during the night with not many people but we did get have a go on things we would have otherwise not been able to, i.e. some of the the toys, etc.
 
How great to have access to all that stuff Chris. A kid’s (and big kids !) dream. Think I’d have headed straight to the Women’s Dept and tried on all the clothes just for the hell of it.

Viv.
 
Sixty years ago (!) Rackhams store opened its doors. Here’s a guide to what shoppers could expect inside. Quite a store. (Source: extracted for an advert in the Birmingham Post of 30/11/1960 from the British Newspaper Archive). Viv.
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Perhaps the Gay Tray was buffet style. Personally never heard of it. Viv.
in Granby Street, Leicester. 7. Department store coffee shops
As I was growing up in 1960s Birmingham (not Alabama), the big posh department store Rackhams - in a fit of modernity - installed a cafeteria called the Gay Tray. It was very exciting and the trays were indeed very gay - bold florals were key, and all the food was displayed behind little glass doors with chrome knobs. How thrilling to grab a plastic dish of fruit and jelly, put it on your tray and shuffle along towards the the cash desk, sliding your tray along the bars. The other place to eat at Rackhams was the Lilac Room where they served Fork Luncheons - it was extremely formal. No doubt in the fifties, you could have worn a hat at lunch and no-one would have looked twice. Actually I rather miss that - department store restaurants used to have a pleasant stuffiness which is almost impossible to find these days. Cavendish House in Cheltenham served proper afternoon teas, with cucumber sandwiches and starched napkins. Jenners in Edinburgh must have had a great tea room at some time but I arrived too late to experience it.
I
 
I think Rackhams could be intimidating, well at least in the early 1960s it felt that way. The shop was obviously aimed at the discerning. My view of it at the time was a place for older, more ‘conservative’ customers. And of course, if you were young and dressed in the modern fashions, I think it was not the place for you. But as time went by, it woke up to the possibility of the young being potential customers. Viv.
Viv, I think you are exactly right!
 
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