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Rackhams Store

A Sparks said:
That's when they had just demolished the last lovely Georgian houses with a shop on the ground floors, one was Margaret Tregonning's florist and the other was a ladies clothes boutique - just can't recall the name now.
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I was going to ask what the building site was.
 
That model shop was a place a mandatory stopping place for boys - of all ages. :grinning:
I wonder ow many mothers (maybe dad's, aunts or uncles) were persuaded to forget Corporation Street for a short while in order to gaze at the windows display. Those more fortunate (maybe affluent?) got into the place and made a purchase, or someone else did at their request. A visit to the city was never complete without visiting the shop.
 
The 6th and 5th floors are now blocked of so that you cannot go to those floors the death Nell for the store must be on the cards?
 
Radiorails said:
That model shop was a place a mandatory stopping place for boys - of all ages. :grinning:
I wonder ow many mothers (maybe dad's, aunts or uncles) were persuaded to forget Corporation Street for a short while in order to gaze at the windows display. Those more fortunate (maybe affluent?) got into the place and made a purchase, or someone else did at their request. A visit to the city was never complete without visiting the shop.
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A view showing the Model Aerodrome shop on the corner of Cherry Street with Rackhams behind it. The shop had a RAF roundel over the door.
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A Sparks said:
That's when they had just demolished the last lovely Georgian houses with a shop on the ground floors, one was Margaret Tregonning's florist and the other was a ladies clothes boutique - just can't recall the name now.
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Was it Tiffany’s ? Viv.
 
I well remember the Model Aerodrome in the town centre and remember another. It was in Walford Road between Golden Hillock Rd and Stratford Rd. This would have been there in the 1940's, I must have been still playing with lead soldiers. I, bought a lead cowboy, it was all the rage. Horse mounted figures were normally cast as one piece. This cowboy had flexible legs so he could mount and dismount, at least until his legs broke off.

Later I bought a balsa model kit of an Auster aeroplane. It was complete apart from decorating it and I had a go at winding the elastic driven propellor. The plane contracted beyond repair. Boo hoo.
 
Vivienne14 said:
This mural was produced for the Lilac Tree Restaurant in Rackhams in the 1960s. I don't personally remember it having never been in the restaurant. Wonder if it survived the store’s many internal changes since the 60s ? Viv.

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Hi I was Display Manager at the store in its Heyday the 70's and worked in display from 1965 through until 1980's i remember this mural well and had to touch up damage to it on a few occasions. I am in the closing stages of finishing my book all about Rackhams store during this great time of its history and there will be many many photos and stories about the store, the displays, the people and its many features including this....so be patient Vivene all will be revealed.
 
Wendy said:
Thanks Viv I didn't know the connection with Wilkinson & Riddel. My brother worked there in the 60's. I have a book on the history of the company from 1851 to 1951. I will have to look if there is any reference to John Rackham.
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Wendy, Hi my name is John Deeley and i was the display manager at the store in the 70's and worked there from 1965 through to the 80's. i am currently in the closing stages of writing a book all about Rackhams during this period and would love to take a look at your history book of the old company 1851 - 1951 would that be possible ? i am not asking you to part with it, just to meet up so i could take a look, if you have no objections. i wait to hear from you, cheers John.
 
pjmburns said:
Re #32 and #33 - I used to catch the bus (number 12) to college in the early '70s outside Rackhams and loved to see their Christmas window display. I seem to recall they had a theme which ran across all the windows. You knew when it was coming as they covered the windows while the display went up.
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Thats nice to know Janice, that our efforts and very long hours to produce the displays were appreciated. I worked in Display from the mid 1960's through to 1980's and was the display manager there from 73 onwards, so nice to hear it had some impact . cheers john.
 
Welcome John. Your book sounds very interesting. So many of us here remember the store, and especially it’s wonderful window displays. Please keep us updated about the books progress. Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Welcome John. Your book sounds very interesting. So many of us here remember the store, and especially it’s wonderful window displays. Please keep us updated about the books progress. Viv.
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I'll always remember the boiled ham 2/-6p per qtr cut straight off the bone Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
 
Vivienne14 said:
I too don’t remember a wedding department Maria. Probably tucked away for privacy.

I remember the Vidal Sassoon salon very well. Used to get my hair cut there regularly. And it was a very good cut. Hair was always glossy and #leek afterwards. Remember this was before the invention of hair straighteners. Seem to remember it being a really large salon, with many rows of seats. Viv.
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Hi, the Bridal Dept shown was set right back on the Temple Row side on the store on the 2nd floor and very secluded it was too. The background artworks you can see on the stage area shown on the photo above were painted by an American artist called William J Hankinson, who did quite a few different murals in the store during 1959 / 60.....cheers John.
 
JohnWish said:
I well remember the Model Aerodrome in the town centre and remember another. It was in Walford Road between Golden Hillock Rd and Stratford Rd. This would have been there in the 1940's, I must have been still playing with lead soldiers. I, bought a lead cowboy, it was all the rage. Horse mounted figures were normally cast as one piece. This cowboy had flexible legs so he could mount and dismount, at least until his legs broke off.

Later I bought a balsa model kit of an Auster aeroplane. It was complete apart from decorating it and I had a go at winding the elastic driven propellor. The plane contracted beyond repair. Boo hoo.
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Not as bad as my experience john, i bought a big balsa wood glider from this shop once, the sort that took months and months of gluing struts and then tissue and dope, that made you as high as a kite....anyway, finally got to take it for its debut flight and my helpful grandad said well put it in the car and go up the likeys, youll get a good launch from there. It would only just go inside his ford anglia the wingspan was nearly 4 feet, so we got there, stood on this high ridge where they used to go toboganing from and launched her off.... and she went up fantastically and up and up and up and hang on grandad when is she going to come down and where is she going to come down ? Never saw her again, we watched until it was just a faint spec in the sky about to do damage to some real aeroplanes and glided away into neverland.....boo hoo indeed!
 
I went in the House of Fraser store (ex Rackhams) on Corporation Street a week or so back.

I mainly went in there to see what was happening to the store and how it was coping with all their troubles.

I have to say it was rather sad walking round it.

The stairs to the basement were blocked off so you could not go in to the basement.

Also the top two floors were also closed / blocked off.

The ladies hairdressers on the ground floor near the rear entrance had closed and was all boarded off.

But sadly even the floors that were open were almost deserted of customers.

There were plenty of staff standing around but no one to serve.

I saw one male member of staff in the men's clothes section carefully laying out a nice display of shirts and ties, and as I watched I thought of the phrase "tidying up the deckchairs on the Titanic as it was sinking".

Funnily enough my visit was the day before Primark were due to open when they expected 5,000 visitors and I realised that Rackhams / House of Fraser has just not moved with the times.

The whole store reminded me a bit of the comedy show "Are You Being Served", it was so dated.

I spoke to one member of staff about the future plans for the store and he did say an application had gone in to turn part of the store in to a 4 star hotel, and also convert some of it in to apartments. I guess this is why the owner of Sports direct is so interested in it!
 
Guilbert,

The days of the department store were in decline as early as 1970, well before the arrival of internet shopping, though that has finally knocked it on the head. People have certainly got lazy and impatient, and don't want to travel up 4, 5, or 6 floors in the hope of finding what they want. Bournemouth, for instance, has lost four department stores in recent years and the last two are teetering on the edge, one of those two now in the hands of House of Fraser. Department stores are a non-viable trading model, with low profit margins compared to ground floor shops.

I also wondered why such stores always put a cafeteria/restaurant on the very top floor when the whole area is riddled with eating establishments! In my day Rackhams had painos on the top floor, but if I was spending umpteen thousand pounds on a piano, I certainly wouldn't have gone to middlemen like them!

A 4-star hotel surely demands parking space in house, that you don't have to provide for likes of Travelodge and Premier Inns. And does Brum need yet another 4-star hotel? From my own observations I would say that most people in retail simply don't do their homework.

Maurice
 
sospiri said:
A 4-star hotel surely demands parking space in house, that you don't have to provide for likes of Travelodge and Premier Inns. And does Brum need yet another 4-star hotel?
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Most of the hotels in the city centre don't have their own parking, though many have "deals" with local NCP car parks or similar.

And I think a 4 star city centre hotel right opposite the cathedral (the hotel is due to face the cathedral square) will be very popular.

Mind you the Grand Hotel which is on Colmore Row and is currently being refurbished is also due to open as a hotel (4 star or maybe 5 star) though I believe at present no company has announced they will take it over.

There has been a huge growth in the number of hotels (and serviced apartments) in Birmingham in the last few years, as Birmingham has become a popular place for people to visit to go shopping or to go to the nightclubs on Broad Street, or to go to events at Arena Birmingham (ex NIA), the Symphony hall, Hippdrome etc.

In fact I saw on the internet some hotels are offering a "Primark and Hotel" package for people who want to come to Birmingham to visit the new Primark. And while it may be easy to be snobbish, if people come to the city and spend their money that can only be a good thing for the city.
 
The Birmingham Co-Op grocery stores often had them. They radiated from a central cash office to parts of the shop. It was a boon for women shopping on their low budgets - quite common of course. They could keep within the money they had; unlike today's impulse shopping in supermarkets which can soon fill trolleys with consequent overspend!
 
Vivienne14 said:
This may have been posted before but I like it as it shows the pre-Corporation Street store (corner of Bull St/Temple Row) and it has lots of material displayed in the window.
I wonder if that’s because people were still making their own garments in the 1950s, and/or was it because Rackhams had their own tailors in store ? Ironically Burton’s Tailors High Street Art Deco building can be seen to the left. Viv.

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Hi Viviene, there seems to be some interest with the extent of the original Rackhams, which was in fact a site owned and traded as Wilkinson and Riddell until 1881, when they retired to concentrate on their wholesale business and John Rackham the dress fabirc buyer and William Mathews the linen buyer took it over and ran it as Rackham and Mathews, until William Mathews retired in 1888, when it then became known as Rackham and Co and some time later Rackhams.
Even though the Rackhams store as shown on the photo you posted covered an area down Bull Street and up Temple Row up to The Great Western Arcade, the overal site owned by Wilkinson and Riddell was much larger, as you will see from this old layout plan (attached ) of their empire. As for the somewhat amusing comments about goings on " at the Back of Rackhams" this all stemmed from the Olde Royal Hotel ( see other two attached pics ) The place started out very important once with even Royalty staying there in the late 1700's and early 1800's.....but alas by the 1900's the hotel was as the historians put it a house of ill repute and carried on like this right up to when we demolished it for phase Seven of our New Store build program in the late 1960's. So hopefully this will answer some questions many are asking about the layout and exactly the extent of the site. cheers John. ps. just come across another document which may be of interest to some, why the streets around Rackhams were so named.....( attached pic )
 

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  • Plan of Freehold and Leasehold properties owned by Wilkinson & Riddell.JPG
    Plan of Freehold and Leasehold properties owned by Wilkinson & Riddell.JPG
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  • the Olde Royal Hotel in Temple Row.JPG
    the Olde Royal Hotel in Temple Row.JPG
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  • The Olde Royal Hotel.jpg
    The Olde Royal Hotel.jpg
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  • The Olde Royal gone and with it the house of ill repute.jpg
    The Olde Royal gone and with it the house of ill repute.jpg
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Hi, Maybe, but i have to admit i dont know it.
This type of Window and shop frontages using quite thin wooden glazing bars and curved glass was very popular througout the Victorian and indeed Edwardian periods. There was a shop in Llandudno, North Wales, called "Clares" i remember, right up to 20 yrs ago, still had one of these Victorian shop fronts intact. Dont know if it still does?.....Maybe. There is another shop i know of that has a very similar one in Evesham, Worcestershire, almost opposite the black and white tudor bank. It sells toys and gifts and model cars and antiques, a real blast from the past, with the same huge curved glass windows.....worth going there, just to see the store frontage.......byeeee john.
 
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