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Lewis's Department Store

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kandor
  • Start date Start date
They certainly liked their corner plots for their stores.

An extract from a newspaper article pondering the qualities of the new Birmingham Miss Selfridge. Viv.

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Eric
I think the Bristol store was John Lewis, a different firm, though I am not absolutely certain about that
 
No mick it was Lewis's the same as the Brum one (I was a regular visitor there) until they bit the dust, the John Lewis Partnership in Bristol came later with the Cribbs Causeway Mall out of town development.
 
Eric Gibson said:
No mick it was Lewis's the same as the Brum one (I was a regular visitor there) until they bit the dust, the John Lewis Partnership in Bristol came later with the Cribbs Causeway Mall out of town development.
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Eric
In John Lewis Bristol today and talking to one of the older members of staff, he confirmed he had worked at Broadmead and the store had been the John Lewis group.
Bob
 
I think what happened was that the original Lewis's Group got into financial woes and there was a management and staff buy out, it was then re-launched as the John Lewis Partnership.
They then could not make the Bristol branch work profitably and when the out of town Cribbs Causeway shopping Mall was developed they joined with Marks & Spencer as the two anchor businesses around which all the smaller businesses were gathered and sold off the inner city unit to Bentalls. (I've shopped in them all many times over the years.)
 
The Bristol store rarely gets a mention in most of the 'histories' Mike and there are many differing histories about depending on the source.
 
There is no connection between John Lewis and Lewis's
John Lewis opened his store in Oxford Street London in 1864
David Lewis opened the first Lewis's store in Liverpool in 1856

It is a pure coincidence that the Bristol city centre store was owned at different times by Lewis's and John Lewis.
 
Wow!
Great photos, I don't remember ever seeing a photo of the old Lewis's before, in fact I didn't realise there had been a previous store.
 
I reckon the chapel-like building in the third from last photo must be the old Friends meeting house
 
Yes I wondered about that too Mike. Looks like the end of the chapel was affected by the new building. Presumably it was repaired. Or was it rebuilt ? It doesn’t look like the one that’s there today. Seem to remember a discussion about this somewhere else and I vaguely remember it being rebuilt, although can’t recall date. Viv.
 
It was rebuilt about the same time. I seem to remember that the dat egiven for rebuild wa s1933, but cannot swear to that. However Have just found a photo of the meeting house , and it is completely different. However there was a sunday school nearby, so maybe it was that building in the photo.

Friends' Meeting House.jpgFriends' Meeting House.jpgmap c 1889 showing sunday school and site of Lewis's.jpg
 
The building behind the Meeting House in the RIBA pix looks like the building in the Lewis’s photo. I now remember the graves associated with the Meeting House were removed too. Must look up the Meeting house thread, it might have more info. Viv.
 
I would just like to go on record to say I had my photo took with Santa at Lewis's 1953 . I did look sweet my little overcoat and a full shoulder balaclava , what a dude
 
The old Lewis’s building to the right in 1912. This must be the earlier building (before the 1930s re-build shown in earlier posts). I’ve seen this image several times but hadn’t fully appreciated this was the earlier shop. It was re-built in a slightly different position, but still with some of the replacement building on Corporation Street. Viv.

CE23CB2E-31D3-4391-BA54-DB543FA3A4D5.jpeg
 
Viv, I can't quite place the position of the shop as I would have expected Bull Street to be showing obviously next to the store.
 
As far as I can make out David, the replacement building was built behind this one, still with a footprint onto Corporation Street. So the new building must have been further down Corporation Street (if looking towards New Street) as the new building was erected before the old building was demolished. Think maybe we need a map on this one. Viv.
 
Surprised women war workers bought their own clothes - or were they given an grant of some sort ? Viv.
 

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Lewis’s could provide much for men too but these items are less uniform-related and more comfort/luxury items. Advert dated September 1914 and specifically aimed at the Birmingham Battalions. Viv.
 

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War workers were civilians not service personnel so like all workers would have had to buy their own clothing.

I presume that the advert aimed at the members of the Birmingham Battalions were 'extras' that a soldier might need.
 
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