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Lewis's Department Store

I remember going to lewis,s with my sister maralyn to visit the real father christmas, and wondering with awe at the presents and the holly grotto. my mom & dad who could hardly offord to eat wide eyed with antisipation for us. I remember it as if yesterday and it is now some 55 yrs ago!!
paul stacey
 
Paul - I loved the Christmas Grotto and nothing has ever seemed the same since even the wonderful windows here in Toronto. I loved going to the roof garden when it was there as well.
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Mo
 
Yes Lewis's was a wonderful shop, but Grey's doesn't get mentioned a lot. I liked Grey's too.
 
Grey's always seemed darker and quieter for some reason but I shopped there for coats and things like that. I probably went into Lewis's more as I liked the food court, when I worked at the General Hospital. Mo
 
Yes, it was darker and quieter in Grey's. Are you talking about the early 1960's. I used to go to Grey's to buy knitting wool on the skein. For a coat I would have gone to Lewis's or C & A.
 
Has anyone mentioned "pets corner",and also the food hall,they had a variety of food that other places didn't have.
 
I too remember Lewis's various departments, particularly the fish department and the pet shop. I used to meet my friend on a Saturday evening outside the store, there was a hot potato man on the opposite corner. Greys was more sedate and a bit old fashioned. A lot of the night service buses used to start from outside Greys. I still have a fur collar I purchased from them 45 years ago! If Rackhams was snooty, its predecessor, Marshall & Snelgrove was even snootier. Is Wallis still in Corporation street - I bought a Jackie Onassis style coat there in the early 60s.
 
Lewis's was part of my childhood. I have so many memories - from seeing Father Christmas and queuing up the staircase several floors to get there and go into the magical grotto, but that was before it was stopped because someone fell down the stairwell. There was the children's hairdressing department with the animals to sit on to have your hair cut, the zoo where my sister had her photo taken with the lions, the fabric department where I bought many lengths of material to make into dresses when I was older, the make up department where my auntie used to work, and which later, in the 1960s, I would visit most Saturdays, and then the cafe/ice cream bar in the basement where they would made knickerbocker glories - a forbidden occasional treat!

Greys was more old fashioned, and me and my friends would buy stockings there for about 2 shillings a pack (10p) in the days before tights, and I remember buying glitter for my hair which I wore to go dancing on a Saturday night to the Adelphi in West Bromwich.

Rackhams - there was a small Rackhams store opposite Lewis's before the one in Corporation Street. This was it on the corner of the Windsor Arcade, or Temple Street? I'm not sure, but I bought a lovely coat from there when I was about 19.

Marshall & Snelgrove was the very upmarket shop. I went there for a make-up lesson when I was about 16 years old, and worked around the corner in Corporation Street at Queens Chambers (?)

Wallis - now I used to go there EVERY Saturday and buy something new to wear on a Saturday night at the Locarno. If I couldn't get it at Wallis, I would go to C&A where I often found copies of the same clothes.

And do you remember the Chanel shop in New Street? They had some great clothes! We used to buy their little angora dresses for about £3 a time - but in those days that was half our wages!

Judy
 
I had my first 'grown up' dress from Wallis's. I felt that I had made it into the adult world. Gosh those shops were great weren't they? C & A was one of my favourites, also as Judy said to buy a dress for Saturday night. Wages weren't great them, but there always seemed enough for a new dress. I used to get fab stiletto heeled shoes on Spring Hill at Curtis's, suede of course, plus the black seamed stocking's in a size 8, not one size fit's all in those days. I used to get both for under £5. Lovely memories.
 
Lewis's seemed to have everything. They even had a branch of Martins Bank, in the store. I used it to save a deposit towards a mortgage.
 
Hi Judy
I used to go to Chanel at the top of New Street to buy my dresses and coats and they were fabulous. No one else had anything like them. I dont know how I afforded it on my salary as a shorthand typist in the Council House but I did. When I look at the price of a Chanel jacket now its nearly a years salary.

Marshall and Snelgrove was a lovely shop and my boss once took me to afternoon tea there. I was a young girl from Alum Rock who had never been anywhere like it before and it was amazing. Whilst we ate cucumber sandwiches and scones, they mannequins were wandering round the restaurant modelling the latest creations. Such a sham it had to close down when Rackhams came along.
Wendy
 
Lewis's had a travel agents and my friend and I booked our first holiday abroad there for 2 weeks in Rimini, Italy, for £43 full board!! That was in 1960. We went again next year to Spain for £45. also booked thro Lewis's. There werent many travel agents around then.
 
Thanks David. I remember you putting the maps on a while ago, and they are really fascinating to look at. I had forgotten that one showed this area, and see that it shows the old Rackhams shop on the corner of Temple Row, opposite Lewis's. The map is full of such detail and so interesting.

Judy
 
Lewis's Toy Fair and the bestest grotto in the world cus the real Father Christmas was at Lewis's not tlike the imposter at the Co-op...Remember the great arrival of the man himself? touring the inner city suburbs before arriving at the store. I also remember going 'up town' at night just to see the Christmas lights and the big Father Christmas and Sleigh on the front of the store not tom mention queuing for ages on the back stairs just to get to see him and of course his sidekick Uncle Holly....happy innocent days
 
I worked at Lewis's for summer holiday's in 1971 and 1972 at ages 16 and 17 respectively.

I loved it. The first time I was in the DIY section where, just like in "Are you being served", our departmental manager was a retired Army Captain who used to gather us around for information sessions, pep talks and rollockings.

Then I worked in the mens wear (shirts and ties) section. I loved helping people find what they wanted - especially when they were looking for presents. They were so pleased.

We had a great staff canteen. A rest room that we could use to get your feet up and have a snooze and staff discount.

The bosses offices had a board room with chandelier. That resolved me to study to go into management when I left school.

When I first joined you had a days induction in cash management, using the tills, customer service etc. We would go out at luchtime to have a (underage) beer at the Cabin pub.

As a child I loved going to Santa's Grotto. The best there was and no Christmas was complete without a visit.
 
This is a photo of my cousin Jill with the monkey and her sister Ann at Lewis's. Jean.
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I hate to admit this, but my wedding dress was a copy of one I loved in Lewis's. I tried it on, Mom drew it and the dress maker measured it. Then we put it back on the rail and went and had a coffee. The dress was in 1969 £25 the copy I wore was £11. Sorry Lewis's you lost a sale that day.
 
sga said:
Not wishing to bring Xmas back, just yet, but talk of Lewis.‚.’s department store bought back memories of queuing up those 6 flights of stairs for what seemed hours and to be greeted by Uncle Holly at the top and then going into the Grotto to meet the REAL Father Christmas
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I remember visiting Lewis`s early 60`s`s christmas time with my aunty and a friend looking in awe at all the wonderful toys we could`nt afford to buy. But we were taken in one year to see Father christmas and to this day all i remember from that visit was uncle Holly, wearing a badge with his face on it and the gift if i remember correctly from that visit was a picture of freddie garrity of freddie and the dreamers on a piece of cardboard and you were able to get do his dance by pulling strings. I wonder if anyone else recieved such a gift.
 
When I was about 11 I developed an interest in archery, and my mother took me to Lewis's and bought me a Slazenger Archery Set - a 4' bow, 6 arrows, and a few other necessary items. A couple of days later the bow broke and we took it back. You'd have thought the end of the world had come - the staff couldn't have been more concerned and helpful, and to cut a long story short I ended up with a new 4'6" bow as they hadn't a replacement 4' one. I joined a club at Beacon School and became quite proficient.

Big Gee
 
I think we will all agree that Lewis's customer care and range of goods has yet to be equalled - that said, I doubt anyone could afford to run a store like that these days.
A visit to 'Town' was not complete without a visit to Lewis's.
 
Anything 'big' that my parents bought - like a cooker, a fridge, a TV, carpets, whatever - came from Lewis's, even though the same articles could be bought cheaper at, for example, Curry's. My dad had this big thing about the service you got at Lewis's, and I think he was dead right.
It was a sad day for Brum when Lewis's closed.

Big Gee
 
great stuff,i had a bow from them too.they told my dad to keep it soaked in linseed oil.to keep it flexible.dad mad the arrows from dowling and birds feathers,being a brass caster he made nice shiny heads on them.it was very powerfull.it would shoot trough a fridge door ,so he broke the arrows up.and i had to stick with the shop ones,
 
mw0njm said:
great stuff,i had a bow from them too.they told my dad to keep it soaked in linseed oil.to keep it flexible.dad mad the arrows from dowling and birds feathers,being a brass caster he made nice shiny heads on them.it was very powerfull.it would shoot trough a fridge door ,so he broke the arrows up.and i had to stick with the shop ones,
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I take it that the 'fridge door' it would shoot through was the operable fridge in your kitchen....

Big Gee
 
How strange !! two people with memories of having had an archery bow from Lewis's ! I pestered my dad for one as a birthday present in 1962 when I reached the grand old age of 9. Richard Greene used to be on the telly in those days in the 'Robin Hood' series and the programme intro had him drawing his bow and firing an arrow into the trunk of a tree - Badoinnnnnng !!!! I had visions of being able to do the same and as soon as I got the bow ( and two arrows ) I set off from Lozells on the 33 to Perry Barr Park. Imagine my dismay when the arrows merely bounced off the trees LOL - of course they were only intended for proper straw archery targets. Ahhh, the disappointments we endure as children !!!
 
I recall Lewis's had an underground entrance for contractors to pick up and deliver Tv and Audio goods at Dale End, or was it Greys?
 
Kevkonk said:
I recall Lewis's had an underground entrance for contractors to pick up and deliver Tv and Audio goods at Dale End, or was it Greys?
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Kev this is a new one to me Dale end was quite a way from Lewis,s and Greys was even farther away but i do recall a loading bay that was constructed in the 60s-70s i9nthat area. Dek
 
there was an entrance to Lewis's sub basement that was used for sending out the rubbish and bales of waste paper from the paper / card baling machine that was operated by Len Ashman, this went underneath Corporation Street and exited at the rear of the Stork Hotel opposite, can't just remember what the name of the little road was off the lower Priory which ran down the side of the Stork Hotel and the Kings Hall Market on the other corner, I thinkthe entrance could also have been used for sending the customers deliveries from the parcels office on the trunkers (3 wheel Scammel trucks like the railways used) that used to traverse from the department store to the Tyburn Road Depot for the big vans to deliver to customers houses.
 
It is entirely possible that there was an access from Dale End to Lewis's as there were access tunnels all over the city at one time. One that I knew and used often was in Moor St at the back of the Old Co op buildings. it ran from moor St to Corporation St. I used it often to gain work access to the tax offices in Union St when we stripped out the Tax Inspectors dining rooms and Club.

Phil
 
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