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Moor Street Warehouse

Michael_Ingram

Michael_Ingram

gone but not forgotten
When I was young we lived next door to Rudhall's grocer's shop that also sold some drapery. When I was very young Mom would take me with Mrs Rudhall to 'The Warehouse'. It was a department store somewhere in the centre of town which, I assume now, was a wholesale wharehouse. Can anyone suggest what the shop was called and where it was please?
 
Would that have been Moor Street Warehouse. I am sure I was there a few times but can't remember a thing about it.
 
You can just see Moor Street warehouse in the background next to the station.

pmc1947

CityMoorSt2-1.jpg
 
What a nice picture, PMC! It must be from around 1950 (trolleybuses went 1951, the livery dates after 1948). I remember Moor St Warehouse as where I chose my first electric train, in (I think) Christmas 1939. On reflection, it wasn't so much what I chose as what I was told I could have, but it was part of the magic of Christmas to me - then aged six - and I still remember it.
Peter
 
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I recently bought two coathangers marked 'Moor Street Warehouse', they're nice old wooden ones. Obviously the warehouse was in Moor Street, next to the station, but now long gone. There are a few images of the warehouse around which all suggest furnishings for the home. So where do the coathangers come in to the story? To place inside wardrobes for sale? As shop fittings? Did they ever sell clothes? Or have I been stung? Viv.
 

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Viv
Presumably they concentrated more on furnishings, but did other things also. From the 1945 Kellys:
MOOR STREET WAREHOUSE CO. drapers, outfitters, clothiers, house furnishers , & linoleumdealers & layers, & boot & shoe dealers; 28 to 31 Moorstreet
4/ T N- Midland 2656 (6 lines) (Private Branch Exchange),
 
I am sure I remember going there with my parents in the early fifties to look for a new 3-piece-suite. The thing I can recall is that wonderful (to me) new carpet smell. I can't, however, remember if we bought anything or not. Will have to ask my dad if he knows!

Janice
 
Thanks Mike, so I probably haven't been stung. That's nice to know. I really like the hangers.


Janice, I know what you mean about new carpet (and in those days a new carpet was a major purchase). I don't remember the Warehouse at all, think it was demolished as part of the ring road development - must have been around the 1960s. Viv.
 
I've just been to find mine! The hanger part is rusty and the wood is quite rough but I like it! I have others from different places such as Cape Hill, but I don't use them as they are quite rusty too.
rosie.
 
I have just asked my Dad and they certainly sold clothes - in his words "my Mom was an addict for their clothes" - so I gather my Gran bought clothes there when she could. I assume that is why they had hangers. He can't remember what we bought, if anything, when I was with them.

Janice
 
rosie said:
I've just been to find mine! The hanger part is rusty and the wood is quite rough but I like it! I have others from different places such as Cape Hill, but I don't use them as they are quite rusty too.
rosie.
Click to expand...

thats smashing rosie...its nice to have a little bit of brum history hanging around the home..(please excuse the pun lol)

lyn
 
I'm not sure why I bought the vintage hangers in the first place as I don't collect them. But the Moor Street name and usefulness of them jumped out at me. Old wooden hangers are certainly a nicer object than modern wire or plastic. Rosie, the wood is quite rough on my two hangers, so I guess they knocked 'em out quite cheaply. And maybe they were a little selling point, e.g. if you bought a suit/ dress/coat, then the hanger came with it FREE! Viv.
 
I have a similar hanger from The New Victoria Hotel . This was in Corporation St and my Dad was the head waiter there from it's opening in c1946 until the mid to late 1950's.
I would say they were a very cheap product that were expected to be souvenired.
Cheers Tim
 
Hi Tim. Having now had another look at similar items I think they might have been an advertising tool which came from America. There seems to be a lot of these vintage hangers advertising US dry cleaners, hotels, clothes stores etc. So maybe Moor Street Warehouse was bringing in a modern approach to its advertising. Moor Street seem to have gone to a lot of trouble to advertise much further afield too, shown in the colour photo in post #1 where they're advertising furniture for new homes in the suburbs. Also, they used slogans in their advertising in the first photo where "£1 is worth 24 shillings" ( For younger members £1 was equal to 20 shillings). This all suggests to me a pretty vigorous advertising approach on the part of Moor Street Warehouse. Viv.
 
The name Moor Street Warehouse is/was confusing: it was a retail department store owned and run by members of a family named Norton. Both my parents worked there. The shop was situated between the original frontage of Moor Street Station and the point at which the railway tunnel from Snow Hill emerges - the location has now been incorporated into the railway station. The shop closed in the mid-1960s. My understanding is that trade declined when the shop was isolated from the rest of the central shopping area by the building of the inner ring road: and in competition with the new department stores being opened in the city centre Moor Street Warehouse, (which toward the end was re-branded Norton's of Moor Street), was regarded as very old-fashioned. I too have a couple of coat hangers and a few other items of memorabilia.
 
Thank you for the information Roger. I can see now that the ring road would have had severe consequences for the business. Surprised it kept going until the mid-60s. And such a big site too. If you have photos of other memorabilia and can post photos I'd love to see it. Thanks. Viv.
 
A nice addition to the thread Roger, thanks. As there's different printing styles/sizes/fonts etc on the hangers, they must have had the coat hangers produced at different times. Viv.
 
It is surprising how many names, many from old, no longer existing companies, on coat hangers etc. that are handed in with clothing to charity shops and jumble sales. Great memorabilia!

As far as the subject of the thread is concerned I have to say that I passed by it many times when leaving and entering Moor Street station. It was not, however somewhere we shopped: usually Edward Grey or the Lewis store opposite were our usual calls.
 
Yes Alan. And they're useful too!

A couple of images from Phyllis Nicklin taken in 1959. Viv.

image.jpegimage.jpeg
 
I found one of these coat hangers in my wardrobe. I guess my mum must have bought an item of clothing in the moor st warehouse in the 1950's or later. It is quite roughly made and I guess it was free with an item of clothing. I notice that a couple of online sales sites are trying to sell them at up to £14 each.

My guess is that these coat hangers are probably in wardrobes in places within a 1950's bus or train ride to Brum. A good sort through lofts in Kidderminster, Bromsgrove etc would probably turn up loads of them. All I know is that my mum would never have imagined that someone would try and sell one for £14!
 
Welcome Brian. That's an interesting point. A nice reminder of times gone by. I can't see the wire coat hangers given away with dry cleaning these days having the same value in the future. Hope you enjoy the forum. Viv.
 
Viv the wire hangers may not have much value as such but I've used bits of them for doing some very odd jobs !
Cheers Tim .
 
A copper at Longbridge police station showed me how to use a wire hanger to get into my car when I locked the keys in it with the ngine running
 
I remember going to Moor Street Warehouse, both with my parents, and with my trainspotting mates whilst we were waiting for a train to go to any of the stations between there and Stratford. It was a case of what we could afford for a return ticket! The Warehouse was a hive of all sorts of items including furniture, clothes, and the interesting one for us kids - toys - spread over about four floors IIRC.

Maurice
 
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