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More about Woolworths

I stumbled across this forum by chance and was interested in the list of store numbers as I had forgotten that Selly Oak was 655. Woolworths Selly oak was my first job when I left school in 1968. I worked in the office as a junior then the Cashier left after only a few months so I took over her role until I left in 1971. I loved working there but disliked the inventories just after Christmas. Everyone had to muck in; it was a long job and it was so cold in the stockroom. Selly Oak went a long time ago - not sure what date. The building is still there and last time I went past it was a general food store.
 
The latest edition of the memorabilia newspaper "Black Country Bugle" (8 Jan,2009) has a full-page feature on the history of Woolworths in the West Midlands, and a 1950's B/W photo of the store in its respective main street in Walsall.

The Bugle does have a website, but this article may be a newspaper-only feature.
 
Thanks for that Bugle reference ... I don't always see it.
Woolies in Park Street Walsall .... I was Deputy Manager there in 1968.
 
This is my first post on here and i'm not sure which category it should fall under.......

I live just on the border of Sandwell and Birmingham, at the back of where the great M&B Brewery used to be (before they knocked it down to build a massive sand pit).After having recentley demolished my shed in the back garden I found 5 panes (?) of window glass, 2 of which have a W printed on them. I am curious to know where they came from and what history they may have. I have contacted the Black Country Museum, but have had no response. If anyone knows anything about them, then I would be interested in finding out.





If this post is better suited to a different section of the forum then I hope the powers that be can relocated it there.

Cheers

Hobo
 
Wow

Thankyou very much too everyone who had a look, shared their thoughts etc....
I did spend the majority of yesterday searching Wilkinsons Blades shop windows but to no avail (obviously).
That find is stunning and I can now see where each individual pane(?) fits.
The next question I suppose is.... what do i do with them ? Owning to the history and recent demise of our beloved Woolies it would be a shame to see them thrown away. Any ideas ?

thanks again

hobo
 
My advice to you is , put them on E-bay with a starting price of £50 and collect only, as postage may not be practical.
There is a lot of interest in Woolies stuff at the moment.
 
Good luck with Ebay ...again goes to reinforce what we have said about this forum.. people always willing to help ... with answers :)and also maybe? to keep what we think could be junk ..just goes to show :D
 
Its amazing what you find when you demolish your garden shed.

Thanks to all on the forum for helping me identify what these actually where from.

hobo
 
My Mother in Law worked in Wollies...
she always talks about it "the good old days" " when I worked at Woollies..." " they cost...... when I was at Wollies" you know the rest..

does anyone remember her?

I will pass on, if you do

Barbara Spooner / Parry
not sure which branch, but will find out.
 
Just typical i need 2mtrs of chain,could have popped to woolies and bought it of a roll for about £2.50. Been to focus,£5.99 for a pre packed 2mtr lenth. Personley i would have bailed out Woolies instead of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
 
Drove past the Woolies that was in Hawthorn road the other day and it is now going to become a Tesco Express. Jean.
 
I had a good look at the Woolworth's uk site today. Not bad at all. They don't sell all the things they used to though.

You can find the site at Woolworth's.co.uk
 
woolies was one of those shops where you know you could get almost anything, the one in northfield has reopened as a furniture store, still has some of the old fixtures and fittings, very sad
 
In Reading everything may be coming full circle. Our woolworths is apparently going to be reopened as a branch of Clas Ohlson, a danish ( I think) firm that at present has only a branch in croydon but is expanding. It seems to sell a broad range of products - art supplies, household, rope, heating,hooks, screws, toys, electrical etc etc.at reasonable prices (so the web site says). That used to be the sort of thing woolworths did before the accountants convinced them it wasn't profitable
Mike
 
Hi

Well went to Evesham with Brenda today to see the
new Woolworths. great to have it back I hope the
staff who opened it do well.
Still limping around everywhere got my ankle a bit
better but now my big toe in the foot has snapped.
I supose its all the limping around.

Mike jenks
 
I was a stockroom lad at Coventry Road 338 I think in 1958 or 59.I was besotted and extremely shy with the window dresser who lived not far away. After a while BDO sent me to Coventry 123 for my first job as a floorman. Remained there for several happy years.
 
Zicksby is this your post?. Len. Here's a link to a scan from the New Bond (FWW house journal) about the opening of Sheldon in 1969 after modernisation and extension.
[ame="[URL]https://www.flickr.com/photos/ziksby/3159536589/[/URL]"]sheldon on Flickr - Photo Sharing!@@AMEPARAM@@https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3091/3159536589_370ef6d275.jpg?v=0@@AMEPARAM@@315953658 9@@AMEPARAM@@370ef6d275[/ame]
And this is a photo of my own taken in Skegness in the summer of 1964 when I was on seasonal duty for 4 months having been transferred from Kidderminster. .... I have a Skegness cinema photo somewhere advertising the Beatles film. So here is Woolworth Skegness (Store 313, a number previously held by a London store bombed twice during the Blitz)
[ame="[URL]https://www.flickr.com/photos/ziksby/3160369470/[/URL]"]Skegness1964 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!@@AMEPARAM@@https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3103/3160369470_0f9b57e832.jpg?v=0@@AMEPARAM@@316036947 0@@AMEPARAM@@0f9b57e832[/ame]
 
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I worked in Woolworth in the Bull Ring,my first job when i left school,i worked there for a few weeks before leaving school as a
Saturday job,i worked on the sweet counter,ground floor you weren't allowed to sit down even if you had no customers,you had to make yourself look busy,believe me there is only so much tidying you can do to sweets,1966
 
I worked as a Trainee Manager for FWW in the early 1960`s. What a great training scheme, right from sweeping the warehouse floor through to Management. I started at Worcester 65, a super 2 storey store. The manager (who was always called `Sir` at FWW) was Andy Grey, a Yorkshireman renown for his thrift. He had a Sunbeam Alpine sports car, and a wife who only just fitted in it ! We had about 6 trainees (floorwalkers to some) and we worked hard but played hard too. Your first Department was an honour (mine was Fruit and Veg) and more Departments were added as your experience grew. We relied heavily on the experienced Counter Supervisors for guidence, and we progressed via Assistant Manager and Deputy Manager to Pro Tem manager covering holiday relief at another branch. I think we would have done anything such was the loyalty. The company`s worst aspect was the movement of Trainees around the country at the drop of a hat, no stability you see.
 
I was a "Saturday girl" at Woolworths at Aston Cross. Initially I worked on the broken biscuits stall - the ends of my fingers were yuk! Then I got promoted to "Electricals" but I had difficulty reaching the thing we had to plug bulbs into for testing! So then I was moved to Ladies Nickers! Finally, I had to stock the grocery shelves. Oh dear me. I was so shocked at seeing the children shop lifting - poor little sods. I was paid 15 shillings each Saturday and thought I was so well off! Years later I was friends with the wife of a Woolworths Manager - what a giggle we had!
 
Angela I was too. I began on the washing powder counter and ended up sneezing all the way home and they put me on the top counter the next week where ribbons etc were sold. I worked some time during the school holiday too. Maybe we were there at the same time?. Jean.
 
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