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When I left school I started work at the Listergate store in 1972 until 1974. It was a great time but very hard work. All the stock was ordered from a warehouse based at Castleton. Every item of a vas

Everybody over the age of about 40 remembers Woolworths on Lister Gate, especially its massive cafeteria, which was bigger than most shops. In the 60s they seemed to have stores all over Nottingh

i remember Woollies down bottom of Hockley mam would take me and sister to Sneinton Market going from City Centre up to Thurland St. then down Hockley passed Wigfalls, (pay rental on Telly set), and i

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I remember my mother used to say big woolworths and little woolworths, little woolworths being in hockley. wasn't woolworths owned by a lady filmstar? and did little woolworths have the shuttle payment thing whereby you would put your payment in a shuttle and it would whizz across the room and then whizz back with your change and reciept. or would that be some other store?

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You are thinking of Barbra Hutton - who was heir to the Woolworth fortune and was, for a short while, married to Cary Grant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Hutton

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DaveN, yes you are quite right, only went in a few times pre birthdays and christmas to choose presents, knew Staddons had a store "the one with the clock that tells you the time" (their advertising slogo) up radford rd.

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When I left school I started work at the Listergate store in 1972 until 1974. It was a great time but very hard work. All the stock was ordered from a warehouse based at Castleton. Every item of a vast range listed individually in large binders like encyclopaedias, a right chore. When it came in it was a constant job to keep the counters full. On my first Christmas, I was put in charge of the Toys, Christmas decorations and cards and record department, talk about chucked in the deep end. Every department had to report sales on selected lines weekly to the buyers and there was rivalry between stores as to who were best.

Another one of our jobs was to catch shoplifters, who were rife. Sometimes it got a bit hairy and on one occasion it took quite a few of us to restrain a huge woman who went beserk. You had to have eyes in your backside, especially with the kids.

 

There was an attempt to modernise the store in 1973 because of Broadmarsh opening and all the wooden counters were cut down by about a foot to look more streamlined. The whole store, done overnight over about a month, by hand. Me and the single store maintenance man, an old Welsh guy, did most of it all by ourselves.

 

It took ages to lock up the front doors at night and one night I missed one. The window cleaners spotted it next morning and reported it to the manager. I got a right going over, but not as much as the guy who lost the store master key, all the locks had to be changed. Every night after the store closed there was a rota for one of us to check every one of the dozens of doors through out the store before the night watchman took over. All the lights were off and we patrolled by torchlight. Huge stockrooms, the cafeterias and kitchens. The rear of the store was old and went up about five storeys, originally an old hotel. Pitch-black, all on your lonesome, spooky wasn't the word.

 

At the end of the day we were all out and into the pubs and clubs. I sometimes wouldn't get home till after two am, only to be back opening up and doing all the mail at 7.30.

 

They were a terrific bunch to work with at Listergate and I left because I didn't want a mandatory move to Wales. Met my wife there too.

 

 

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When I think back, I'm surprised now at the range of stuff you could buy in Woolies in the sixties. The big stores had furniture you could get on the never-never. Food Hall with butchery, fresh fruit and veg and a deli. Big for clothing too, especially kids, the Ladybird range I think.

Whilst it had a cheap and cheerful air, the quality was generally very good. Winfield paint for example, made by a company called McPhersons, was the UK's biggest selling brand. It was as good as Dulux and half the price. I bought a socket set when I worked there and still have it in regular use today, over forty years on.

There aren't too many places nowadays where you can get the same sheer range under one roof. Whilst from the eighties onwards, the company changed dramatically, and not really for the good, I'm sure it was a sad day for many when the company went bust.

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i remember Woollies down bottom of Hockley mam would take me and sister to Sneinton Market going from City Centre up to Thurland St. then down Hockley passed Wigfalls, (pay rental on Telly set), and into Woolworths, always remember getting lost when i was about 5yrs old in there and the staff stood me on top of a counter so mam could see me.

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On 27/04/2013 at 7:42 PM, mick2me said:

Those hits were a budget range record, MFP, 'Music for Pleasure' £0.14/6d.

Were they original artists?

I'm sure the cover 45s were on the Embassy label and most were rubbish.  Does anyone remember the hot salted peanuts they sold in the Listergate store?  Me and my dad took them to the Notts matches and the bag turned translucent from the oil

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Something just popped into my head,saying that the Woolie's in hockley , after it closed, became a second hand car showroom. Or am I getting mixed up with somewhere else?

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