Location - Bridge Street Warrington (Also has an entrance on Times Square)
Estabilshed - 1914
History - Still owned by the Hancock family to this day, the store has alway been in Bridge Street. The store used to have an arcade at the front, A little shop opened in the nearby village of Stockton Heath in the 1960s
Departments - Cafe, Gifts, Shoes, Hoisery, Lingerie, Young Fashion, Bridal, Hairdressers, Childrenswear, Toys, Handbags, Purses, Umbrellas, Ladies Fashion & Ladies Casual Wear.
Quirks - Nice 1960s/1970s Staircase. Cafe has high ceilings. Brilliant Frontage, with big Flag over the top of the store.
Review
I often visit this store, It is the nearest store to me and I can reguarly be found in the cafe. The store offers great customer service and has a wide selection of goods, meaning that if they have not got it on show, they will usually have it somewhere.
I'm a bit limited when reviewing this store (I'm a man, and it's products are targeted more towards the women.) However it offers some good top quality gifts and homewears. However, many female friends / relatives of all ages buy there underwear from here. I also buy alot of presents from here.
I also love the cafe upstairs, It offers a range of cold / hot meals, drinks and also has the friendly service that is evident in the rest of the store.
Alot of people will remember the arcade at the front of the store. Well this has now gone, but it's attractive facade with canopy, flowers and flagpole is still there and it has nice big widow displays, which compared to the cardboard ones of chainstores, is a nice little find and a rarity these days. It makes you think where has the fun gone from shopping?
It may be viewed by many as an older persons store by outsiders, but it actually has a cult following with younger shoppers too and has recently introduced a young fashion label : Niche.
It's good to know that this family run store is still going from strength to strength and is still competing well, even though it is on the opposite side of town to the new Golden Square. I personally would love this store to move into the old Boots or TJ Hughes and make a larger store with menswear e.t.c. This is probably not going to happen but there's always hopeing.
As for the store as it is, Id give it a top 10/10
Saturday, 17 March 2012
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Store Crawl: Broadbents & Boothroyds (Southport)
Location - Lord Street, Southport (Next Door to Wayfarers Arcade)
Owner - Beales
Est - 1825
History - Broadbents was orignally on Chapel Street (19) in the lavish Victorian unit now occupied by BHS. The store merged with Boothroyds on Lord Street in the 1970s/ early 80s. It got bought out by Owen Owen in the late 1980s and was sold to Beales PLC in 1994. Like other Beales stores, the store offically changed it's name to Beales in 2011. Signage has been put up saying, "formerly Broadbents and Boothroyds". It also has a very fashionable menswear label named after the store.
This nice little Aladdin's cave of a store is situtated on Southports main and famous shopping street, Lord Street. It has a big cosmetics hall, Ladies Fashions, menswear, bags, hoisery and watch repairs on the ground floor. The menswear department is complete with it's own "Broadbents & Boothroyds" fashion range, which I have to say is just as good and up to the minute as any other label. I liked it because I like the fact they are once again using this classic brand to sell menswear. Being in my 20s, I like my clothes to be fashionable, yet it retains that sense of granduer that many menswear brands dont have. I plunged and bought 3 items - I am skint and I don't do clothes shopping, but yep, it made even me buy.
We then went up to the 1st floor - This floor has ladies formal wear, shoes, luggage and lingerie. I must say that nothing here floats my boat, so we went up to the next floor.
This floor has Homewears, a large Cookshop and Toy department, gift store, linens, Towels- need I say more. It also has a restaurant where you can look out on to Lord Street and it's gardens.
The ground floor and First floor has entrances into the famous Wayfarers Arcade - which for those of you who have never been to Southport, this large grand Victorian glazed shopping arcade, has lots of nice indie retailers including Kernaghan Books, Vintage Home and Pudding & Pie Restaurant.
Quirks - It has nice curved staircases, Large Mahognay Shopfront in the Wayfarers and has then doors at the top of the stairs that used to always get when visiting large stores.
All in all, a good store that is very localised for a such a large chain retailer. I just hope it stays that way with Beales constantly expanding. I would be good to see some more nods to the history of the store, prehaps in the restaurant, like House of Fraser have done in Kendals 6th Floor in Manchester.
Owner - Beales
Est - 1825
History - Broadbents was orignally on Chapel Street (19) in the lavish Victorian unit now occupied by BHS. The store merged with Boothroyds on Lord Street in the 1970s/ early 80s. It got bought out by Owen Owen in the late 1980s and was sold to Beales PLC in 1994. Like other Beales stores, the store offically changed it's name to Beales in 2011. Signage has been put up saying, "formerly Broadbents and Boothroyds". It also has a very fashionable menswear label named after the store.
This nice little Aladdin's cave of a store is situtated on Southports main and famous shopping street, Lord Street. It has a big cosmetics hall, Ladies Fashions, menswear, bags, hoisery and watch repairs on the ground floor. The menswear department is complete with it's own "Broadbents & Boothroyds" fashion range, which I have to say is just as good and up to the minute as any other label. I liked it because I like the fact they are once again using this classic brand to sell menswear. Being in my 20s, I like my clothes to be fashionable, yet it retains that sense of granduer that many menswear brands dont have. I plunged and bought 3 items - I am skint and I don't do clothes shopping, but yep, it made even me buy.
We then went up to the 1st floor - This floor has ladies formal wear, shoes, luggage and lingerie. I must say that nothing here floats my boat, so we went up to the next floor.
This floor has Homewears, a large Cookshop and Toy department, gift store, linens, Towels- need I say more. It also has a restaurant where you can look out on to Lord Street and it's gardens.
The ground floor and First floor has entrances into the famous Wayfarers Arcade - which for those of you who have never been to Southport, this large grand Victorian glazed shopping arcade, has lots of nice indie retailers including Kernaghan Books, Vintage Home and Pudding & Pie Restaurant.
Quirks - It has nice curved staircases, Large Mahognay Shopfront in the Wayfarers and has then doors at the top of the stairs that used to always get when visiting large stores.
All in all, a good store that is very localised for a such a large chain retailer. I just hope it stays that way with Beales constantly expanding. I would be good to see some more nods to the history of the store, prehaps in the restaurant, like House of Fraser have done in Kendals 6th Floor in Manchester.
First Blog - Welcome
Dear All,
My name is Ben and I used to work at Lewis's Department Store in Liverpool. I often thought about creating a virtual musuem of this famous store but never really got round to it.
The store's owners (Vergo Retail Ltd) went into administration in 2010 and unfortunatly the store closed. The people who worked there were great and I wish them all the luck in the future.
Although the store is no longer around, I aim to use this blog to share the history of Lewis's and Owen Owen's, as well as sharing with you some of the little gems of stores around and about the North West of England, as well as providing reviews. I aim to create a database of little department stores in the region and if I miss any out I hope you will put me correct.
All the Best & Welcome to my blog
Ben
My name is Ben and I used to work at Lewis's Department Store in Liverpool. I often thought about creating a virtual musuem of this famous store but never really got round to it.
The store's owners (Vergo Retail Ltd) went into administration in 2010 and unfortunatly the store closed. The people who worked there were great and I wish them all the luck in the future.
Although the store is no longer around, I aim to use this blog to share the history of Lewis's and Owen Owen's, as well as sharing with you some of the little gems of stores around and about the North West of England, as well as providing reviews. I aim to create a database of little department stores in the region and if I miss any out I hope you will put me correct.
All the Best & Welcome to my blog
Ben
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