[Closed] 1970's 80's Supermarkets

Oh yes, i do remember them. Never decent cartoons either.

Pricerite? where did they go?

I can't remember them

I remember Fine Fare though

yeah I remember them. im sure they had them in Presto 8)

70s/80s supermarkets? Cordon Bleu ... didn't they become Iceland?

didn't have tv until 11 so that sort of thing totally out of the question.

the local Wavy line didn't have one

The Naafi was our local shop, are they still on the go?

Presto. Jeeze...

I remember in Co-Op they had old mechanical tills, same as Caters which was bigger, then Caters closed down and Presto's opened and had the new electronic ones. Which use to go wrong quite often. But they used to have a wet fish counter and all the meat you had to buy from the counter, no pre-packaged lumps. Same with cheese.

(Suddenly feels quite old)

Then Presto was bought out by Safeway, who were then bought out by Morrisons. Who then closed the store down, with the loss of dozens and dozens of jobs, leaving the area with no proper supermarket. None of the little shops can cater for the local demand now so people have to get on the bus and go Tescos or Sainsburys. It's made life quite difficult for elderly and not very mobile people though. And it's had a knock on negative effect on the local street market too. Less people coming to shop in the area. 🙁

Bloody Morrisons. 😡

Presto was Fine Fare before even that. Also remember Walter Wilson's, ace!

We had a Presto but before that it was a Hintons.

For those in the north-east, remember Hintons?

We had a Lo Cost by us, also a Fine Fare and an APT 😉

I remember Fine Fare and International.

Reminds me of being taken to Internantional to get a can of vimto and a milky way by the shop assistant/ god mother at my Grandad's Jewellery Shop.

I can remember Gateway, later Solo, later Somerfield.

I [i]think[/i] I can remember cartoon booths, though not 100% sure I'm not just imagining the image now having heard about them in the OP.

Dee Discount?

For those in the north-east, remember Hintons?

Hell yeah, never forget their cornflakes...tasted like cardboard but my mum kept buying them because a box lasted for ages 🙂

always one of these by the door, not seen one for years

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We used to have Hillards and Leos (co op). Presto in our town turned into safeway then lidl.

Remember going shopping at Christmas and they'd go along the queue offering roses chocolates because you had to wait for ages.

Vaguely remember the video booth things but I think they fell into the category of things we were never allowed to play with/on

Hitons? I thought it was Litons are have I got the wrong one, it had leaf as a logo.

Can't remember the cartoon booths.

I remember the big Woolco at Kenton though, we'd go there just before Xmas most years and I was allowed to stay and play on the video game and little hand held console things in the electronics bit.

I worked at Safeway in Bracknell in the late 90s (99 I think) and they had a play area for kiddies then. It surprises me that these don't exist today. maybe a security thing?

I remember all mentioned so far apart from Hintons.

We had a Lipton's on Salford precinct*. Logo shown below. I also remember a lot of Mace outlets - not supermarkets but largish grocery stores.

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*Now the very prestigous Salford Shopping City.

EDIT: just for you Drac.

Hintons were based in Middlesbrough. I remember there being one in Ormesby [url= http://maps.google.com/maps?q=ormesby&hl=en&ll=54.550049,-1.181239&spn=0.002962,0.00596&sll=54.572732,-1.144936&sspn=0.09473,0.190716&vpsrc=6&hnear=Ormesby,+Middlesbrough,+Redcar+and+Cleveland,+United+Kingdom&t=h&z=18 ]here[/url]

William Low was our local supermarket in the 70s and 80s. My dad used to do some artwork for them for beer money.

Key Markets is where my mum did the shopping. £30 it was one week, for a family of 5! Outrageous!
She didn't take us, cos we used to go "Muuum, muuuum, MUM! Get these!" "Muuum, muuum, muuum, MUM! Do we need this?"
I think it's a Netto now.

We had a Hillards, now Tesco.

Does anyone remember Carters toy shop in Bradford?

Supermarkets? I remember we'd walk to the local grocers where my mum would leave her shopping list and then we'd pick it all up later.
I used to hate going to the butchers though - he always called me "snowball", due to my white furry coat.

The local mini-mart near me was a [VG] which, we were reliably informed, stood for 'very good.' I wonder in hindsight if it was supposed to be ironic.

IIRC, they had a lot of own-brand goods that were, ahem, "competitively priced," not dissimilar to the Tesco Value stuff these days. Google would suggest that VG was rebranded as Centra or SuperValu; I think ours was rebranded as a laundrette.

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But yeah, anyway. I don't know about a 'booth' per se, but I do remember a variant of the fire-engine type things that you could sit and ride in, but instead of rocking backwards and forwards till you vomited Panda cola and American cream soda everywhere, they sedately played WB / Looney Tunes type cartoons.

Ooh, yeah I remember "Going up the VG" !

I guess the Wavy Line is extinct now too
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Did anyone else have the grocers van that would do the rounds when they were young? It had a door in the back and you'd basically step into a grocers shop inside a van.

Boardinbob - they still have them over here in Holland.

We used to have a waitrose. it was where we went to get lunch from school on the days that you didn't go to the chippy, It became a bejam frozen food store before becoming an iceland.

If my father had thought anything of our welfare he would have spotted the signs of urban decay and moved us out of the area straight away.

In the 90's our local Kwik Save became a.....wait for it.........

Victor Value. Crap name or what?

All this talk of the 70s and 80s prompted this memory. Mmmm. Hot Vimto in one of these - a pyrex tumbler with detachable base/handle.

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My mum used to work at Presto. I used to sit in the cash office with her if she couldn't find a baby sitter.

Somehow can't imaging that happening now (Security reasons, not due to lack of baby sitter as I'm 42 and 3/4).

Supermarkets? I remember we'd walk to the local grocers where my mum would leave her shopping list and then we'd pick it all up later.

I remember when we would write our list out and the shop would collect the list it then deliver it all for you.

🙂

I don't recall cartoons in a supermarket.

I remember Gateway in in the precinct in Banbury. I got my first Scalextric set from there. Because I was with my mum and dad when they bought it, I forever associated that shop with getting cool stuff.

I also remember my friend Tim Watts becoming rich when his parents sold a chunk of their land to Tesco to build the first out of town supermarket I'd ever seen (in Bicester).

I also remember a mobile shop that was run out of a converted 70s coach.

Did anyone else have the grocers van that would do the rounds when they were young? It had a door in the back and you'd basically step into a grocers shop inside a van.

Still happens here, seems to be run and frequented by the Asian community.

It's a shame there isn't more stuff like this. Occasionally some enterprising type will try to start a milk round or something, but it usually dies out quite quickly.

My mum used to work at Presto. I used to sit in the cash office with her if she couldn't find a baby sitter.

the one in Whitefield? I remember going there on Saturdays with my gran.

Yep. My Aunty Sue was one of the managers. She used do be the Store Detecive too but lots of people knew her so she wasn't that effective at it.

"Alright Sue, Caught any robbers today?"

We had a Fine Fare, VG and a Nisa but best of all was waiting for the Apline pop man to come round to my grandparents every Thursday with the weekly dose of dandelion & burdock and cherryade, happy days!

I do remember the cartoon booths, but never actually got past getting in and imagining what the cartoon would be like if I had any money.

Just for the sake of nostalgia, for years my mum and I went shopping at a big Safeways (Exeter? We lived in Shepton Beauchamp) and right by the checkouts there were see-through plastic robots filled with various billious colours of 'fruit' juice. I was desperate to have one and after many sessions of pushing the trolley I was finally allowed (this is a non-story, sorry). It was horrible, and once I'd drunk all the bright blue chemical, the robot looked crap.

Also remember getting to the far side of the car park with a laden trolley and seeing my mum gasp and put her hand over her mouth. She'd just walked out with the shopping and forgotten to pay! She went back and paid.

She'd just walked out with the shopping and forgotten to pay!

Sounds like that store could have done with Harry's aunt on the job (as it were).

The first Safeway I recall was in Shambles Square in Manchester city centre. Last orders were called the day the IRA let off a ton of fertiliser based exsplosive just around the corner.

me and mum used to smuggle embarrassing items into other peoples trolleys.

but yeah, i remember back when you didnt go shopping, you swapped a few chicken or your eldest daughter for next weeks supplies. thems were the days.

This far in and no mention of Victor Value...

I get the impression I'm a bit young for this, but I do recall going to Kwik Save with my mum and sister, in my Dad's bright red MkI Golf GTI, with T'Pau on the radio, and my Mum's ENORMOUS 80's perm taking up pretty much the whole car.

Good times.

the village I grew up in had a VG and a post office ... both pretty much selling the same things. there was also a local butcher. I remember there used to be a fish van that came round to the village twice a week and my mum would walk us over to go get the fish. ( i had totally forgotten about that till this thread ... in fact it wasn't a van, it was a caravan that he sold the fish out of ! )

the local supermarket in the town was a Prestos iirc, which became safeways, and now morrisons.

I still call it safeways.

In supermarkets I remember that you had to ask for the cheese and how much you wanted and it was cut with the cheese wire ... i remember I ways wanted a cheese wire cutter and always asking for one for the house 🙂

ohnohesback - I mentioned V V on page 1 😕

Sorry I missed it. That was a life saver when I was skint.

VG,

Mace,

FINE FARE,

SAFEWAY,

LIPTONS,

CO-OP

Delamere, part of Tesco for clothes,

Victor low,

Presto,

Bejam,

Cordon Bleu,

Woolworths,

Kwik Save,

Victor low,

William Low ?

Twas victor Value,

Also Mac fisheries,
and
Gateway

so many names have left the high street, either going bust or re named, or even closed down.

We used to have a Saverite, a small International and a Liptons. They used to charge 5p for a carrier bag in about 1982, was of course a lot more money then than it is now - with reference to the Welsh carrier bag law.

Then the cattle market moved out of the town centre and on the site they built a huge International (very small by today's standards) it was the first place in town that looked like a modern supermarket. The others were just a couple of small dingy shops knocked together.

When I was about 14 or so (so 1990 ish) they opened a BIG out of town Safeway - that was amazing.

Amazing how things have changed eh?

If you feel nostalgic and want to re-live the 1980s food shopping experience, go to Germany.

I vaguely remember video booths in the presto at cramlington. What I clearly remember is the trolley bloke. You gave him a pound in exchange for a great big lump of plastic an h let you take the trolley to the car.

A whole pound!!! And that would have been about 1977.

W had a liptons in the village, now a spar think.

you'll be impressed
you'll be impressed
you'll be impressed at Presto

We had a Bejam (later became iceland) I always tried to get mum to do the shopping at Tesco though as they sold toys.

I worked for dewhurst butchers in the eighties, who then bought out baxters.
2 massive butchers chains all gone now.

before that, our local dewhursts was owned by eastmans, another chain.

allyharp - Member

I can remember Gateway, later Solo, later Somerfield.

I think I can remember cartoon booths, though not 100% sure I'm not just imagining the image now having heard about them in the OP.

My dad still calls it gateyway! Allyharp are you from devon?

I remember Bejams on a Friday evening,all the blokes and kids waited outside whilst the women were inside doing the weekly shop.

I also recall the pleasure of sticking Greenshield stamps in the book.

Anyone else remember Walter Wilson's? Or was it just a north east thing? I remember the one on Stanley front street, it had buckets where you could scoop your own sugar/cereal/ stuff like that into a bag. Probably late 80s or early 90's when they disappeared.

Mos, I can remember Hillards, used to play in their head office car park on my BMX in the early 80s. Carters toy shop in Bradford, best toy shop ever!!

Londis!

We had a Walter Wilson GG. In fact me and the Mrs stil call the Co-op thats replaced it as "Walters".

This was up in Northumberland so it may be just a NE thing.

In 1980 I worked for International Store we though we were better than Gateway but Gateway bought us out

We also had Liptons,Oakshots ans a Mac fisheries in town and a Timothy Whites store

Budgen?? was one in guildford from memory - early 80's

I also recall the pleasure of sticking Greenshield stamps in the book.

My mum bought my first two wheeled bike for me with green shield stamps.

In 2009 when my granddad died we found a half bottle of sherry tucked away in the back of one of his cupboards with a Presto price ticket on it. I remember he had a mk1 fiesta (from new) up until about 4 or 5 years before he died with a "I'm going to Mainstop" sticker in the back window (mainstop was local to us and became presto)

Panda cola and American cream soda

Cresta (it's frothy man!) is what you should have been drinking 😉

GlitterGary - Member
Anyone else remember Walter Wilson's? Or was it just a north east thing? I remember the one on Stanley front street, it had buckets where you could scoop your own sugar/cereal/ stuff like that into a bag. Probably late 80s or early 90's when they disappeared.
POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

Yeah I remember those buckets for cereal, it was like pets at home dog biscuits but full of cornflakes. I had forgotten all about those.

I remember Bejam! We also had an Orchard down my way too.

I once dated a girl who worked in the Co-op and I remember not wanting to be seen out with her after work because she had to wear a stripey green uniform...

I worked at Gateway in Hatfield town center for about a month doing the night shift stacking shelves. All I remember about it is that the staff played bloody Clannad the whole time. Later on Mrs Llama lived in the flats which seemed to perch on the supermarket roof. Think they have buldozed the lot now.

We had a Walter Wilson GG. In fact me and the Mrs stil call the Co-op thats replaced it as "Walters".

This was up in Northumberland so it may be just a NE thing.

It must well be a north east thing then carbon. I know what you mean about still calling shops by their old names - I still call the Edinburgh Bike Co-op on Shields Road Hardisty's. 🙂

As in "The home of the mountain bike"? as the song went lol

The very same! Used to love that advert.

My dad still had a Hardisty Cycles calendar in his garage when we were clearing it out a while back. It was from 1994, what he still had it for I'll never know. 😀

Anyway, a Snickers will always be a Marathon to me.

and a Timothy Whites store

yep, still call it Hardisty's

"Home of the Mountain Bike" indeed - and JMC briefly ..

But do you remember Mrs Hardisty ?

(Apologies OP, we digress)

Challenge

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Londis!

Still a Londis by me 😉

I thought they demutualised and sold out to Spar?

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Didn't Kwik Save only disappear a 3 or 4 years ago? I bought some pies from the Levenshulme one around then. They were quite nice. The weren't the "no frills" kind though.