It's easy to look at the past with rose tinted glasses, but before the days of online shopping the high street was king. And, from small independent shops to department stores, we all remember our favourite places to spend our money.
Whether you were shopping for clothes, groceries, toys or tech, Saturday afternoons on the high street were thronged with day trippers and bargain hunters. Shopping in town was an event. Of course, there are still great stores and busy shopping streets in Greater Manchester, but retail habits have changed, and many of our favourite stores from the past have since disappeared.
To reminisce on some of our favourites, we've compiled a list of 21 lost shops we loved in Manchester. Many will have been found in the city centre, while some of the larger chains would have had stores across Greater Manchester and beyond.
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These are the classic shops that are bound to stir fond memories of buying our favourite outfits, gadgets and more. Of course, this isn't a complete list - and we've purposely left out a few of the city centre department stores which often make these lists. But if there are any shops you loved that we haven't mentioned, let us know in the comments.
1. Stolen From Ivor
The first Stolen From Ivor shop opened on trendy King Street West in the city centre in 1965. For generations it was a staple of the city’s fashion scene, with fashion conscious Mancunians happy to be spotted carrying their iconic yellow plastic bags.
2. Brentford Nylons
Brentford Nylons had a large store in Piccadilly in the 1970s. A purveyor of electro-statically charged nylon bedding, shirts and slacks, the chain became famous for its iconic 1970s adverts starring Alan Freeman, but went into administration in February 1976.
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3. 2007 AD
Fashion boutique 2007 AD had a store on Oldham Street in Manchester city centre. Immediately distinctive due to its 'futuristic' shop frontage, it was a popular place for Mancunians to purchase their perfect look in the '70s and '80s. The wacky shop frontage has long disappeared from Oldham Street with a betting shop now in its place.
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4. Chelsea Girl
Chelsea Girl was once THE place in Manchester to meet friends or a date. In the days before online shopping, it was the trendiest place to pick up the latest fashions.
Founded in 1965, it was the UK's first fashion boutique chain. By 1988, Chelsea Girl and its male fashion counterpart, Concept Man, were merged together to become part of River Island, and by 1991 all Chelsea Girl shops were rebranded and the name disappeared from our high streets.
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5. Edwards of Manchester
Edwards of Manchester, in the Barton Arcade, supplied made-to-measure shoes to clients for almost 200 years. It was the oldest independent shoe shop outside London, and had been based on the same site since it opened in the 1830s.
A city favourite for classic men’s and women’s shoes, it counted footballers Rio Ferdinand and John O’Shea among its clientèle, and stocked brands including Barker, Loake, Church and Crockett & Jones. Sadly, the store closed suddenly in 2015 and never reopened.
6. Etam / Tammy Girl
Home to an array of stretchy chokers, butterfly clips and crop tops, Tammy Girl was the little sister of Etam. With a number of Etam and Tammy Girl stores in Greater Manchester, including the Arndale and Altrincham, this pre-teen haven was the best place to pick up a sassy, glittery slogan t-shirt of a pair of denim pedal pushers for a night down the ice rink disco.
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7. Blockbuster Video
Before DVDs and then streaming services like Disney+, Netflix and Apple TV - there was Blockbuster. If you're a child of the '80s or '90s, a trip to the Blockbuster video store was a staple ritual in planning your weekend entertainment.
The massive video rental chain was a one-stop shop where you could rent a video while picking up your popcorn and sweet treats to enjoy a cinematic experience in the comfort of your own living room.
The region had several Blockbuster branches. But by the end of 2013 all UK stores were closed.
8. Warner Bros
When the Warner Brothers store arrived at Manchester Arndale in the early '90s, it was a very exciting time. The huge store was topped with a giant Tasmanian Devil and the nearby fountain was guarded by statues of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd.
The store itself boasted enough cuddly toys and face cloths that expand in water to last you a lifetime. The WB Store was cooler and less noisy than the Disney Store. It played new episodes of Friends and Pinky and the Brain on the cinema sized screen at the back of the shop. And, most impressively, it even had its own Batmobile and Batsuit.
By the Noughties, we had said goodbye to all of the UK Warner Bros Studio Stores.
9. Disney Store
From buying Christmas presents for loved ones to venturing inside to feel the magic as a kid, many will remember how popular Greater Manchester's Disney shops were through the years. Disney Stores first opened in 1987 and through the years expanded to sell products from Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel.
Back in the 1990s, there was a Disney Store at St Ann's Square and shoppers could continue to shop at branches at the Trafford Centre and Manchester Arndale until 2021.
10. Kwik Save
Kwik Save became a common site in Britain after the first store opened in Rhyl in 1959. The chain continued to expand, and by the mid-1990s, there were more than 800 Kwik Save stores across Britain including the high streets of Manchester and more widely Greater Manchester.
Many will remember shopping at Kwik Save through the years. But by the noughties, the chain disappeared from our high streets.
11. BHS
British Home Stores, or BHS, was a familiar face on the high street known for its affordable clothes and homeware. With stores on both Market Street and in the Trafford Centre, many were sad when it closed its doors for the final time in 2016.
12. Woolworths
A fond childhood memory for many Mancunians, the one-time high street giant sold everything from DVDs to clothes, toys, school supplies and snacks. However, one thing many people still miss to this day, was the excitement felt as a kid taking a trip to 'Woolies' for their pick 'n' mix sweets.
In Greater Manchester, there was a Woolworths in nearly every town centre and shopping precinct in the late 1960s, when the chain was at its most successful with over 1,000 shops nationwide. And even when the end came in the credit crunch of 2008, a branch of Woolies still occupied many of the prime shops and retail units in the region.
The collapse of Woolworths in 2008 was not only the end of a shopping era but also left a hole in the heart of the High Street in towns across the country.
13. Virgin Megastore
It was back in 2007 when customers were introduced to the new Virgin Megastore at Manchester Arndale. The opening saw a host of celebrities visit, from New Order's Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris to world champion boxer Ricky Hatton and The Killers.
Virgin Megastore became a haven for music lovers who could buy anything from posters to heavy metal T-shirts, CDs, video games and more, which would see customers spend hours searching through the stands for favourite artists and spending pocket money or wages. But by the late noughties, the Virgin Megastore chain went into administration before becoming Zavvi and eventually ending its high-street presence altogether.
14. Borders
Borders first opened in the UK in 1997 and was originally owned by the US book giant of the same name. It stocked thousands of titles and magazines, as well as cards, CDs, DVDs and more.
Over a decade ago, Borders could be found in the likes of Manchester Fort Shopping Park in Cheetham Hill and The Peel Centre, in Stockport. It's now been over ten years since Borders went into administration and announced the closure of the store.
15. JJB Sports
This giant sports chain was founded in Pemberton, near Wigan, in the early 1900s. By the late-1990s, JJB Sports was one of the largest sports retailers in the United Kingdom with over 400 stores across the country during its peak.
Sadly, just over a decade ago in 2012, it was announced that the chain had gone into administration and the company dissolved later the same year.
16. Netto
Netto first opened in Leeds in December 1990, as part of the Danish company Salling Group. The yellow and black discount shop was ahead of its time in many ways.
All the stores closed for good in the UK in August 2016. But the discount supermarket still operates in Denmark, Germany and Poland with over 1,400 stores.
17. Lewis's
Lewis’s stood proudly on the corner of Piccadilly Gardens as one of the city’s first department stores which opened in 1877. Founded by David Lewis, who opened a flagship store in Liverpool originally only selling boys and men's clothing, the department store grew to a country-wide chain, with the Manchester branch being the first to open outside Liverpool.
And for many people living in the city, the opening of a department store which sold everything you could think of was truly amazing. The Manchester store included a full scale ballroom on the fifth floor.
The company went into administration in 1991. This resulted in Liverpool competitor Owen Owen buying up several branches of Lewis's, but keeping the name. The Manchester store finally closed in 2001 and is now the huge Primark on Market Street.
18. Kumar Bros
When it comes to stores that Mancunians miss the most, the Kumar Bros store on the corner of St Mary's Gate and Deansgate is often mentioned. They also had a store in Piccadilly.
19. C&A
C&A - or Coats and 'Ats as it was sometimes known - was the popular fashion giant that had something for everyone. Founded in the Netherlands in the 19th century, by 1922, it had opened its first British store and from there the brand continued to grow, opening sites in the likes of Teesside, Hull, Liverpool - and Manchester.
The brand traded in Manchester from 1928, moving to a three-storey shop in the Arndale Centre in 1978, having previously operated at a building on Oldham Street. It sold everything from suits and sports wear to ski boots and jackets.
But, after decades of trading, C&A announced it was closing its doors for good in the early noughties. It was once hard to imagine the high street without it - but like BHS, Littlewoods and Debenhams department stores, changing times ended C&A's dominance.
20. Debenhams
Debenhams took over iconic Manchester department store Paulden's in 1928 but continued to trade under the original name. In the 1950s, Paulden's moved from All Saints, on the southern outskirts of the city centre, to the Rylands building on Market Street, finally changing its name to Debenhams in 1973.
Debenhams continued to occupy the Rylands building until it went into administration in 2020, closing its flagship store. Debenhams now operates online-only after being bought by Boohoo in January 2021.
21. Corn Exchange
Before it was a food and drink hub, The Corn Exchange was a warren of independent stores where you could get anything from an antique lamp to a belly button piercing. Following damage sustained during the IRA bomb in 1996, the building saw major renovation and reopened as the Triangle Shopping Centre.
