Remembering Shropshire's lost shops - including Woolies and Safeway
From teen favourites to luxury department stores, we've said goodbye to dozens of businesses since the turn of the century.
Wilkos, Woollies, BHS and Beatties - just a few of the dozens of big names that have disappeared from our high streets in recent memory.
Feeling particularly nostalgic for the smell of pick'n'mix, we've dived into the archives to find some photographs that will stir up some shopping memories.
Here are some of the high streets much missed stores, as captured by the Shropshire Star and its readers over the years
Woolworths
Woolworths was originally a division of the American F. W. Woolworth Company until its sale in the early 1980s, prior to its closure in 2008 it had more than 800 stores in the UK.
Woolworths opened in Newport in 1934, originally at 77 High Street. In the early 1970s the store moved to 44-50 High Street. After the business closed forever in 2008, B&M moved into the store a few months later.
Discount retailers across the county snatched up the chain's former homes. Home Bargains took over the store in Oswestry, Poundstretcher in Whitchurch and 99p Store in Telford Shopping Centre.
Safeway
By 1999, Safeway coming under criticism for its performance against other supermarket giants like Asda and Tesco.
Safeway was bought by the (at the time) much smaller Morrisons to the surprise of many in March 2004. Most of its 479 shops were rebranded as Morrisons, with others being sold.
John Lewis Partnership snapped up 19 of the others, including the store in Newport.
BHS
Following a number of loss-making years BHS was sold in 2015 to consortium Retail Acquisitions Ltd for a nominal price of £1.
13 months later, the company entered into administration, and after no buyer could be found all stores were closed by the end of August 2016.
Toys 'R' Us
The first Toys 'R' Us store opened in the UK in 1985 and at its peak had over 105 stores throughout the country.
It announced it would be closing at least 26 of the stores towards the end of 2017 as part of insolvency restructuring.
In March 2018, after amassing £15m in unpaid taxes and failing to find a buyer, Toys 'R' Us announced all the stores would close. All stores were closed by April 24 that year.
Netto
Danish company Netto arrived in the UK in December 1990. Before it was sold to Asda in 2010, it operated 193 stores including Wellington and Shrewsbury.
The loss of the shop on Wrekin Retail Park and the next door In-Store allowed the supermarket chain to knock through two units and bring the first Asda Living store to Shropshire in 2009.
Debenhams
Debenhams was founded all the way back in 1778 as a single shop in London. By the 21st century the company was facing major financial difficulties and entered administration twice in April 2019 and April 2020.
By the end of 2020, the company announced it would be liquidated. While the brand and website was bought by online retailer Boohoo in January 2021, the brand did not retain any stores and after 243 years, the final shops closed in May 2021.
