Retro Frontages

Logo date 1990s-2002, the same time as the purchase of Arcadia by Sir Philip Green

Location High Street, Long Eaton

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Quite a shock for it to be 2020 and to see this logo still going stro... actually ‘strong’ seems a bit much, let’s leave it at going. It’s also a difficult one to date correctly. I’ve done a trawl online of various image and stock picture libraries and the earliest instances I can find of a Burton store bearing this logo is from these two photos from Bournemouth in 1995 (pic 1, pic 2 - complete with a missing ‘T’!). I have a feeling it dates a few years prior to 1995 though.

There were a lot of variations in Burton’s store branding in the latter half of the 20C*. Logopedia is lacking on detail when it comes to the dates and appears to be completely missing the royal blue logo that by my research immediately predates the burgundy one, as pictured here above the Croydon branch in 1989.

Given a swathe of Arcadia branch closures in recent years, the survival of this Burton store in the fairly small town centre of Long Eaton is very intriguing. It’s one of the few branches still in an original Burton building and with other Arcadia brands including Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge and Wallis as concessions in the nearby Tesco Extra store since 2017, (an easy three minute walk from the main High Street), it’s a miracle this has clung on. Dorothy Perkins closed their Long Eaton store at the other end of the High Street as a result of the move to Tesco... and it left us with this lovely shadow of its former 1980s logo, still visible on the unfilled unit today.

The excellent @laidbymonty on Twitter helps catalog the original Burton buildings still surviving up and down the country, and once you recognise the architecture you will begin to see them everywhere. As much as this building looks like its seen better days, I love that the branded iron grates remain. It also has a whopping five foundation stones, all laid by different members of the Burton family, including Lady Montague Burton, which is a real rarity.

On a personal level, a similar storefront at the Burton branch in my hometown of Stamford, Lincolnshire also retained its burgundy logo well past the 2002 rebrand. Even more intriguingly, it was one of their 2-in-1 branches with a Dorothy Perkins, which was given updated signage in the mid-00s when we waved goodbye to my favourite iteration of their logo, which had a flower as the dot in the ‘i’. The Burton side retained its retro branding almost up until the store’s closure in around 2010. 

Despite the fallout of Covid-19 and the quite prominent ‘To Let’ sign on the front on this Long Eaton store, the branch is listed as open on the Burton website in July 2020.

Photos via @JosephBegley

Logo date: there were numerous iterations of this logo (and typeface changes for ‘SPORTS’) so it’s a little difficult to date. You'll notice this with the wall mounted sign compared to that above the shop, and the subtle differences of the 'B' in 'JJB' (much like this one) I'd estimate that part of the signage is 90s, but that above the door is 00s. The short lived square logo came in from 2007.

Location: Fishergate, Preston

Ah, JJB. We’ve already written about the lure of the sports store for many teens in the 90s and 00s and the plethora of different chains we had back then when we looked at some old JD branding, but I think we all have a soft spot for JJB. You can almost picture the piles of Umbro clothing and poster of Michael Owen in the window like it was yesterday.

I’d had a tip-off about the JJB in Preston and it didn’t disappoint. To say that this store dominates Fishergate with its wall mounted totem* as you approach is an understatement. You can see it right the entire length of the street... which I guess was the original intention, but it does add a certain air of melancholy about it so many years on.

What’s next door though? A snazzy modern looking and large JD (ouch, bit of a kick in the teeth) which makes this JJB look tiny in comparison. I had a look at some plans of the street to try and work out the unit size in comparison, but bizarrely Numbers 18 (JD) and 19 (JJB) are designated as one block and unit. On the other side? You’ve got a still empty BHS.

Other interesting thing: JJB Sports didn’t actually disappear until late 2012. I could have sworn that it was a casualty of the late-00s, but nope. It’s easy to understand why I thought that though - hit hard by the credit crunch and a large store network, they narrowly avoided administration and started a major restructuring programme with store closures from 2009, including selling a third of the companies shares to Mike Ashley and Sports Direct. 

And therein lies a problem: like many businesses still today, particularly with fashion chains over recent years, the headlines of a business’s financial difficulties often stick with consumers to the point that they assume that they’ve disappeared, rather than the reality of the brand limping along albeit often with a smaller retail footprint. Almost inevitably a further administration is round the corner. Karen Millen, Greenwoods, OddBins, Blue Inc are just a few examples.

*I mean, technically it’s not a totem sign because they come out the ground but I don’t know how else to refer to it. Suggestions on a postcard.

Logo date: 1988-2007

Closing when the store lease ended in July, this branch of Currys in Nuneaton may well have been the final red-and-white branded store still standing. Other branches in Skegness and Ayr that were late to rebrand were finally given the three-in-one treatment last year (2018) which saw the classic logo ditched and the stores converted to the favoured mix of Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse. You almost have to admire the hubris in calling this branch in Nuneaton a ‘superstore’ on the signage; it was actually quite pokey inside.

Red and white was very much the colour of major chain electronics retailers in the UK for a time. Currys, Dixons* and Comet all had red and white branding through the 1980s and 1990s, which no doubt was fairly confusing for the consumer.

A red-on-navy rebrand introduced back in 2007 to replace this look didn’t last long, mainly because management soon realised that ‘currys’ basically became illegible in some newspaper ads and on their store signage when viewed from a distance. The red was changed to white within a year. This made spotting stores with that original 2007 rebranded logo quite a rare thing, and when I moved to Lincoln in 2016 I was pleased to see the local branch was still sporting that original red-on-navy 2007 look, next door to a retro PC World. They subsequently downsized to just the one unit and took the current branding.

Google Streetview shows that the Nuneaton branch also sported retro department signage on the outside as recently as 2017 but this had been removed by 2019.

And for those interested, the final solo PC World store closed last year... (I can’t work out how to embed tweets on tumblr or if it’s even possible so to view the tweet itself, click here)

NB. You may also be intrigued to know there was an abandoned PC World rebrand back in 2007...

*Dixons took over Currys in 1984 but elected to keep both brands; they both had red and white branding beforehand anyhow!

Blockbuster Video Express, Chiswick High Road, London

Nobody needs or wants me to do one of my lengthy blog posts about Blockbuster (maybe you do? But I think we all know the tale), so just enjoy these images of the still empty Chiswick branch. A surprise really given it’s not in a terible location and faces Turnham Green park*

(*once ate a sandwich sat on the grass here, it was a perfectly pleasant experience)

JD Sports

Logo date: 1980 - 2005

Location: St Mark’s, Lincoln; Town Square, Basildon & West 12 Shopping Centre, Shepherd's Bush

Back in the 90s and early-00s there seemed to be a wealth of chain sports stores across the UK. Piled high with team kits and trainers, inevitably with a poster of Michael Owen in the window, every High Street, retail park and shopping centre had one, if not numerous competing branches. But alas not all could survive. Gone are all:sports, First Sports, Sports Soccer, JJB and Giles Sports, all hoovered up when they fell on hard times, leaving just two still going: JD and Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct. 

There’s something about the JD logo still visible with the Lincoln store that almost takes you back to simpler times. A Saturday spent in town with your mates or your mum treating you to that pair of trainers you’d been after. I wanted to preserve these logos, not just because next year will be fifteen years since their replacement, but also because it’s incredibly rare to see this number of variations of one logo. There was a different colour scheme for each department within JD and a specific ‘King of Trainers’ logo too. Take a look...

Above: light boxes for different departments within the Lincoln store; King of Trainers sign from the store within West 12 Shopping Centre, Shepherd's Bush

Top: logo variants seen above windows of the Lincoln store

Bottom row: JD store, Town Square, Basildon displaying a lovely horizontal variant on the logo (May '19) just before the chain relocated to a new branch

Logo date: 1999-2002 (1970-2002)

This retro logo had been on my radar for a while and when I learnt that the Hull branch had relocated, I knew time was of the essence to get some photos before another chain moved in. Apologies to Ross for making him take the photos - just be grateful it wasn’t still open.

The italicised logo seen here in Hull, complete with the curved A, was the logo used from day-dot. You can see it here on one of the first Ann Summers branches on Edgware Road, London in 1970.

This aqua-blue colour scheme was prevalent throughout the 1990s, complete with the famous apple motif, based on Eve taking a bite of the apple in Paradise*. Some minor tweaking at the turn of the millennium led to the serifs being removed from the logo (compare this photo to that of the Hull branch seen above), this was short-lived, however, as there was a more thorough reworking just round the corner. A newer dark-pink look was introduced in 2002 complete with a simplified version of the logo, now with all the characters standing straight.

For a short while in the 00s the apple motif did disappear from some stores with the signage being contained inside a curved chrome box, a possible throwback to the original kink and curve of the A. This was again short-lived with the apple later returning.

In more recent years, the colour scheme has been changed to a much more understated black and chrome across newer stores, with the apple having gone back to its place in heaven. It lived on for a little while in the ‘shopping bag’ icon on the website, but even from there it has now disappeared.

Two asides for you...

I like the touch of having the branch’s street number in the apple above the door with this Hull branch

Ann Summers’ bitten apple logo came seven years ahead of Apple Inc’s

Logo date: unknown; company administration late-1980s

Until demolition began just last month, Grimsby’s ex-House of Holland store was a local landmark for years, lying derelict on the junction of Kent Street and Freeman Street since the late 1980s. Redevelopment of the area saw it knocked down to be turned into office blocks but I managed to get a friend to grab some photos before the bulldozers moved in.

Very little information about the chain exists online bar mentions in a few forums but from my understanding the firm went into administration in the late-1980s (possibly 1987?). HoH was a catalogue based discount furniture and lifestyle store often with large premises, sometimes occupying multiple floors in a building, like a mini-department store. Unlike other purely catalogue businesses it was possible to actually view many of the products in branch. This photo of the Brighton branch shows its grandeur in certain locations.

Before House of Holland this Grimsby building was occupied by Tesco, who relocated in the early 1980s, leading to local discount store Mad Harry’s moving in in November of 1983. Within eighteen months they’d themselves relocated to Grimsby’s former Woolworths store in a slightly more central location on Freeman Street, leading to House of Holland occupying the building not long after.

These days House of Holland is a fashion brand used by designer Henry Holland which makes searching for information on the former 1980s homewares chain very difficult... there’s only disparate and undetailed allusions online eg. this reference in a 1978 article from the Financial Times about the stocking of utility heaters in UK stores, the opening of a store in Cambridge in 1985 and this list of stores in Southend.

Don’t forget, we’re more active on Twitter. 

Iceland, Holywell

Logo date: 1989 - 2000

Here’s an interesting thing: something has ‘gone on’ that has left this retro Iceland shopfront in place. The rear of their story in Holywell, North Wales has the updated signage... well, the pre-2015 gradient certainly. Could they not receive planning permission to update the front? Given the frontage itself is of a muted cream colour, I’d hazard a guess that the local council are a little difficult when it comes to brightly coloured shopfronts on old buildings in the town centre. This example of an old Iceland fascia is much more vibrant.

Iceland is an interesting case study on how to change perceptions of a store in quite a short space of time, it being a very different beast from the Iceland of ten or even five years ago. Expanding rapidly with their large format ‘Food Warehouse’ stores and with an increased eco-zeal which has led to a purge on plastic packaging and campaigns against palm oil, it looks like Iceland might have been a sleeping giant that’s really coming into its own, as long as it can shake off old notions of being cheap and cheerful. They’re the chain most likely to benefit from any forced off-loads from the ASDA-Sainsbury’s merger.

Poundland, Uxbridge

Logo date: 1992 - 2007

As ubiquitous as Poundland branches now are, there are still a few early fascias hanging around but the number is falling rapidly. Two years ago I could have named surviving examples in Lincoln, Wakefield, Birkenhead and Liverpool but these stores have either been updated or closed, in part due to the overlap of Poundland locations following the takeover of 99p Stores (including at one stage stores opposite or next door to one another, both branded Poundland!)

I quite like this shopfront in Uxbridge’s Pavilions shopping centre. As dated as the logo does appear, it has a real regal air to it. With a rich dark green colouring and each letter a lovingly independent element on the sign, this isn’t just a simple ‘stick it up’ fascia. Note also the the two separate crown wreath emblems either side. 

Poundland has gone through a recent logo crisis and appears to have backtracked on rollouts of its new logo featuring a ‘£’ sign in the ‘o’, as seen below. They’ve decided to keep the updated typeface but ultimately return to the classic wreath symbol... although clearly no-one has told their social media or website teams, they’re still proudly sporting the old logo!

Pictures: @blondiemunchkin on twitter for the Uxbridge pics, @poundland corporate twitter for those below

B&M, Dundas Shopping Centre, Middlesbrough

Logo date: pre-2006? WaybackMachine shows this logo still in use on bargainmadness.co.uk and bmstores.co.uk until then. Given the chain’s rapid expansion didn’t take place until the late-00s onwards, this logo will only be familiar to those from the north.

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The expansion of the discount store over the past decade has been quite astounding. Empty High Street units left empty by Woolworths and BHS administrations have been snapped up, divested stores from supermarket takeovers, chains such as M&S or Tesco downsizing their footprint, and retail park stores empty following collapses of big brands like Focus DIY and Comet have all been quietly converted. No unit appears too big for them, with prices astoundingly reasonable on hundreds of ‘useful’ items. Food to household, decorating to gardening, they’ve cornered a market that had failed other stores on an individual level. Pile it up in one big shop though, having negotiated a reasonable rent? You’re seemingly successful... 

For my bit of Britain growing up it was always Poundstretcher (and the shortlived in:store brand) that had cornered the discount market. Now we have HomeBargains, B&M, Poundland and to a lesser extent Boyes in what seems like most town centres, often across the street or next door to each other. 

Their orange-and-blue fanned logo may be ubiquitous now, but B&M started life quietly in 1976 in Lancashire. The ‘B’ and ‘M’ originally stood for Billington & Mayman, although signage would often exclaim ‘Bargain Madness’ as the acronym. The ampersand gets in the way when thinking about that but we’ll gloss over it. Expanding slowly and taking over empty units primarily in the North, they became a local phenomenon. If you were lucky enough to have one in your town, you knew they provided value for money. Rebranding and smartening up of their brand image in the mid-00s following a business takeover in 2004 came with good timing; between the financial crash of 2008 and 2016, they expanded their number of UK outlets tenfold.

In 2001 they had 12 stores; finished 2007 with 61; now currently standing at over 500 outlets in the UK and Germany, and at one stage were opening a new branch every week. With a range of store sizes, from the large Home Stores to the new fascia Express stores (some converted from Heron Foods, which they recently took over) they’re clearly here to stay.

Here's a picture showing the Scunthorpe town centre branch circa 2007...

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Happy Shopper, Green Lane Superstore, Stamford

Logo date: 1990s? The classic orange and yellow brand colours were ditched in a rebrand in 2000, that much is for sure

Interesting one this... because it’s not actually the classic 1980s Happy Shopper logo most closely associated with the brand. Was this a short-lived variant? It’s certainly in the correct corporate colours but there’s no trace of it elsewhere online.

The history of this building is interesting too, as it was originally one of Stamford’s first supermarkets. Sally Morlands was named after the proprietor's daughter who had left Stamford to live in America. It spread as a brand with other stores including Boston, Lincs. Floorspace was tiny by today’s standards (the current convenience store only takes up half of the building’s footprint) but this was the place to be in town - pop down there on a Friday evening and you were guaranteed to bump into everyone you knew.

The business later moved to new purpose-built premises on Little Casterton Road as P+A in the late-1970s. They even managed to get a celebrity to open the store: Bernard Youens, better known as Stan Ogden from Coronation Street!

P+A was later taken over by the Co-op and brought under their Rainbow supermarket banner, closing in the early-noughties and being subsequently demolished to make way for a housing estate.

Index Catalogue Store, Romford (September 2018)

Logo date: 1985 - 2001, chain closure 2005

Oh boy, this is a proper throwback in Romford. Most recently this unit has been a 99p Stores, then was updated to Poundland following the takeover. Relocation in 2016 led to the signs being ripped down and this beauty exposed, and it remains unfilled. Quite an odd looking unit though, isn’t it? I can’t quite work out what the deal with those windows is. Is there an upstairs?

Littlewoods threw in the towel with their Index store chain back in 2005, having been loss making for eighteen of the twenty years it existed. Romford’s branch was a straight closure - Argos were actually located just next door (where Sports Direct are now) so they had no interest in buying it. Worth noting this branch never received the updated blue fascia and signage introduced in 2001.

It’s quite telling that Littlewoods closed Index a year before Woolworths launched their own catalogue, with The Big Red Book appearing in 2006. Tesco Direct also launched at a similar time, sparking a new ‘catalogue wars’... at least that’s how it was billed in the press. It was more just what we’ve grown to recognise as click and collect now, a little ahead of its time.

Tesco Metro, Bristol (August 2018)

Logo date: Tesco logo 1987-1995, Tesco Metro logo 1994-1995

Finding an old Tesco logo alive and kicking is quite the coup! Occasionally you’ll see a ghost sign appear during renovation work on an old town centre unit but for this to still exist in 2018 is remarkable, not just because of its busy, high-footfall location. 

The Metro fascia was introduced in 1994 as a new way of branding their town and city centre stores and within eighteen months was overhauled when the main Tesco logo was updated to the ubiquitous one we know today. By my calculations this logo has hung on for over 22 years, fourteen times longer than the actual logo was live. Incredible.

Update: sadly, the end came and the Bristol Metro branch was updated to new signage in early 2019.

Woolworths, Margate (September 2017)

Logo date: 1985-2009, chain administration 2008

Remarkably, a decade on, the Margate branch of Woolies remains empty and has never been filled. Some pictures of the inside show a fair number of fixtures and signs intact too. The town was one of the Portas Pilots and for a short while the building was jettisoned for use as a community hub for the project and made an appearance on TV. This article from 2017 claims the building was purchased by a hotel firm for £1.98m (!) but no work has started on any transformation.

Quite a bleak location actually, there’s a former Primark directly opposite that’s been empty since 2015; there’s also plans for that to be developed. Also of note is the Clarks sign lingering on the wall, an independent shoe shop having been located to Woolworths’ right that closed a number of years ago.

Kwik Save, Skegness (August 2018)

Logo date: 2002-2007, chain administration 2007

Is this the only surviving old style Kwik Save store in the country? Quite possibly. Never the most loved of the supermarket chains, the slow rise of the German discounters in the 00s made it seem a little lacklustre and old-hat in the modern age. A merger with Somerfield in the late 90s didn’t prove fruitful for either company with Somerfield divesting of the business in 2006, having kept the best stores for themselves and rebranding them. This left Kwik Save as a standalone firm in poor, unprofitable locations… and it didn’t last another eighteen months.

The inside of this store is very eerie and apocalyptic, as seen in these photos. Those were taken in 2017 following a fire that severely damaged part of the building’s structure. 

The Kwik-Save brand was relaunched in 2012 as a convenience store franchise.

WHSmith, Tonbridge (2017/2018)

Logo date: 1975-1994

It’s remarkable how much people love the old WHSmith cube logo and subsequently went stir crazy when that retro facade was recreated in Camden for filming of an episode of Black Mirror. WHSmith rolled it back out again on merchandise and carriers last year to celebrate their 225th anniversary. Imagine having a proud heritage of over 200 years as a company but your last fifteen being really, really shit. 

This old cube logo is only to be found at the rear of the store but, thrillingly, the cube decal still lives on the front entrance doors. A recent refit to incorporate the Post Office and installation of automatic doors reduced the door-cube-decal-count from four down to two but you take what you can get.

Also worth noting - Tonbridge is rare in having *two* WHSmith stores just a few yards apart, one specialising in stationery and the other news, mags and books.