Joplings demise sad to see
What a sad and sorry sight Joplings is today. It looks to me as if its days are numbered.
Jops holds a special place in the hearts of Wearsiders who remember its glory days so well and would be sad to see it go. Those of us who grew up with it have myriad memories of the store that truly catered for all the family.
Santa on the top floor meant Christmas had arrived. Mannequins in the restaurant, modelling the latest fashions, captivated countless young girls like me, who dreamed of being one when we grew up.
It was an occasion to be taken there for a cream tea. And it was there you were rigged out for school and special occasions.
Remember the slide next to the millinery department where kids played until they couldn't fit in it any longer?
And how I loved playing with Joplings money – its very own currency that brought busloads of shoppers in from the pit villages.
All the family were topped out here from titfers, Twilift corselets, long johns for him and cots and cradles for the next generation.
There was such a dependability about this store where you could furnish your home, offering absolutely everything for all ages.
And then after Liverpool-based Owen Owen bought the store when owners Merchant Retail Group plc collapsed five years ago, it has never been the same.
What was classy became a tacky, tagarene store, resembling a jumble sale on the ground floor with a bizarre mix of foodstuffs and mountains of cases.
The writing has been on the wall ever since. And while the staff breathed a sigh of relief three years ago when it was given fresh hope after Owen Owen collapsed and Vergo retail moved in, Jops has never been what it was.
While it still has a faithful following of older customers, it has lost out because it is at the wrong end of town for so many who just want to shop in The Bridges.
It is expensive for so much even though it looks like a cheap jack shop.
So many of us mourn the Joplings that we knew and now Vergo retail has gone into administration, uncertainty hangs in the air on every floor as overpowering as its heating system.
It looks to me as if its days are numbered.
I feel sorry for the staff who don't know whether they are staying and remember how some of these loyal assistants told me last time closure was staring them in the face, how they would work there for nothing to keep it open in the hope someone would come to their rescue.
One whispered to me that she thought there was a couple of buyers interested. But then hope springs eternal.
It is our only proper department store - Debenhams isn't one, just shops under one roof – but I don't think it's the kind of shop Sunderland wants.
Going there was once a shopping experience. That finished years ago.
Now younger people don't want to shop in one place.
They like a variety of shops where they can shop around and have no affiliation to any one in particular.
Joplings looks as if it's in its death throes. Not so much a case of if it goes but when.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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