Growing up in Sunderland: The retro stores you loved to visit for Christmas shopping on Wearside
The last-minute rush is on for Christmas shopping.
There’s always something you have forgotten – whether it’s a couple of cards or a roll of sticky tape (why is there never enough?)
But if there was one shop from Wearside’s past you could visit again, we want to know which one it would be. Did you load up on sweets, presents and cards at Woolworths, or head off to Joseph’s toy shop with the children’s Santa lists in tow?
How about spending the special Joplings money, or stopping off for a quick coffee and scone at the Binns’ cafe? The below picks make up an excellent retro shopping trip.
Here are some of your festive shopping memories, as shared on the Wearside Echoes Facebook group:
Chris Sumby: “Joseph’s or Norman’s toy shops.”
Andrew Cockburn: “Either Hills or Joseph’s.”
Andrew Spalding: “Magic Eye optical illusion books.”
Bob Price: “T. W. Atkinson’s. The record shop I would visit every week. Helpful staff and a music lover’s paradise.”
Anne Twine: “Durham Book Centre.”
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Emma Williams: “I loved Hills, especially the stationary part, Joplings toy department and Woolworths.”
Cheryl Briggs: “Woolworths.”
Jacki Thew: “Binns or Joplings.”
Mark Allison: “Would love to shop at Binns again!”
Margaret Crosby: “Hills, the Durham book shop or Dainty Toys craft shop.”