Urbex - Blockbuster Video in Fallowfield

A look at the remains of the old Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester.

Blockbuster Video lives on in Manchester. In a way.

Kind of.

Urbex - Toys R Us in Warrington

A look at the remains of the old Toys R Us store in Warrington, Cheshire.

Remnants of Blockbuster Video

Finding some more traces of the lost brand.

We've always enjoyed exploring our surroundings, looking for and hunting out interesting things. We've seen quite a few ghost signs on our travels and many of these are hangovers from another time, some even dating back over a hundred years.

Since we found the remains of Blockbuster Video just up the road from us in Fallowfield, Manchester we had a look to see if there were any other former branches still showing signs of the brand.

We were in luck as on our walks around Cheadle Hulme and Marple we spotted the ghostly outline of a sign, as well as an old QuikDrop box.

The outline of the old big ticket logo of Blockbuster is still visible behind the Majestic Wine sign. A modern day ghost sign

The QuikDrop slot is the only part of the former Blockbuster Video Express in Marple that hasn't been painted over. It's now a Post Office

It'll be interesting to see if we spot any other traces of the brand once we're back out on the road on Crazy World of Minigolf Tour travels.

You can actually play a Blockbuster Video crazy golf hole at Ghetto Golf in Digbeth, Birmingham!

The Blockbuster shop hole at Ghetto Golf Birmingham

Lost shops - Toys R Us in Warrington

A look at the old Toys R Us store in Warrington.

In our continued look at old, defunct and lost shops we took a walk round the old Toys R Us store in Warrington, Cheshire at the weekend.

Toys R Us ceased trading in the UK back in April 2018 and the Warrington location has been empty since then. The site will become a car dealership in the future.

While very little of the signage is still in place you can still clearly see ghost signs of the TOYS R US and BABIES R US logos on the building.

Working at Toys R Us

My first job while at university in the year 2000 was as one of Geoffrey's helpers at the Luton store. I worked on the video game and electronics section.

We never had these branded bollards at the Gipsy Lane store in Luton

A look round the Warrington location

Here are some more snaps and videos of the store as it looked in July 2020.

The approach to the store

These branded stones are very very nice

Ghost signage

The lettering from the old sign is still visible on the side of the building

Note the markings on the ground

Coronavirus social distancing warnings

The container loading bay. When I worked at Toys R Us I spent parts of my evening shifts unloading the containers

One of the few signs still on the building. While it's unbranded, the Toys R Us typeface is recognisable

Toys R Us and Babies R Us ghost signs

The overgrown trolley bay at the front of the store

An empty trolley bay

A 'tombstone' to the dead brand

Toys R Us in Ancoats, Manchester

I took a look at the old Toys R Us store at the Central Retail Park in Ancoats, Manchester just prior to it's demolition in March 2019.

Check out photos of that location from two visits in February 2019 - one / two.

We had a look at what's left of the old Central Retail Park last Friday.

Lost shops

We've seen a number of other old and defunct brands on our travels around the country including Woolworths in Stoke-on-Trent, Woolworths Big W in Edinburgh, Kwik Save in Barrow-in-Furness, Blockbuster Video in Fallowfield, Tandy in Hitchin and RadioShack in Lytham Saint Annes.

Do you have a favourite old shop brand from the past?

Long Lost High Street Shops - Tandy

A look back at Tandy.

I was lucky enough to spot Tandy branding on some signage at a shop while in Hitchin last year. The Tandy signs had been uncovered as the shop on Churchgate was being refurbished following the closure of Electronic Universe. The reveal showed that Electronic Universe had at one point been a Tandy dealer.

In 2016 I spotted this Tandy sign at the back of the shop.

It's always a shame to see CRT tellys going to waste

Working at Tandy

My first job was at a Tandy franchise shop in Abingdon, Oxfordshire where I remember selling a number of electronic products bearing the 'RadioShack', 'Genexxa' and 'Realistic' brand names.

It's always fun spotting old brands & signage and a treat when it's something rare like Tandy.

Tandy said goodbye to the UK high street in 2001 as the last of the shops was converted after acquisition by Carphone Warehouse.

RadioShack

Until fairly recently there was a RadioShack in Lytham Saint Annes. Unfortunately that store closed its doors in 2019.

I bought a VHS tape in there when I first found the shop in 2017

Other relics of the high street

We've also seen the remnants of Woolworths, Toys R Us and Kwik Save on our travels.

Our most local, still visible 'dead brand' can be seen at the old Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester.

Old Iceland

Spotting some old Iceland signage on a modern Iceland store.

I had to take a second look when I saw these signs on the Iceland supermarket in Holywell, North Wales.

Iceland with pre-year 2000 branding. In 2018

I hadn't seen Iceland signage and branding like this for a while!

There can't be many other branches of Iceland still carrying this old style can there...?

It's always interesting finding quirky signs and old shopfronts on my travels. In recent years I've seen the ghostly remnants of Tandy, Radioshack, Woolworths, Blockbuster Video, Toys R Us and Kwik Save on the high street.

Urban Exploration - Blockbuster Video in Fallowfield, Manchester

A look at the old Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester.

Since I found the remains of the Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester last October I've been intrigued to see the brand still has a lingering presence in the retail world. It's always interesting to see ghost signs, remnants of old & dead brands and signage while out and about on our travels.

It's so odd to see Blockbuster branding along with social distancing signage and notices 

Blockbuster ceased operations in the UK in December 2013.

A notice on the door at the old Fallowfield branch. Some retail history

As well as the Fallowfield Blockbuster there are still signs of the stores in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex, Chiswick in London and Norwich in Norfolk.

A view inside the old store

Related blog posts:
- Blockbuster
- Fallowfield
- Urban Exploration

Woolworths in Brunstane, Edinburgh

A look at an old Woolworths store in Brunstane, Edinburgh.

The abandoned Woolworths store in Brunstane, Edinburgh in August 2011

My recent revisit to the old Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester reminded me of the old Woolworths shopfront we saw in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent last November. That in turn prompted me to look in our archives for the photos I took of the abandoned Big W Woolworths store at The Jewel retail park next to the railway station in Brunstane, Edinburgh, Scotland from 2011.

A closer look at the old entrance

Brunstane railway station on the left is dwarfed by the old abandoned Woolworths store on the right

The building is now home to The Range.

The last Woolworths

The last Woolworths shop in the UK closed in January 2009 so we were amazed to see the sign was still up at the Stoke-on-Trent store last year.

Ghost signs

We see a lot of ghost signs on shops and building on our travels. Many of these are from decades ago and they help tell the story of an area.

Unfortunately in the coming months and years we are likely to see a number of other brands disappear.

In addition to these Woolworths shops and the Blockbuster Video store we've seen the remnants of retail brands from recent years including Tandy in Hitchen, RadioShack in Lytham Saint Annes and Kwik Save in Barrow-in-Furness.

Do you have a favourite brand from years gone by? Are the remains of an old brand still visible on a building where you live or work? Do let me know.

Woolworths Pick n' Mix

Interestingly there's a Woolworths-themed miniature golf hole at Teezers Retro Golf course in Coventry, we played that course in April last year.

A loop-di-loop obstable on a Pick n' Mix minigolf hole

Ghost Signs U.K.

Old and intriguing 'ghost signs' advertising long-gone shops, businesses, products and services.  

My friend and fellow Minigolfer Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd (retired) has been telling me to have a look at the Ghost Signs U.K. Facebook page and the intriguing and interesting collection of advertising signs from long-gone shops.

As the Ghost Signs U.K. Twitter page says the aim of the project is "nothing to do with the paranormal but everything to do with social history."

After attending the Celia Time event back in February 2013 we spotted a great ghost sign of a very old and long out-of-business Dispensing Chemist shop on Cloudesley Road in north London.

Toilet Requisites! Photo by Emily of me and Brad next to the old Ghost Sign advertising on a wall on Cloudesley Road in London

Ghost signs are another thing for me to keep an eye out for in addition to Minigolf & Crazy Golf courses, brown signs, milestones, Bar Billiards tables, plaques, abandoned shoes, funny signs and whatnot!

Links:

- Ghost Signs U.K. on Facebook

- Ghost Signs U.K. on Twitter