What did this building used to be?

A bit of retail archaeology in Leigh, Greater Manchester.

A new Londis, Ellie D's Tattoo Studio and Grainey's Barbers on Holden Road in Leigh - but what did it used to be?

It's interesting to see how the world of retail and buying behaviour changes over time.

------

It was once a Blockbuster Video Express.

After it was a Blockbuster store the unit on Holden Road became a Best-One shop. It is currently home to three businesses, with one section vacant.

Lost Blockbusters

Blockbuster Video ceased operations in the UK in December 2013. At the start of that year there were 528 Blockbuster locations in the UK. The number dwindled until October when only 264 shops remained. The remaining stores closed on the 16th December.

The first Blockbuster Video store had opened in Dallas, Texas, USA on the 19th October 1985.

Blockbuster Video entered the UK video rental market in 1989 following the purchase of Ritz Video.

The QuikDrop box is still in place at the old store location in Prescot, Merseyside

We've found a few empty Blockbuster stores on our travels, including the shops in Fallowfield, Manchester and Colne, Lancashire. We've also seen remnants of signage and QuikDrop boxes in a number of locations.

Not a Londis anymore

Spotting a modern day ghost sign in Salford.

While having a walk over the border in Salford City in the summer we spotted a modern day ghost sign for a Londis shop.

The former Londis shop is now the Pure Convenience store and can be found on Viaduct Street in Salford.

It's always intriguing seeing ghost signs and they are more often old and partially faded painted signs on the sides and fronts of buildings.

Londis was created in 1959 and there are over 2,000 Londis shops in the UK. The brand name of Londis came from the words 'London District Stores'.

The chain of convenience shop franchises is now owned by Booker Group, part of Tesco plc.

Visit the Londis website for more information.

Related blog posts:

- Londi's not Londis

- Ghost signs

Londi's not Londis

Our detour through Oldham on Friday meant we were travelling through some new places and when we spotted the sign at a shop on the Ripponden Road we had to stop to grab a snap. You see, the shop used to be a Londis, but is now 'Londi's'! A brilliantly simple bit of 'rebranding'.

What do you call your shop when you're no longer a Londis...

Trivia: The name Londis is a contraction of 'London District Stores'.

What a 'coincidence' the name of the new owner of the shop in Oldham was Londi eh.

It's no Singhbury's though.

Related blog posts:
- Bootleg
- Oldham