Toys R Us store in Enfield, London

A look at the old Toys R Us store in Enfield, London.

A big thank you to my cousin Elaine for sending me some photos of the former Toys R Us store in Enfield.

Toys R Us closed in the UK in April 2018. Luckily you can still find signs of the brand on some retail parks in the UK. I worked in the Gipsy Lane store in Luton, Bedfordshire back in the year 2000.

Check out the posts below to see other former Toys R Us stores in the UK:

• Wyvern Retail Park in Derby
• Festival retail park in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent
• Interchange Retail Park at Copdock Mill, Ipswich
• Central Retail Park in Manchester
• Riverside Retail Park in Nottingham
• Deepdale shopping centre in Preston
• Gemini Retail Park in Warrington

The old Blockbuster Video store in Nuneaton

A look at the old Blockbuster Video store in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

The old sign at the former Blockbuster Video store on Regent Street in Nuneaton was uncovered when the last tenant of the building moved out.

Blockbuster visits

With our interest piqued by our discovery of the abandoned Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield in 2019 we've now visited a number of former Blockbuster locations, including:

• Abingdon, Oxfordshire
• Barnsley, South Yorkshire
• Billingham, Teesside
• Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
• Chester, Cheshire
• Chorley, Lancashire
• Colne, Lancashire
• Fallowfield, Manchester
• Felixstowe, Suffolk
• Great Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester
• Hastings, East Sussex
• Leigh, Greater Manchester
• Marple, Greater Manchester
• Oldham, Greater Manchester
• Prescot, Lancashire
• Telford, Shropshire
• Wythenshawe, Manchester

Blockbuster Video in Nuneaton

Checking out the former Blockbuster Video store in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

Earlier this year the old sign at the former Blockbuster Video store on Regent Street in Nuneaton was uncovered when the most recent tenant of the building moved out.

The unit had been home to a 365 Bargains store which has now moved-next-door-but-one on the same retail park.

The sign at the rear of the store has also been removed and the ghost outline of the Blockbuster Big Ticket logo sign can be seen

It's always marvellous to find remnants of lost brands that evoke memories of a bygone time.

What film or game would you rent out if you could?

We were also lucky enough to spot an old Woolworths ghost sign while we were having a walk round Nuneaton town centre!

Blockbuster Video

Blockbuster ceased operations in the UK in December 2013. At the start of the 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 that year.

At its peak in 2004 there were more than 9,000 Blockbuster stores around the world. There is now just one remaining store open. It's in Bend, Oregon, USA.

Luckily for us there are still relics of its time as a retail powerhouse on the high streets and retail parks of the UK.

Blockbuster Video Express

We recently visited one of the last remaining Blockbuster Video Express shopfronts. It's in Billingham, County Durham.

Blockbuster visits

With our retail archaeology interest piqued by our discovery of the abandoned Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield in 2019 we've now visited a number of former Blockbuster locations, including:

• Fallowfield, Manchester
• Colne, Lancashire
• Billingham, Teesside
• Prescot, Lancashire
• Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
• Marple, Greater Manchester
• Oldham, Greater Manchester
• Felixstowe, Suffolk
• Hastings, East Sussex
• Chester, Cheshire
• Barnsley, South Yorkshire
• Telford, Shropshire
• Chorley, Lancashire
• Abingdon, Oxfordshire
• Leigh, Greater Manchester
• Great Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester
• Wythenshawe, Manchester

Woolworths in Nuneaton

Finding a Woolworths ghost sign.

We were surprised to see a Woolworths ghost sign while walking through Nuneaton town centre!

The sign was above the store's former entrance on Queens Road.

Social distancing signage alongside Woolworths branding - not something I ever thought I'd see

The shop was most recently a Poundland and before then had been a 99p Stores and a TJ Hughes.

It's always fun seeing old & lost brands, ghost signs and retail relics.

You can see some of Poundland's 'Sorry We Have Closed' messaging on the shopfront. Interestingly one of our local Poundland shops in Stockport has recently closed and where the signage has been removed you can see a British Home Stores ghost sign

Other Woolies

The last Woolworths shop in the UK closed in January 2009 so it's always nice when remnants of the brand become visible again.

We visited the Woolworths in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent last September. That store still has the signage in place and we'd originally spotted it while driving through the town the previous November.

We took a look at an old Woolworths store in Brunstane, Edinburgh in August 2011. That was a Big W Woolworths store at The Jewel retail park. It's long gone now.

You can however still see an old mosaic tile logo at the former Woolworths on Stamford Street Central in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester.

Interestingly there's a Woolworths Pick n' Mix Crazy Golf hole at Teezers Retro Golf in Coventry!

No Minigolf at Chester Zoo

The Conservation Golf course at Chester Zoo is no longer there.

We had a day out at Chester Zoo yesterday. Unfortunately the Conservation Golf course that our friend John Mittler snapped for us in January 2018 is long gone.

Check out the guest blog post from John's visit for more photos.

Chester Zoo's monorail

A look at what remains of the monorail at Chester Zoo.

Unfortunately we were two years too late to have a ride on the monorail at Chester Zoo when we visited yesterday.

However, as a big fan of monorails it was interesting to see sections of the track still in place

There were quite a few 'ends of the line' too!

A bench underneath the monorail

Lost minigolf courses - Castle Grounds, Tamworth

The Crazy Golf course in Tamworth's Castle Grounds has been replaced by a new outdoor gym.

We played the course in March 2015. It was the 356th played and 590th visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

A closed video shop in Luton

I spotted this snap of the old Shahenshah Videos shop on Alder Crescent in Luton while looking through my photos recently.

Check out my other video shop blog posts.

Toys R Us in Ipswich

A look at the old Toys R Us store in Ipswich, Suffolk.

Many thanks to my sister-in-law Annette for sending over a snap of the closed Toys R Us store in the Interchange Retail Park at Copdock Mill, Ipswich.

This sign is still up. But for how much longer?

Sadly Toys R Us closed in the UK in April 2018. Luckily there are still remnants of the brand on some retail parks in the UK. I worked in the Gipsy Lane store in Luton, Bedfordshire back in the year 2000.

Check out the blog posts below about other former Toys R Us stores:

• Central Retail Park in Manchester
• Gemini Retail Park in Warrington
• Festival retail park in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent
• Deepdale shopping centre in Preston
• Wyvern Retail Park in Derby
• Riverside Retail Park in Nottingham

Lost shops - Sainsbury's on Warren Street in Stockport town centre

A look at Sainsbury's on Warren Street in Stockport town centre.

Now a lost shop.

It closed on the 31st January this year.

Lost shops - Debenhams in Stockport town centre

A look at Debenhams in Stockport town centre. Now a lost shop.

I REMEMBER LITTLE CHEF

Do you remember Little Chef?

Many thanks to Megan Clark-Bagnall for sending me this brilliant badge from her mission to visit all of the remaining Little Chef diners in 2017 - a total of 41.

A very nice addition to my collection

What a quest. Find out more on Megan's Little Chef website.

While the brand was an ever present through my lifetime, I don't remember stopping at Little Chef's, or even Happy Eaters, when my family were on the road for day trips and holidays. Perhaps there weren't any on the routes from Abingdon to Barry Island or Minehead. I do however remember going to the Little Chef in Berinsfield, Oxfordshire for a meal in the late 80's or early 90's.

We also used to regularly pass by the Little Chef in Flimwell while en route to Hastings for minigolf tournaments.

The last Little Chef closed its doors in 2018. Interestingly the Little Chef website is still online.

The Carphone Warehouse in Leigh

A look at a lost shop in Leigh.

The Carphone Warehouse on Bradshawgate in Leigh, Greater Manchester - one of the 531 standalone shops closed by the brand in April of this year.

The Carphone Warehouse was founded in 1989 and while the brand still exists, products and services are now offered within Currys PC World stores.

Back in 1999 The Carphone Warehouse purchased Tandy's operations in the UK. My first job was at a Tandy franchise in 1995 and I've found traces of that brand in Hitchin and Saint Annes on the Sea on my travels.

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.

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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.

JJB Sports in Leigh

A look at an old JJB Sports shop in Leigh.

The shopfront of the old JJB Sports shop on Bradshawgate in Leigh, Greater Manchester is still visible.

The company went into administration in 2012 with stores closing in October and was dissolved in November that year.

The retail space occupies the ground floor of the Leigh Friendly Co-operative Society building that was designed in 1897 and opened in 1899.

The JJB brand is now owned by Sports Direct.

This shopfront on the town's main shopping street retains the pre-2010 branding on the signage.

Old shops and lost brands

One of my areas of interest is in old retail brands - I'm a marketer by profession and two of my first jobs in the 1990's and the year 2000 were at Tandy and Toys R Us. It's been fascinating to find remnants of a number of lost, dead and defunct brands on the high street and at retail parks. Some of them include Blockbuster Video, Woolworths and RadioShack, as well as examples of previous brand iterations such as Happy Shopper.

A snowy day on two lost minigolf courses

A look back at a snow day on the minigolf courses in Wardown Park, Luton.

Snow play allowed. This was back in January 2010

When we lived down in Luton, Bedfordshire our local park had two miniature golf courses. One was a 9-hole grass Mini Golf layout, the other was a 9-hole fibreglass Crazy Golf course.

That's hole 1 of the Crazy Golf course under the snow

The grass course at Wardown Park opened in 1934 and was an interesting one to play. It was too big to be considered to be a Putting Green, but not large enough to be classed as a Pitch & Putt, even though you were issued with an iron and a putter when you played.

You also received a paper ticket every time you played a round on the courses. A really nice touch and something we've rarely seen elsewhere on our travels

Sadly both courses are now long gone. Luckily we played a lot of games there in the latter half of the noughties.

The area where the two courses were was turned into a mini meadow in 2015.

The end of Blockbuster Video

The last Blockbuster Video store in the UK closed on this day in 2013.

I've spent a lot of 2020 reminiscing about 'the good old days' before the coronavirus pandemic hit the planet. One of my areas of interest is in old retail brands - I'm a marketer by profession and two of my first jobs in the 1990's and the year 2000 were at Tandy and Toys R Us. It's been fascinating to find remnants of a number of lost, dead and defunct brands on the high street and at retail parks.

Blockbuster Video Express in Colne, Lancashire this summer

One of those lost brands is Blockbuster.

Blockbuster 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 in Fallowfield, Manchester

We live near an abandoned Blockbuster Video store here in Manchester. It's always an eerie, interesting and nostalgic thing to drive past the old shop at Fallowfield Retail Park.

2020 and 2013 meet - Covid-19 social distancing signage on the ground next to the remaining signage at the Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield

The sign about the closure is still on the window there.

Blockbuster Video in the UK

At its peak in 2004 there were more than 9,000 Blockbuster stores around the world. 500+ of which were in England, Scotland and Wales. Interestingly in Northern Ireland the Xtra-Vision brand was used by the owners in-line with the Republic of Ireland.

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

The Last Blockbuster Video

There is still one last remaining open Blockbuster Video store in the world. It's in Bend, Oregon, USA.

We had planned to go on holiday to Portland this year but the pandemic put paid to that. We would've called in at the store if we were there.

Instead we've been visiting the sites of old Blockbuster Video shops near to us here in the North West of England. It's been incredibly interesting to see how may remnants of the brand can still be found on the high streets and retail parks of the country.

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

A new documentary film about the store was released yesterday. You can find out more about it on The Last Blockbuster website.

Other video stores are available

Blockbuster certainly wasn't the first video rental shop brand, but it was at one time the market leader.

We actually found a video shop open in October. And it just so happened to be Video Shop Day. You can find B.V.C. - Bolton Video Centre in Little Lever, Bolton. It's brilliant to know that you can actually still rent VHS tapes there!

Last month we also found the remains of an old video store inside a Happy Shopper shop in Derbyshire!

Save the Video Store

Family Video - one of Blockbuster's competitors back in the day - and a brand that has existed since 1978.

There is a Save the Video Store campaign and you can follow it and get involved on social media using the hashtag #SaveTheVideoStore. 

Related blog posts:

• Video Shops
• Blockbuster