Kwik Save in Barrow-in-Furness

Spotting an old Kwik Save shop in Barrow.

On our travels it's always interesting to spot ghost signs and dead brands. We've seen quite a few different remnants of retail from years gone by, including Tandy in Hitchen, RadioShack in Lytham Saint Annes, Woolworths in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent and Blockbuster Video in Manchester.

While on a trip to Barrow-in-Furness last year we saw the remains of the old Kwik Save there.

The former Kwik Save in Barrow-in-Furness

The company went into administration in 2007. The brand does live on, albeit in a much smaller form, and is now owned by Costcutter.

Definitely not 'Now Open'

The changing face of the high street and retail marketing has seen a number of former shop premises turned into family entertainment centres and competitive socialising venues including crazy golf, tenpin bowling, axe throwing, retro arcade gaming, darts, ping pong and more.

The British High Street, November 2019

Spotting a dead brand on a high street.

On my travels I always keep my eye out for interesting sights and while Emily and I were driving through Longton in Stoke-on-Trent I spotted a Woolworths!

Woolworths in Longton

The last Woolworths shop in the UK closed in January 2009 so we were amazed to see the sign was still up.

The Woolworths on Market Street in Longton closed its doors for the final time on the 30th December 2008.

Looking online the former shop had an 'interesting' and 'alternative' use earlier this year!

On a related old retailer note I recently had a look at the old Blockbusters store in Fallowfield, Manchester.

The last remnants of Blockbuster Video in Manchester

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

A look at what's left of Blockbuster Video on Fallowfield Retail Park

A few years ago I blogged about seeing the last signs of the Tandy in Hitchen and how it brought back memories of my first job as a Saturday Boy at a Tandy franchise in my home town.

While in Manchester today I found remnants of another dead brand - Blockbuster Video.

Oh, what happened to this sign?

Dark clouds gathered over the brand in 2013

The store sign is prominently displayed on both sides of the main sign at Fallowfield Retail Park and the windows of the shop still retain Blockbuster signage.

A sign in the shop window

Most of the shelves inside have been removed, but the walls and desks clearly retain the brand colours of Blockbuster.

These window graphics still look fresh

Clearly still recognisable as a Blockbuster

The shelves are bare

There is currently one independently owned franchise still operating as Blockbuster in the USA and you can find it in Bend, Oregon.

Quik Drop box to nowhere

A documentary about the rise and fall of the brand called The Last Blockbuster is coming soon.

Interestingly you can play through a 'Blockbuster' store at the Ghetto Golf indoor miniature golf course at The Custard Factory in Digbeth, Birmingham.

The Blockbuster hole at Ghetto Golf in Birmingham

When I was a student I was one of Geoffrey's Helpers at Toys R Us. Most of the former stores have been converted into new stores, Stockport's is now The Range. I wonder if any of the old signage for the Toys R Us brand will still be visible in the next 5-10 years?

Do you have a favourite defunct brand? Are the remains of an old brand still visible near where you live or work? Do let me know.

Related posts:
- Blockbuster
- Tandy in Hitchin
- Remembering Tandy
- RadioShack in Lytham Saint Annes

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

Instascran in Stockport

We love funny signs and business names, so when we heard that there was a deli called 'Instascran' in the Heaviley bit of Stockport we had to go for a look.

Instagram is one of the few social networks I'm not on, so I don't know whether Instascran is actually on Instagram.

I'm now on Instagram. As is Instascran.

One of our favourite shop name puns is Singhbury's in Aylesbury.

Related blog posts:
- Stockport
- Funny sign

Links:
- Instascran on Twitter
- Instascran on Facebook

Singhbury's Local in Aylesbury

While driving back from Abingdon to Luton Emily spotted the Singhbury's Local shop in Aylesbury!

As fans of funny signs and quirky marketing we had to stop for some photos, have a look inside and buy some snacks.

The owners - Inderjit Singh Nagpal and Manmeet Singh Bhatia - came up with the name by combining their own name with that of the 'bury' part of Aylesbury. The orange colour scheme represents that of the Sikh religion.

Related blog posts:
- Funny sign
- Shop
- Marketing
- Advertising

Link:
- RG Marketing & Events

Carhartt - still going strong

I was recently interviewed about my Crazy Golf travels and exploits by the fashion retailer Oi Polloi and off the back of that treated myself to a new sweatshirt from one of my favourite brands - Carhartt.

I've been a fan of Carhartt for years. Back in the 1990's I worked in a clothes shop called Sandman in my home town of Abingdon and I've still got (and still wear) one of the sweatshirts I bought there in 1999! It goes to show how top notch and hard wearing Carhartt stuff is. It certainly lives up to its brand promise.

Then and now

The service from Oi Polloi was excellent and the Holbrook Lightweight Sweatshirt arrived very quickly and in perfect condition. I'd shop with them again.

Crazy Golfing in Abingdon. The first course I ever played, and the 31st visited for Emily and I on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Related blog posts:
- Oi Polloi Crazy Golf interview
- Shopping

Links:
- Carhartt website
- Oi Polloi website
- Oi Polloi blog interview: Richard Gottfried and the crazy world of crazy golf

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems.

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Clothes shopping in Hong Kong...

The advertising campaign for the 2014 Spring/Summer collection at this clothes shop in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon, Hong Kong must've been a success as the poster is still up!

Emily spotted this brand name while on business in Kowloon - crazy!

Just recently we spotted a great window display of funny brand names from around the world at the Fleet Street Clinic in London. They don't always make the right impression when they travel to international markets!

Related blog posts:
- Funny sign
- Advertising
- Marketing
- Hong Kong
- Funny brand names from around the world

Funny brand names from around the world

A great window display of funny brand names from around the world.

The window display at the Fleet Street Clinic

While walking to Covent Garden on a day out to visit the Bond in Motion exhibition at the London Film Museum we spotted an excellent window display at the Fleet Street Clinic.

Some brand names travel better than others

One of the services offered by the private medical practice is a Travel Clinic - and they've certainly gone to town on the display showing a huge range of quirky and strange brand names on essential and interesting products from around the world.

I wouldn't fancy drinking a can of 'Sweat'!

While we were playing for the Great Britain Minigolf team in Sweden back in 2011 we spotted the Plopp and Kex brands. Eating Plopp was far more pleasant than the name suggests. The caramel version was delicious. The liquorice chocolate flavour was less tasty.

Would you snack on these chocs?

There's also a rather interestingly named brand of liquorice from Denmark that I've tried before! I'll leave you to look that one up...

Link:
- Fleet Street Clinic

Related blog posts:
- Marketing
- Advertising
- London

Minigolf collectables from the Lost City Adventure Golf course in Nottingham

As my friends, family and regular readers of the blog will know, I'm a BIG fan of minigolf merchandise and ephemera.

The Lost City Adventure Golf course in Nottingham is a great place for minigolf ephemera

On our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour travels we've collected hundreds of scorecards, leaflets, postcards, pencils, balls, badges, t-shirts, tokens and whatnots.

The great branded scorecards and coasters at the Lost City Adventure Golf in Nottingham

A classic way to encourage repeat visits in the miniature golf business is to employ a 'Lucky Last Hole' where, as a bonus, you can try and win a free game - we've played a fair few on our travels, and won on some of them.

You're very likely to find a 'Top Hole' on an Arnold Palmer Putting Course and the Free Game Cards are great. They're well made and often draw on the history of the putting franchise.

In this day and age most courses that give out free games for Lucky Last Hole wins use a paper or card based 'token', and very few still give metal coins to winners.

Except for the Lost City Adventure Golf course in Nottingham. If you're skilled - and lucky - enough you might just win a piece of treasured Inca Gold!

The Lost City Adventure Golf's Temple Trail and Sacred Skull Pass courses were the 330th and 331st we played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. The 36-hole indoor layout has two Lucky Last Holes - both are actually the 18th hole of the course, rather than standalone holes.

The lucky last hole on the Sacred Skull Trail

The 18th Top Hole on the Temple Trail course

When we've played as members of the general public we've not been able to master the lucky last holes at Nottingham, and when we've played there in national tour competitions we've only used one course and skipped the 18th, replaying the 1st hole instead. So unfortunately we've never won a free game there.

I did win a bronze medal at the Midlands Invitational Tournament at the course last year though

But the team at the Lost City were kind enough to send me a nice package that contained a branded pen and two magnificent tokens in a cardboard slip case. Fantastic additions to my collection.

Two pieces of prized Inca Gold from Nottingham

A nice Lost City branded pen

What's more, the Lost City Adventure Golf also has it's own handstamp applied to its mail! Absolutely brilliant to see. There aren't nearly enough minigolf stamps, postmarks or handstamps in circulation.

The Lost City Adventure Golf have really gone to town on their branding - on our travels to 675 courses it's the only place we've seen with an Adventure Golf table! Marvellous.

The theming in Nottingham is brilliant

Check out the Lost City Adventure Golf's website for more details, opening times and prices.

The Lost City Adventure Golf course is well worth a visit

Links:
- The Lost City Adventure Golf
- The Crazy Golf Museum

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Ephemera
- Merchandise
- Token
- Tokens
- The Lost City Adventure Golf at The Cornerhouse in Nottingham
- Revisiting The Lost City Adventure Golf course in Nottingham
- A gift from Paradise

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.