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 new Boom: Battle Bar with minigolf and more is planned to open in Liverpool next year.
Boom: Battle Bar Liverpool will be the third venue from the brand.
As well as a minigolf course - known as 'Crazier Golf' - the Liverpool venue will be home to axe throwing, shuffleboard and a number of other sports and games.
Boom: Battle Bar Liverpool will be located inside a former Poundland shop in St Johns shopping centre.
Boom: Battle Bars are a relatively new entrant to the world of competitive socialising and retailtainment. A number of shopping malls, town centres and retail parks are adding minigolf, crazy golf, adventure golf and other experiential entertainment and activity leisure offerings to their sites to attract and retain customers.
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
The annual includes 65 features on picture postcards on a wide range of topics. I'm happy to say minigolf is well covered.
Picture Postcard Magic
It's been brilliant to contribute to the Picture Postcard Magic blog from Reflections of a Bygone Age this year. Check out my guest posts in the links below:
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 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.
We're looking forward to a return visit to the Isle of Wight on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've still got to explore a lot of the island. There are also a number of new courses that have opened since our last trip there.
It's always good to be able to raise awareness of Coeliac Disease and you can read more of my Tales from a Gluten Free Christmas in this Christmas blog post.
The Dull Men's Club's brand new calendar for 2021 arrived yesterday and we're looking forward to reading up about our fellow dullards as the year progresses.
You'll be able to find an update on our adventures within the 2021 edition too.
Dull events
This year has certainly been a strange one. While not completely dull, it has had its moments.
We had an enjoyable evening of mild excitement at the Dull Men's Club Anorak of the Year Award event in Manchester last November. I can't believe the world has changed so much since then.
Merry Christmas to everyone from us here in sunny Stockport.
We're not sending any real cards this year as last year we posted out a hundred special Christmas minigolf postcards and only 5 arrived at their destination, and 2 of them were half destroyed, as the post box we put them in suffered some sort of incident.
