please empty your brain below
A full list of Woolworths stores can be found here.

See also wooliesbuildings.wordpress.com.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 04.12.18 - 1:11 a.m. | #

South Woodford; now International Stores, a growing East London chain of food stores offering very good value greengrocery. Meanwhile the local Iceland is now an M&S food. Wanstead; now a small Tesco.

amber | 04.12.18 - 7:11 a.m. | #

The store in my hometown became a Tesco Metro; the one near my parents' a 99p Store - I'm not entirely sure what it is now as I've not been past recently, and the small town they live in already had a Poundland in a much better location.

Moogal | 04.12.18 - 7:20 a.m. | #

Yet again, I'm left in awe of your ability to weave a fascinating thread through the everyday landscape of our city.

Tunnel Bore | 04.12.18 - 7:32 a.m. | #

Here in the sticks of Berkshire, the Newbury store became a Wilko, thus roughly paralleling what Woolies sold but doing it so much better: a clean tidy spacious store laid out properly and without aisles and aisles of confectionery (some though) and racks of rubbish CDs. 10/15 years ago even Newbury had an HMV, Our Price, MVC and an independent well as Woolies, Smiths and Boots selling CDs. Now just a few at Sainsburys main store and I am not sure whether Tesco sell them at all.

J. | 04.12.18 - 7:33 a.m. | #

Bizarrely there are two Poundlands in the Stratford Centre.

The former Woolies is the one next to Lidl, not the one next to Greggs.

Madison | 04.12.18 - 7:39 a.m. | #

I think Walthamstow won the Woolie’s lottery. We got a Wikos, which is everything that Woolworths should have been but wasn’t.

Dan | 04.12.18 - 7:41 a.m. | #

I love how the link for the Stratford store goes to a page where the photo is attributed to one Diamond Geezer!

Our Woollies became an independent tat shop for a short while. but is now a Peacocks, I think the only one in the area to survive their plunge into administration and subsequent purchase by Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

Al | 04.12.18 - 7:49 a.m. | #

Ours became a Tesco, replacing the much smaller one that was their first self-service store.

Andrew | 04.12.18 - 7:51 a.m. | #

The one in Islington became a Waitrose. How the other half lives.

ganching | Homepage | 04.12.18 - 8:04 a.m. | #

As my late mother used to remind me, when she was growing up in Yorkshire in the 1930s Woolworths was the Threepenny and Sixpenny Shop -- a UK version of the Nickel and Dime Store. But really just the same as the pound shop, with a bit more pricing flexibility.

AlanBG | 04.12.18 - 8:11 a.m. | #

Excellent piece. Now shared on Twitter by Woolworths historian-in-chief Graham Soult: https://twitter.com/soult

Philip | 04.12.18 - 8:32 a.m. | #

There's a Woolworths happily carrying on around 20 minutes' walk from my flat right now, but as that's in Dusseldorf, I doubt that's overly relevant. Yet still I mention it.

'Chrisp Street' always looks like a typo to me. When living in Greenwich, there was a building with the same name right near Maze Hill station.

Ben | 04.12.18 - 8:32 a.m. | #

Love that link to the Woolies history site in the first comment.

All the ones I can think of turned into Iceland, independent pound shops (two now defunct), or Poundland. Except the one in Chelmsford, which became a new state-of-the-art Barclays Bank.

Blue Witch | 04.12.18 - 8:37 a.m. | #

The Woolies referred to in your list as in 'Highgate' was in Junction Road, just along a bit from Archway tube. So I always thought of it as Archway Woolies.

michael vince | 04.12.18 - 8:38 a.m. | #

The former Woolworths in Ruislip Manor became a Wetherspoon pub, JJ Moon’s.

It opened around 1990, which considerably pre-dates the general demise of Woolworths in the UK.

Plastic Man | 04.12.18 - 8:49 a.m. | #

Green Lanes, Harringay had a Woolworths (a postwar Bethnal Green lookalike planted in a row of Victorian shops) until late 80s/early 90s, it became then and remains an Iceland.

Gordon | 04.12.18 - 8:51 a.m. | #

Since Woolies shut down I still haven't found anywhere that sells stick on shoe soles.

kev | 04.12.18 - 8:54 a.m. | #

Chingford Mount Woolies became Poundland until someone torched it. Haven't been past since the Spring when it was still boarded up.

E17Ian | 04.12.18 - 9:12 a.m. | #

West Ealing - Poundworld (now defunct) and Superdrug. Plans are (were?) afoot to demolish the art deco building and replace it with the usual tower of "affordable" flats.

andy c | 04.12.18 - 9:13 a.m. | #

Fascinating.

In Wood Green at the time that Woolworths folded there was a store in the Mall (store 1240 according to the wordpress site). It seems now to be a New Look - but there is a Wilko next to it.

Bob L-S | 04.12.18 - 9:30 a.m. | #

Agreed, Wilko seems to be occupying the retail niche that Woolies used to do.

Adrian | 04.12.18 - 9:34 a.m. | #

Some years ago I decided to visit my old home I left in 1962. I also wandered around the shopping streets, and the Lido. The Ruislip Manor Woolworths had become a Pub JJ Moons owned by Wetherspoon.

YDU | 04.12.18 - 9:49 a.m. | #

The one in Harrow is now a TK Maxx

Mahesh | 04.12.18 - 9:49 a.m. | #

re. the Chingford Woolworths: it became 99p shop or Poundland or Poundstretcher and went through several versions of them until the big fire mentioned by E17Ian. Still boarded up and no roof.
And re. the comment from AlanBG about the 1930s 6d Woollies. The family 'archive' has my mother's (1939) wedding/shopping list of household goods = Woollies.

GMHChingford | 04.12.18 - 9:50 a.m. | #

A number of stores have filled the (small) void left by the demise of Woolworths, Wilko, B&M and all the various pound stores

What's notable about your list is that just about all the ex Woolworths in London have been reused, whereas elsewhere in the country pretty recently it was still not uncommon to see empty ex Woolworth stores

Mikey C | 04.12.18 - 9:56 a.m. | #

Woolworths were so numerous and so distinctive that you can go to almost any High Street and say "I bet that used to be a Woolworths"!

Cornish Cockney | 04.12.18 - 10:31 a.m. | #

Tolworth store became Pizza Hut, then a charity shop I think. It is currently empty.

mikeH | 04.12.18 - 10:38 a.m. | #

There used to be a Woolworths in Purley, at the site where Laura Ashley is now. It appears in the 1972 store list you linked to (branch Nr 728/9) but not in the 1995 one, so was presumably disposed of some time between those dates.

Nightmale | 04.12.18 - 11:09 a.m. | #

I remember there was also a Woolworths at Rose Hill (between Sutton and Morden) which is not in your list. It is in the list you linked to, though, so it was presumably one which survived to the end. Google Street View (March 2018) shows it to be a furniture shop called Landlord's Furniture Warehouse.

michaelH | 04.12.18 - 11:30 a.m. | #

Romford’s former Woolies was, until recently a branch of Poundworld.

Rob Healy | Homepage | 04.12.18 - 11:48 a.m. | #

I miss the Woolies of the 1970s, but not the version it had become before it's eventual demise.
I have never stepped inside an Iceland store, and now vaguely feel that I may be missing something.

Frank F | 04.12.18 - 12:04 p.m. | #

Nice post. Iceland probably did a bulk acquisition of locations. Although it looks "quintessentially Woolworths", that Forest Gate one was originally a Burton. See my Twitter feed about Art Deco Burtons: https://twitter.com/LaidByMonty

LaidByMonty | Homepage | 04.12.18 - 12:07 p.m. | #

DG: the Croydon store was a very large Woolies, on two floors; HM only took over part of it - Superdrug took over the rest, and I think the remainder of the upper floor is an empty shop at the moment.

Margaret | 04.12.18 - 12:08 p.m. | #

Missing from y09r list is the Chiswick (Turnham Green) branch, now a Waitrose.

3078260061 | 04.12.18 - 12:08 p.m. | #

The Tooting Woolies brielfy became Poundland after it closed. Poundland then went into smaller premises round the corner in the High St and then the Woolies became Wilko. Seems a strange move, but perhaps Wilko could pay more.

Sutton Woolies (on the reconstructed Allders site) became Peacocks

Whilst not London, the Woolies in Great Yarmouth also became a Poundland, as did the one in nearby Gorleston.

Like other chain stores, many of the Woolies had the same architecture and interiors of the period that were instantly recognisable, some of which lasted for quite a long time in the original stores. I have memories of the interiors being wooden floor (as was usual at the time) with the smell of floor polish and also the large fancy globe lights (before fluorescent tubes took over) that lit up the store.

Many towns have two Poundlands, as they seem to have kept most of the 99p stores that they took over. This does seem a bit of overkill, especially where they about five minutes walk away and one of them is a large ex Woolies and the Poundland displays look rather lost in there (as at Yarmouth)

Rogmi | 04.12.18 - 12:21 p.m. | #

@Frank F I agree about Woolies. Almost overnight, it lost it's "charm" and usefulness. Once a regular visitor, after the changes I only visited one if I was desperate for something.

Wilko is the nearest thing to Woolies on the High St these days and I'm a frequent visitor for most of the bits and pieces I need that I would have previously got from Woolies. However, even Wilko seems to be going downhill now. Often what I want (and they stock in the shop) isn't available and stock availability is often poor. "You can pay now and we'll get it for you" is the usual reply to the question "when will it be available", but the '3 - 4 days' usually ends up a week+. Perhaps the rumours that Wilko are in trouble are true. It would be a shame to see them go.

Rogmi | 04.12.18 - 12:31 p.m. | #

looking at your list, we sure got lucky in Crouch End with our Waitrose

Caz | 04.12.18 - 12:45 p.m. | #

Can you really still buy a Walnut Whip? I thought the walnut had gone the same way as Woolies.

Once there were two walnuts in a Walnut Whip, just as once there were two Woolies in Oxford Street.

Gerry | 04.12.18 - 12:50 p.m. | #

Fascinating article! Woolworths' stupendous 1940s art deco HQ still stands. [Google street view]

Good write up here (miles better than the shit I write!)

Rog | Homepage | 04.12.18 - 12:54 p.m. | #

Woolworths in Pinner is now WH Smith. There has never been a Tesco of any size in Pinner town centre, only Pinner Green.

Sprout Eater | 04.12.18 - 1:03 p.m. | #

Car-friendly Beckton Retail Park and car-hostile Canary Wharf are both products of the relaxed planning in Docklands under Margaret Thatcher. One of them has been somewhat more successful than the other.

Sprout Eater | 04.12.18 - 1:12 p.m. | #

Orpington became a Poundworld Plus until their demise... Currently vacant, as is the old Post Office next door as that has relocated to WH Smiths.

Southern Heights (Light Railway) | 04.12.18 - 1:56 p.m. | #

The one in Harrow is now a Wilko's. TK Maxx occupies a different unit.

Before then, it occupied a 1930s unit much like many of those pictured above, which (I think) is now a branch of New Look

Espadrilles | 04.12.18 - 3:28 p.m. | #

Woolworths in Beckenham High Street became a Superdrug, nicely placed only three or four shops along from Boots. 😏 This was before the final demise of the brand.
I then had to bus it to the West Wickham branch to buy those stick on soles that #Kev mentioned earlier.
Those were a godsend to a mum with limited means and two boys who could kick their way through the soles of shoes quicker than growing out of them! I can still remember the smell of the rubber and that awful glue.😒

Jo W | 04.12.18 - 3:36 p.m. | #

Madison: the unit formerly occupied by Woolies in The Stratford Centre was a 99p Stores before becoming a Poundland. I'm a little surprised they've kept it on alongside the other branch, but I guess they wouldn't do it if it wasn't profitable.

Leyton's branch (unmistakable Woolies architecture) had a second frontage round the corner on the High Road - this was a Greggs until it closed last year and is still vacant.

martin | 04.12.18 - 3:40 p.m. | #

There was a Woolworths in Richmond (no. 23 in the 1972 list) that I used to hang around in in my youth (mid-1960s). According the the 1995 list it closed in 1983. It is now a "Whole Foods Market".

Andrew | 04.12.18 - 3:58 p.m. | #

Numerous updates made to the list, thanks!

(n.b. Woolworths closed before 2008 are not included)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 04.12.18 - 4:00 p.m. | #

Palmers Green, Iceland closed earlier this year, now empty.

mclm | 04.12.18 - 5:09 p.m. | #

Woolworth in Bromley, High Street which is now Poundland.

dg writes: Already first on the list.

Mark Wilkinson | 04.12.18 - 5:31 p.m. | #

Just to add that Rogmi is quite correct in saying that Woolworths in Sutton became Peacocks - and not Waterstones which is at at the other end of the same block. It is confusing because the Woolworths store list shows 71 High Street and the Waterstones store list shows 71-81 High Street even though they are at the 71 end. It must be that 71-81 is the whole block and for some reason Woolworths decided to show their address as just the lowest number 71 which is the end of the block they were not at, if you see what I mean!

This has also been confirmed by someone in the comments under the relevant entry in the wonderful Wooliesbuildings website you have linked to. There are two entries for Sutton (I told you this was confusing) but the comment is under the entry for store no. 1192 not store no. 71.

michaelH | 04.12.18 - 5:54 p.m. | #

Woolworths in Cheltenham was enormous and was converted to an entire arcade of shops (the word mall is acceptable as long as it is not pronounced maul). It is now becoming a John Lewis.

kev | 04.12.18 - 6:38 p.m. | #

Great idea. The Woolies that closed in Putney in 2009 has become a TKMaxx (Barclays is next door).

GJ | 04.12.18 - 7:14 p.m. | #

The top floor of The Hackney store is fake and just for show.

Kim | 04.12.18 - 7:55 p.m. | #

Ten years ago!!! It can't have been.....

Sarah | Homepage | 04.12.18 - 8:58 p.m. | #

The Swiss Cottage store which is now an Iceland initially became a branch of Peacock's before that chain got into trouble as well!

It was a relatively new building, as the site was previous occupied by swimming baths until they burnt down in 1972 [photo]

Mikey C | 04.12.18 - 9:59 p.m. | #

British Telecom would disagree with your list under "London's other Woolworths". I have just received the BT 2018/19 directory for Bromley and Orpington. This lists Woolworths Plc, Penge - 145 High Street SE20 and a phone number. I wonder who pays for the phone as Poundland do not appear to use BT phones as none of their shops are listed.

James Bunting | 04.12.18 - 10:09 p.m. | #

@Sarah
My sentiments exactly :-)

I'm often surprised just how long ago some things happened, when it seems like only yesterday in memory!

Rogmi | 04.12.18 - 11:25 p.m. | #

There may have been a Woolworths at that location in Richmond in '83, but the building that WholeFoods occupy is new since then.

David | 05.12.18 - 9:14 a.m. | #

Damn! That Festive bake looks gooood!

https://www.greggs.co.uk/bakes/festive-bake

David | 05.12.18 - 9:23 a.m. | #

False advertising from the East Ham Poundland: not everything's £1 nowadays. Poundworld (RIP) used to have "Everything's £1" slogans on all their store frontages, but they were all noticeably covered up with a less price-specific slogan once more expensive goods were stocked.

As for my local Woolies, in Huddersfield, that one became... surprise surprise, a Poundland!

TheLupineOne | 05.12.18 - 10:56 a.m. | #

@Caz, I moved to Crouch End in 2010, just after Waitrose opened. People still seem to grumble about it and I kinda wish I'd got to experience CE with a Woolworths: feels like it'd be a different place. But yes, glad we were spared Iceland, or Poundland.

Sashina | 05.12.18 - 11:01 a.m. | #

The Forest Gate Woolworths was actually one down from what's now Poundland (previously 99p Stores) - it was a smaller Woolworths Local in the unit that is now Tesco. In its last years it was a somewhat chaotically laid out shop with the original tills used for on the floor storage and all transactions put through the home entertainment counter in the middle of the store, making for a rather awkward customer flow through the store - I guess business was slack enough for this to not matter. It was closed slightly earlier in the last round of cuts & closures before the company went under.

dg writes: Updated, thanks! (which involved a fresh visit, a new photo and two rewritten paragraphs, because it's important to be correct)

Tim Roll-Pickering | Homepage | 05.12.18 - 11:47 a.m. | #

There isn’t an Iceland in Highgate. Presume as mentioned by another commentator that this should in fact be the Archway one.

As an aside, very interesting, I wondered why there were so many Iceland shops in London!

Joe | 10.12.18 - 9:28 a.m. | #

A retail analyst has tracked 807 former Woolies. Nationally, the top two replacements are the two lands, Ice- and Pound-.

https://www.cannyinsights.com/2018/12/31/nine-out-of-ten-ex-woolworths-sites-remain-in-active-retail-use-a-decade-after-closure/

martin | 31.12.18 - 11:43 a.m. | #











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