Screen Shot's From Discussions.
Below there is 4 screen shots were I had joined groups such as Blackburn past and history of Blackburn on a Facebook page which is where people can discuss all about the history of Blackburn. I put on a question which was "I'm just wondering if anyone can help me, i'm studying photography and i'm doing my final major assignment at Blackburn college, i'm documenting corner shops and how they are thriving in Blackburn and id like to know other people's opinions on how they have changed over the years? this would be a great help thank you", With this i got a great response from many people of the generation were they had lived through have a corner shop etc these are the screen shots of which i have written out each response underneath.
History of Blackburn Lancashire.
This screen shot is of the page History of Blackburn where my responses wasn't as good as the other pages i had posted this on as there was only one useful comment placed on this i have used this as evidence of what a corner shop was like in the past.
This screen shot is of the page History of Blackburn where my responses wasn't as good as the other pages i had posted this on as there was only one useful comment placed on this i have used this as evidence of what a corner shop was like in the past.
The screen shots below show a post which I posted on the Facebook page Blackburn Past on facebook which is another history page within Facebook, i got a great response from this group as you can see in the screen shots below i have also copied these out too as it is all evidence of what a traditional corner shop looked like.
What people's opinions are on traditional corner shops.
Judith Addison.
" I've always lived in Oswaldtwistle. There were alot of corner shops when i was a child in the 1950's, mostly grocers, There main advantage was that you ordered your bread there everyday from Monday to Saturday. It would usually be a child of the family to went to the loaves up and ordered for the next day. Corner shops were also known for the "Penny box" from which children bought sweets for example penny arrow bars, with there spending money. Their were alot of other kinds of shops on the street corners in particular chip shops. Most shopping was done locally on a daily basis at corner shops or shops on the main road of your local town, especially the co-op. On a Saturday afternoon the shops in the small towns were closed you went down to Accrington market on on the bus. Milk was delivered daily by the milkman who might of been a local farmer or it might have been from a local dairy like white-well dairies most household didn't have a fridge most people had a daily paper delivered from the local newsagents now most of the corner shops are converted into houses".
Lee A Gosling.
My great aunt had a corner shop in Blackburn, she invented penny lolly's i think,
I am pretty sure she was still receiving royalties up to her death years ago because Walls bought the idea.
Carol Osman
My Nan had a grocery shop on the corner of wimberly street, there seemed to be a shop on most corners then, she sold all of the usual things, there was a tin with a glass top that had broken biscuit's in and we was allowed to have 2 bits each "wow we thought we was so lucky" and if i helped her serve a customer then i was allowed a whole one. It is a shame that all the houses and the shops have all gone and new houses built in their place. A lot of changes have been made to Blackburn and some not for the better, so that is what i think.
Anne Holding.
Our local co-op had a long wooden counter. Butter was cut and weighed on the scales, Bacon was sliced while you was there. Biscuits were in a wooden case with a glass front and you could choose a few of each as you wanted, dog biscuits were in a big sack and was picked out with a big scoop and weighed for you "NO SELF SERVICE" you made your shopping list before you went and handed to the shop keeper and she would reach down what you wanted we also had a green grocer with a horse called (dobbin) and cart that came round door to door he had fish on the back which he headed and tailed for you and threw the fish heads to the local cats who waited at various points down the road. It wad a treat to give dobbin a carrot. Cake shops had the cakes on glass cake stands in the window.
Francis Buckle.
The corner shops as my generation new 72 years are in a different time warp now...maybe chip shops, hairdressers (unisex) even cafe's and a whole range of different variety of things now to try and tempt us all in. Mostly grocers and green grocers, wool shop,iron monger, mostly the everyday essentials which was needed and could afford and if you had little money the grocer would put you items on the tick ie: you payed at the end of the week (payday) we had no credit cards in those day nor cheque books... all we had was cash that's why you kept the same grocer... i have owned hairdressers in the past and that is the only way some people could manage to get their hair done these days Tesco's etc have in store salons these days, i now live in Leyland (but most of my life has been in Blackburn) and we had a lot of of corner shops...butchers,barbers,mobile phone specialist and we have now got a corner shop that's an old fashioned ale house, we even have an old fashioned toffee shop but the big boys are the grocers.
This is a photograph which Francis Buckle emailed me and sent information about.
" These where the posh shops in Blackburn her parents would use these on a Saturday maybe if they had a bit of money.
Jayne Vernon.
It used to be safe to send a young child to the corner shops and they new who you were so you couldn't get away with anything in the days of people having newspapers delivered to them it kept the shops in touch with the local community. Now there aren't so many and it ain't so safe and they seem less personal.
Angela Mason.
Wish life could go back to those lovely times, I'm only 51 so although i remember the corner shops they were already changing as i grew up. However things are different now. No personal services, no one has a time for a chat, supermarkets are too busy, hate the even more shopping trolleys that go around the supermarkets, "how unsociable is that when people won't even go to the supermarkets but sends a worker around to shop for them!!! We have a local corner shop up until last year when it was sold to a new owner he used to drop all the old folks heavy items off or if they couldn't get there due to ill health he would drop there shopping off until they were better.
An out line of what a traditional corner shop was and the goods it supplied based on the opinions on the Facebook groups.
This is my overall evaluation on traditional corner shops, I have gathered this information to give me a bigger insight of what a local traditional corner shop would of operated like.
All these opinions are off local Blackburn people and the surrounding area. These opinions are of a generation that grew up through the times when corner shops were thriving, traditional style shops. There opinions are of how the shop operated I.E, the way the shop keeper would serve you. This entailed you giving the keeper your shopping list and he would gather together the goods you needed, Also most goods were behind the counter and was supplied to you fresh unlike today's modern packaged goods.
The way the shop traditionally looked compared with today eg, traditional big wooden windows which allowed the goods to be displayed. They also told there opinions of how the traditional corner shop was the main hub of the community eg, the shop was not just a business it was your neighbor and everybody new each other. Other opinions are of how you can have goods on credit "TICK" which they would collect there goods daily but pay on their pay day of that week. This is a proven traditional way of surviving for the traditional families of that era compared to the modern day as credit has changed as now we have credit cards, and other methods of credit. Another opinion is the way the traditional shop sold their goods they did this by selling there goods in small quantities eg, selling single biscuits to the local children compared to the modern day were they would only be sold in a packet with a minimum quantities in the packet and also meats such as bacon was freshly sliced and other foods were wrapped in paper.
