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I used to love our old chemist shops in the 50s... they were full of so many interesting things..big jars with cinnamon sticks.. liquorice root sticks and other things in jars I never got round to finding out about.... it was a place of coloured big glass bottles.... and wooden drawers with crystal glass handles..beauitful smells of herbal things, scales at the door where you put in a penny to be weighed and basket baby scales on the counter.. The chemist always was professional and seem to know about everything. and would make up wee powders for colds and chills without a prescription...I remember getting told by the chemist to use rose water and witch hazel on my skin , it was cheap for a big bottle, and acted like an astringent.. oh the good old days of the old shops..
I remember when going to buy shoes was an event. You sat in a chair, got your foot measured. The stores were often really lovely. The salesperson had to "go in the back to see if we have your size".
When I was a kid, I could fit into sample-size shoes. They were usually a ladies' 4 or 5. We would wait for those sample sales-they were fun!
Oh shoe shops yes... Id forgotten how special they were.. the slanted stool and the lady coming over with four or five piled up boxes and trying them on for you...wonderful memories there.. thanks. What about the x ray machines for feet. now banned... I think only the better shops had them..
I also miss the old signage on the stores. In Scotland, did/do you have a lot of those signs that are suspended from wrought iron arms- don't know how else to explain it.
I liked the custom-made neon signs, and also the way advertising and things were sometimes painted on the glass.
Also, the little metal numbers and letters they used for product names and prices. I wish I had saved the ones from our family's store. It's amazing how much you can get for them!
not so much the wrought iron ones... but like you I loved some of the neon ones in shops..do you remember when the grocer would paint the prices on the outside of the window... with powdery stuff. sometimes they would get quite arty and use dyes in the powdery substance and write with lovely lettering... oh your bringing back so much...
I used to love our old chemist shops in the 50s... they were full of so many interesting things..big jars with cinnamon sticks.. liquorice root sticks and other things in jars I never got round to finding out about.... it was a place of coloured big glass bottles.... and wooden drawers with crystal glass handles..beauitful smells of herbal things, scales at the door where you put in a penny to be weighed and basket baby scales on the counter.. The chemist always was professional and seem to know about everything. and would make up wee powders for colds and chills without a prescription...I remember getting told by the chemist to use rose water and witch hazel on my skin , it was cheap for a big bottle, and acted like an astringent.. oh the good old days of the old shops..
This sounds exactly like the chemist (pharmacy) I went to in my childhood in the 1970s in New York, right down to the colored glass bottles (I seem to recall them suspended). I thought it was normal, but even back then I bet people considered it old fashioned.
yup, places where when you swung the door open, it chinged to let
them know someone was coming in. places where locals would sit around
a table and play cards or smoke, while you're shopping. every store it's
own niche on things, it's own peculiar clientele and goods, where you
could put something on layaway or have it ordered for you, these are
throwbacks now, not commonplace.
I loved the bell on the door that jangled as you pushed through too... to let the shopkeeper know someone had come in... sawdust too on some shop floors, the grocers and butchers always had that....does anyone remember the big hessian sacks that lay open before the counter in some shop with scoops to help yourself.. and please say someone remember the wee machine with a light for testing eggs. This site shows the interior of the Maypole grocery shop... it was all dark green on the outside with mirrors on each side of the entrance whch always amused children... loved that shop.. pity not a better photo.http://www.glasgowfamilyalbum.com/photo/4097346869/
the old fashioned Barber shop, the hot lather and straight razor , they gave the best crew cut! and the smell of the hair tonic when they were done
seems like most of those guys were WWII vets , no more are left they're too old or retired now.
the best hair cuts were always done by old men
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