- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Irish Academic Press Ltd (29 Oct 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0716530538
- ISBN-13: 978-0716530534
- Product Dimensions: 24.6 x 17.4 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,333,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
For generations of Irish shoppers a visit to their nearest Woolworths store was regarded as an essential part of a day s outing. Barbara Walsh presents a lively and entertaining account of this distinctive chain s retailing style in Ireland. F.W. Woolworth & Co. Ltd opened their first Irish outlet in Grafton Street in 1914. Twelve months later, a second branch was launched in Belfast s High Street. In the ensuing decades, almost forty more stores were established. The Woolworth s story reflects the social changes that were taking place in the lives of ordinary people. New shopping habits, new career and employment opportunities and the life-long friendships for the staff. Taking each decade in turn, the narrative examines the lives of the people who worked for Woolworths, the products they sold and the competition they faced. Turbulent times in the 1920s and 1930s, the domestic political situation, two world wars, and subsequent shaking up of the retail scene in the 1960s and 1970s provide the backdrop to a world now gone.
About the Author
Author and historian Dr Barbara Walsh is a graduate of the Lancaster University History Department in the United Kingdom. She is the author of Roman Catholic Nuns in England and Wales, 1800 1937 (Irish Academic Press, 2002).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Woolworths - part of growing up.,
By Sean Bagnall (Co. Kildare, IE) - See all my reviews
This review is from: When the Shopping Was Good: Woolworths and the Irish Main Street (Hardcover)
As a child of the sixties and a student at Earlsfort Terrace, Woolworths was part of the wonderland that was Grafton Street, and there was magic in the air. We walked there for pens and note pads in Woolworths and if we could afford it, a cup of coffee in "Jonathons" or a pint in McDaids. This book for me recalls part of my youth and sets out a wonderful history of High Street Ireland in the first half of the twentieth century. It is full of detail about commercial life in Ireland in those times and one suspects that the author, Barbara Walsh, has herself a fine appreciation of the art of commerce. Her descriptions of the importance of stocking Irish-made merchandise and the various controversies about this issue alone make this book worthwhile. But the wonder is that the book is full of enchanting and intriguing detail about Woolworths, their staff, and about Irish commercial life. It is thoroughly researched and beautifully written to tell a charming story. It will reward the reader with reliable information about a time which was no less innocent but did move at a slower pace. The book is also well stocked with pictures, illustrations and appendices setting out Woolworths expansion and eventual contraction.Since reading it I have met several people who could speak of having mothers, fathers, aunts or uncles who trained with Woolworths and made careers there. Other chain stores have since provided those opportunities but there are generations of Irish men and women for whom Woolworths provided that particular opportunity. This is their story and "well worth" a read.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Woolworths and the Irish Main Street,
By Sean Bagnall - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: When the Shopping Was Good: Woolworths and the Irish Main Street (Hardcover)
As a child of the sixties and a student at Earlsfort Terrace, Woolworths was part of the wonderland that was Grafton Street, and there was magic in the air. We walked there for pens and note pads in Woolworths and if we could afford it, a cup of coffee in "Jonathons" or a pint in McDaids. This book for me recalls part of my youth and sets out a wonderful history of High Street Ireland in the first half of the twentieth century. It is full of detail about commercial life in Ireland in those times and one suspects that the author, Barbara Walsh, has herself a fine appreciation of the art of commerce. Her descriptions of the importance of stocking Irish-made merchandise and the various controversies about this issue alone make this book worthwhile. But the wonder is that the book is full of enchanting and intriguing detail about Woolworths, their staff, and about Irish commercial life. It is thoroughly researched and beautifully written to tell a charming story. It will reward the reader with reliable information about a time which was no less innocent but did move at a slower pace. The book is also well stocked with pictures, illustrations and appendices setting out Woolworths expansion and eventual contraction.Since reading it I have met several people who could speak of having mothers, fathers, aunts or uncles who trained with Woolworths and made careers there. Other chain stores have since provided those opportunities but there are generations of Irish men and women for whom Woolworths provided that particular opportunity. This is their story and "well worth" a read. |
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