As a child our local shop was Spencer's on the corner of Canning Rd and Crowland St. I remember it was only about the size of a small living room and contained an L shaped wooden counter with a couple of glass display cabinets on top, one of which contained sweets. The walls were covered in simple shelves containing the meagre range of basic groceries and general goods - from sugar to soap powder. There were only about 4 or 5 of each item on display due to lack of space. About one third of the floor space was available for the customers to stand in, but this also had to accomodate sacks of potatoes, carrots, and onions, as well as a box of cabbages and caulis. In the corner there was also a bent wood chair for the old folk to sit on as Mrs Spencer collected their purchases from the shelves.
More often than not there would be three or four women in there, either waiting their turn, or staying behind to gossip - it was an important place for exchanging local news. The shop probably served some 50 households with the bulk of their grocery needs in that pre-supermarket age.
Important milestones on the road to progress that I remember were the installation of a YZ chewing gum machine outside the door (every 4th penny purchase resulted in an extra packet free); the arrival of the heated pie display to cater for the gasworks lunchtime trade; and, best of all, the delivery of a freezer bringing ice cream, fish fingers, and frozen peas into our grey little world.
What I cannot remember is how all these little shops got their goods. Most shopkeepers did not own cars for trips to the cash & carry, so presumably everything was delivered to them, but the only vans I remember seeing making deliveries were Coultons (bread), Pendletons (ice cream), Moorehouses (pop), and Hollands (pies).

Down in Crosby they had the YZ Chewing Gum machines, but I never got the free one that was supposed to come with every fourth pack sold.
Remember the fizzy lemonade bottle, with the hooked top, that stayed attached to the bottle. That was what happened until Corona hit the streets, with their weekly delivery round.

Going back to that wonderful era when service meant service!
This is very topical this week! Sweet cigarettes, remember the packet of ten which featured the red tip, so that kids could imitate their parents!
Seem to recall 'Top Secret' being one of the brands of these penny packs.

Th YZ chewing gum machine did spit out an extra packet every fourth one. You could tell when the extra one was due by looking at the 'arrow' on the knob which was turned to release the gum. If it was pointing forward towards as you inserted your money, then you would receive the extra packet. I had many an extra packet from the machine outside Creasey's chip shop on the corner of Devonshire and High Park Road.

Buckleys bakery on the corner of Alma Road ......wonderfull!

Grace's Corner.....which was at the junction of Sussex & Norwood Roads.......used to walk next doors dog every evening and have a bottle of coke priced six old pence

Gosh BEDDOW'S Churchill Ave.and Tom Dykin.

Heathfield Road shops on the block.Mr.Leddy for your groceries..
Mr.Ho's chippy....Mr and Mrs Corlett,for the newspaper and sweets..Billy Bamber for spuds,veg and friut...hairdresser for the older ladies in the area...the wash-o-matic,where I would go and dry my favourite jeans.
You had on the corner of Mill Road and Segars Lane,Nick and Betty Wardens corner shop.
Heathfield Road shops, have changed an awful lot now, over the years.

coopers sweet shop,rufford road,best selection of(cheap) sweets,or the V.G shop next door owned by mr and mrs woodroof,mrs woodroof made the best treacle toffee ever,she only made it in november for bonfire night,still havn't found any toffee like it Mmmm

Originally Posted by Jason II

Down in Crosby they had the YZ Chewing Gum machines, but I never got the free one that was supposed to come with every fourth pack sold.
Remember the fizzy lemonade bottle, with the hooked top, that stayed attached to the bottle. That was what happened until Corona hit the streets, with their weekly delivery round.

Do you remeber the sweet shop at the corner of Endbutt Lane and Liverpool Rd. A magnificent array of bottled sweets sold by the ounce and to cap it all, even when rationing was 'on', the two ladies who ran it were very generous to sweet craving lads like us.

Websters on the corner of Canning rd & Milton st had an unbelievable selection of sweets & chocolate, also sold products as diverse as bicycle tyres, lamps etc, also was the place to go to have your accumulator charged for your radio[ no tv then] & most of the houses in canning road had not been converted to electric yet, each house had two accumulators, one to use while the other one was being charged, to those of you who have never heard of an accumulator they were simply a clear glass battery through which you could see the acid & the cells, they were about a third of the size of a 6 volt car battery.

My two local shops as a kid were Watts and Halsteads.

Watts was on the corner of Duke Street and Railway street. The place was always a bit dingy and there was always a big tray of meat pies that remained uncovered on the counter until the last one was sold. Old Mrs Watt had all of the cash in a big brown handbag behind the counter.

Stan Halstead had a little shop and off licence on the corner of Bentham and Railway street. There was a separate entrance for the Off Licence where you could buy Armadillo Sherry on draught. Just take your own container

Growing up in Clifton Road back in the 1930s and early 1940s, our two corner shops were Warrington's (newsagent, sweets and tobacco) which many years later became Keely's, and on the opposite corner we had Halsall's grocery. Halsall's changed hands a number of times over the years until it was finally converted (as was Warrington's) to a house. Barrie mentioned Grace's Corner - when I was a lad it was Newton's chippy and Sheldon and Hooley the chemist. Blowick had a lot of small shops in those days, all gone now, of course.

Mrs Grace is in a rest home now, she is very frail. What about Glovers the butchers, Miss Malkie's sweet shop, Jeff Marshalls grocery shop and Courtneys chippy - all in Norwood Road

Chris, there were a lot of shops on Norwood Road. On the one side were Harry Glover butcher, Atkinson greengrocer, Sheldon & Hooley chemist (later Abberly's), Newton's Chippy (later Warram's, and still later Grace's), Parkinson (Owd Parky), and Narcross (Owd Narky)! On the other side were Jas. Marshall provisioner, David Malkee (later Jo Malkee) sweets and tobacco,
Smethurst & Rimmer (bicyles), and Bob Rigby clogger (now Porter's undertakers). Harry Glover had a son, John, who was in the B.B. with me, as was Billy Atkinson who had at least two sisters, Joyce and Dorothy. Happy days!