Emporiums of Delight

[Klenchblaize]

The "Miserable Tight Sods" thread got me reflecting on those outdoor pursuits related shops that have been nothing short of a delight to enter and have left our world the poorer in their passing.   So what emporiums of delight do you pine for most?‎

Here is but one of mine and with a date ‎as shops may either close or morph into something far less palatable:
‎
The Captains Cabin.  Predominantly fishing tackle shop that also sold one or two air rifles and clothing.  Proprietor was a lovely man who looked a little like Jack Hargreaves and was amazingly patient with schoolboys. Shop located in Station Approach, Croydon and just a few doors down from the then best record shop in town, Bonarparte.   60's & 70's.  

K

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[Mesquite]

It's still going strong but I pine after it because it's just so far away from me that I've only been able to visit it just once and that's...

Endicotts of Exeter, a brilliant place with great staff

 

[crosslandkelly]

Jack Shorne, Station Rd Harrow. I spent many an hour there, with my nose glued to the window ogling air rifles, knives catty's and fishing kit in the early 70's. Later I was a regular in the shop, buying camping kit and the odd guitar or three. It was the end of an era when Jack retired.
A little more here. http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/local-news/obituary-jack-shorne---true-5990297

 

[Macaroon]

Has to be the famous - or infamous - Lawrence Corner, occupied a large corner site just north of Warren St. in Central London. If there was anywhere that truly deserved the title Emporium of Delight this was it for me. A real Surplus store that was in business from just after the second world war until the mid eighties, they were there in the days when Army Surplus meant tools, electronics, optics and all the ususal camping, outdoor and
clothing stuff. I cut my teeth on the kit I bought from them and learnt my way around the whole outdoor equipment learning experience through the successes and failures of my purchases there.

I bought my first birding binos from them, and built my first stereo systems and guitar amps largely from cannibalised electrical kit. I spent many, many hours there talking to people who knew their stuff really well, and must have driven my parents crazy with my regular requests for lifts to the station and help with train fares to get up to London; I'd leave at 5am and arrive back exhausted at 9 or 10pm with copious amounts of what was to me the most precious treasure and to those around me was inexplicable junk!

Happy days indeed Good idea for a thread, this!

 

[Klenchblaize]

Fast forward to the 80's & 90's it has to be Chris Potter Guns/Country Sports when Richard Whiteley ran the rifle section. Always made you feel the most important customer in the world and never a need to ask for a "deal".

Not the same shop since he left but guys there do their best I believe.

K

 

[Hunkyfunkster]

I mentioned it on the other thread, but Sabre Sales in Southsea was a glorious jumble of surplus spread across so many floors and rooms that I don't think I ever saw everything. The rickety wooden stairs at the rear of the courtyard were terrifying, and climbing the huge piles of stock to try and reach a particular rail fifteen or so feet in the air was a skill in itself. Several times I fell inside a mound of coats or uniforms after reaching the top and having a rummage. It's hard to describe exactly how much it looked like an abandoned warehouse, but it was a treasure trove of stuff. I just wish I'd had the ability at the time to purchase more stuff. Compared to Sabre Sales, everywhere else is expensive and definitely boring. Who wants to look on a shelf when you can climb a mountain of greatcoats that hasn't been moved since the eighties...



Alex

 

[bilmo-p5]

Not quite extinct but certainly a dying breed; the good old fashioned ironmongers. Everything from a goldfish bowl to a gallon of paraffin, (bring your own can!).
Every size of wood screw known to man and a few more besides. Nails by the pound and lino by the yard, cheap knives on a card on the counter and proper ones wrapped in oiled paper in a box underneath. Tapers and Tilley mantles, lightbulbs and candles. Blister packs? Try the chemist.
Still a few about; Pelleymounter's in Egremont springs to mind.

 

[Ogri the trog]

Hurst's, buried in some dark backwater of both memory and location in a corner of Hampshire. I visited there a few times and the title "Emporium" would barely begin to describe the place - they had everything from Officers Mess cutlery to Military shunting engines and everything in between. I wish I'd known a bit more and had the necessary "folding green" to make more purchases there.....

... ain't hindsight a wonderful thing!

Ogri the trog

 

[homesicksteve]

In decline, but still there - Denmark Street. London's mecca for Guitar shops.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_Street

 

[santaman2000]

I'm lucky to have several outdoor related ones within less than an hour's drive:
-Academy Sports
-Bass Pro (Destin)
-Gander Mountain
-Dick's Sporting Goods
-Ranger Firearms
-Various independent tactical firearms retailers

The ones not local to me that I* wish for are as follows:
-Cabela's
-Shepler's (not outdoor related but Western wear)
-An Old Towne livery

 

[Bigfoot]

MacPherson's in Inverness. Sadly now gone due to the owner's retirement after some 40 plus years providing invaluable advice and top quality kit to walkers, climbers and more than a few MR teams.

 

[Twodogs]

I remember the famous army and navy stores in liverpool it was a big department store normal in everyway apart from the top floor ..piles of ammo boots , battle dress uniforms ..webbing all old gear then nowt on shelves just big piles ....fantastic.

Anchour used to be very good but not a lot there nowadays.
Military mart and RTI are the only ones that are like it now

 

[SCOMAN]

'Bogey' Knights in Plymouth down in Mutton cove, Devonport. Great place that's still on the go I understand. Loads of boaty kit and surplus stuff. I still have and use stuff I've bought there and haven't been back since 2008.

 

[bilmo-p5]

'Bogey' Knights in Plymouth down in Mutton cove, Devonport. Great place that's still on the go I understand. Loads of boaty kit and surplus stuff. I still have and use stuff I've bought there and haven't been back since 2008.

I was thinking about Bogey Knights when I read through the thread earlier. Bought a bit of stuff there in my boat owning days in the early '90s. Still there on google streetview.

 

[mountainm]

Barnett's in York.
Johnson's in Leeds.

Sent from my UMI eMAX using Tapatalk

 

[Laurentius]

For me it has to be Riddy's in Far Gosford Street, Coventry, which was there until they knocked it down for the construction of Sky Blue Way in the 1980's. It was replaced by the Kit Bag opened by one of the former employees as the original proprietor of Riddy's retired when the shop was demolished. The Kit Bag was never the same and even that is not there now. I remember Laurence Corner too, that was there until the 2000s it has only relatively recently gone.

For a general range of new camping gear, and workwear there was Lynes in Tower Street, again long closed and demolished.

 

[Bishop]

The Old Curiosity Shop in southgate st gloucester,
MASH on the Innsworth trading estate was another place you could spend hours in. Both sadly gone

 

[bigbear]

The briefly lived Hubberton trading, an army surplus place just outside Huddersfield, and the legendary original Norman Blackburns shop in Lockwood, oh what a treasure trove that was for outdoor folk.

 

[John Fenna]

Not quite extinct but certainly a dying breed; the good old fashioned ironmongers. Everything from a goldfish bowl to a gallon of paraffin, (bring your own can!).
Every size of wood screw known to man and a few more besides. Nails by the pound and lino by the yard, cheap knives on a card on the counter and proper ones wrapped in oiled paper in a box underneath. Tapers and Tilley mantles, lightbulbs and candles. Blister packs? Try the chemist.
Still a few about; Pelleymounter's in Egremont springs to mind.

+1 to that!
And they smelled wonderful too!

 

[decorum]

For me it has to be Riddy's in Far Gosford Street, Coventry, >>>snipped<<<. It was replaced by the Kit Bag opened by one of the former employees as the original proprietor of Riddy's retired when the shop was demolished. The Kit Bag was never the same and even that is not there now. >>>snipped<<<
For a general range of new camping gear, and workwear there was Lynes in Tower Street, again long closed and demolished.

Just the wrong side of the junction, Riddy's was on Walsgrave Road . Any idea when it stopped being Upper and Lower Far Gosford Street? And do you remember KB2? It was the not physically connected extension of The Kit Bag (Kit Bag 2). It wasn't there for long, certainly a lot less time than the Kit Bag.

I found a couple of pics on another forum (no connections) http://icserver.no-ip.biz/coventry/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=17568 which reminded me of Sweeny Todd's. Which, until that jog down memory lane, I'd completely forgotten about. I have no real memory of the pub ~ but I _think_ I just about remember it having been there, if that makes sense? And Far Gosford's one way street going the other way ...

(Warning: If you watch the 80's video, ignore the dogs on Gosford Green ... skip past that bit ... mucky pup!)