13 Edinburgh department stores that are gone but not forgotten
Do you remember any of these stores when they were operating in Edinburgh?
1. Woolworths, Princes Street
Woolworths first opened its iconic Princes Street store in March 1926, to much anticipation and excitement. The Princes Street Woolworths survived until 1984. Today, we now know the site of the old Woolworths store as the Apple Store. Photo: TSPL
2. Patrick Thomson’s, North Bridge
The store originally opened as a small haberdashery and drapery shop on South Bridge in 1889, but the shop became so popular that it had to relocate to a larger site on North Bridge to allow for expansion. Photo: Unknown
3. R W Forsyth, Princes Street
Here you can see staff at the Princes Street RW Forsyth, which was one of Edinburgh’s most famous department stores. It closed in October 1981. To the left of the photo, you can see a bust of the company’s founder. Photo: Hamish Campbell
4. Peter Allan, South Bridge
There were two Allan’s shops on the bridges in Edinburgh, J&R Allan’s and Peter Allan’s. Here you can see the first excited shoppers to get into the sale at the store on South Bridge in the 1960s. Photo: George Smith