Shops of old

jonbeeza

jonbeeza

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I have been trawling the high streets for months now, and I am just wondering where have all the aladins cave style shops gone? You know the kind of shops when you went in you were surrounded by masses of goodies. Such as skating boots, fishing rods, cb radios, car sterios, and of course cameras, masses of cameras with shelves full of lenses of every kind ! :nuts:


They were the proper style second hand shops, have they simply been replaced by, chash converters, cash generator etc :thinking:
 
jonbeeza said:
I have been trawling the high streets for months now, and I am just wondering where have all the aladins cave style shops gone? You know the kind of shops when you went in you were surrounded by masses of goodies. Such as skating boots, fishing rods, cb radios, car sterios, and of course cameras, masses of cameras with shelves full of lenses of every kind ! :nuts:


They were the proper style second hand shops, have they simply been replaced by, chash converters, cash generator etc :thinking:
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They're all here now ;)
 
We've still got a few in Sunderland on Hylton Road, just outside the city centre. Though even there it seems to be dying a little. I think it may be the large student population in that area that's keeping it ticking over.
Now it's obviously malicious and scurrilous rumour and opinion but they did say that at one time your gear nicked the night before could be found there the day after ;)
 
Carter64 said:
We've still got a few in Sunderland on Hylton Road, just outside the city centre. Though even there it seems to be dying a little....
Now it's obviously malicious and scurrilous rumour and opinion but they did say that at one time your gear nicked the night before could be found there the day after ;)
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Yep that's what was normally said sometimes a little unfair, some shops erm well :nono:





artyman said:
I can remember the secondhand shops in the sixties, usually also with agood selection of guitars and amplifiers as well.
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Yes forgot to mention the electric guitar with amp, all lined up along the wall. My brother bought an amp back in the early 70s from a second handy, he still has the amp :thumbs:
 
Car boot sales. No end of interesting stuff to be had. I got a 1976 Olympus Trip for £9 (asking price was £12 - you can bargain at car boots :)) last year. And no end of brownie-type cameras for a couple of quid; good for putting on a shelf, if not for taking photos.
 
Ive not been in one for years, but what about cash generator or pawn shops?
The internets killing lots of shops off tho, its just so easy to get bargains on ebay and amazon
 
BruceMo said:
Ive not been in one for years, but what about cash generator or pawn shops?
The internets killing lots of shops off tho, its just so easy to get bargains on ebay and amazon
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Do you get bargains on ebay anymore? I used to love going on ebay years ago, but I got fed up fighting over a bargain, as when the bidding has ended you no longer have a bargain. Besided I dont like the idea of offering to give more money for an item. I prefer to knock the price down, not push it up ;)
 
There's a nice one in York city centre called Bulmers. It's just like you said, lots of guitars, fishing rods, cd players/hifi, DVDs, CDs, mobile phones, games consoles, it's a bit of a treat to look round!
 
TopBanana said:
There's a nice one in York city centre called Bulmers. It's just like you said, lots of guitars, fishing rods, cd players/hifi, DVDs, CDs, mobile phones, games consoles, it's a bit of a treat to look round!
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Pity York is so far away from me, I loved looking round those proper second hand shops :(

yes that's the kind I mean, I just had a look at the shop on google street maps, looks like a pretty interesting place :)
 
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'Dave's' in Southport is one of those shops. 98 Shakespeare Street if you want to Streetview it. It must be nigh on 30 years since I was last in there, but it looks just the same from the outside.
 
jonbeeza said:
Do you get bargains on ebay anymore?
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You can but it's not terribly easy. If you want something but you don't need it immediately you can make a search for that item, set it to buy it now only, sorted by newly listed, UK only, save the search and tell it to e-mail you daily when new items match the search. Eventually someone will list one below the usual asking price and you've a good chance of seeing it before anyone else does.
Both of my current DSLRs, my flash and one of my lenses were bought like this and it saved me around 20% off the average price of the bodies (and the ones I got were particularly good examples on top of that) and 30% off the average price of the flash and lens. I've seen things listed with even more off the usual price in the past.

I've stopped even looking at auction listings for the reason you've mentioned, people get too into bidding and end up paying too much.
 
Car boots are the best bet for second hand stuff these days, there is a few of the good old' second hand shops in leeds, but even some of them are getting rather bad now, can't get much bargains in them now a days.
 
Ed Sutton said:
'Dave's' in Southport is one of those shops. 98 Shakespeare Street if you want to Streetview it. It must be nigh on 30 years since I was last in there, but it looks just the same from the outside.
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Just done a google street view, the amount of times I have ridden down that road and never even knew it was there. The first time I rode down that road was the late 70s. But I had full bike gear and a helmet on, so no wonder I did not see it. Next time I am passing I will have to drop in thanks for that ;)






DazJW said:
You can but it's not terribly easy. If you want something but you don't need it immediately you can make a search for that item, set it to buy it now only, sorted by newly listed, UK only, save the search and tell it to e-mail you daily when new items match the search. Eventually someone will list one below the usual asking price and you've a good chance of seeing it before anyone else does.
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Thanks for the tip, seems like a pretty good idea. :thumbs:

Used to really do my head in seeing something I really wanted, and price keep jumping up. You are no longer the highest bidder :bang:
 
Hunger ford has some shops like this, but theyre mostly 'antique' type shops now.
What about London markets? Any there now?
 
We used to have 3 shops selling camera stuff in the 90's, now the majority of shops are empty, £ shops or charity shops, local council charges stupid rates and have wacked car park charges up, nobody wants to walk around and look anymore.:'(

We even had a Jessops at one point, I just loved looking in there and laughing at the ridiculous mark ups thay had on stuff:lol:.

Those were the days.....
 
Brendan Mulachy said:
why not try aladdins cave on rocky lane/west derby road ;)
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I am sure that name rings a bell, just wondering if it is the one I went to in the 70s. Is that the one near Newsham Park by Breck Road ? As I said I once went there must have been mid 1970s, I tried to buy an air rifle from there, but I got told to clear off, mind you I was a kid at the time ;)

I did not know it was still going, mind you I did move out of the liverpool area with work in the late 80s, and not long moved back. So I am still finding my way around again ;)

So yep will deffo go back and check it out thanks :thumbs:
 
You want an Aladdin's cave with photo gear? You want to get down to Gray's of Westminster then.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I assume they won't mind me posting a copy of their advert here.

Amateur-Photographer-Magazi.jpg
 
You have got me thinking now , there used to be a couple of good ones in Leeds . I remember trawling them as a student looking for keyboards . I wonder if they're still there . I don't go into the city centre too much , I think that I may need to have a trip in .
 
StewartR said:
You want an Aladdin's cave with photo gear? You want to get down to Gray's of Westminster then.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I assume they won't mind me posting a copy of their advert here.

Amateur-Photographer-Magazi.jpg
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WOW just look at that photo, I would rather drool over this pic than any topless model :thumbs:
 
jonbeeza said:
I am sure that name rings a bell, just wondering if it is the one I went to in the 70s. Is that the one near Newsham Park by Breck Road ?
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thats the one :thumbs:

only ever been in there once when i broke down on the bike up the road and needed a spanner :lol::lol::lol:
 
vizzair said:
droool -- Pictures like that should be marked NSFW:lol:
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Ahhh John I see you have very good taste, I would just love to browse in a shop just like the one in the photo. The modern hi tec shops just don't do it for me!
 
Another place you might like is Aperture Photographic, near the British Museum. It's a wonderful second-hand camera shop, which often has some amazing gear in it (recently they had a Nikon 300mm f/2 - yes, f/2) and it also serves great coffee. Talk about a marriage made in heaven!
 
I have one of those wooden boxes, but would deffo like one or two more...............:thumbs:
 
Carter64 said:
We've still got a few in Sunderland on Hylton Road, just outside the city centre. Though even there it seems to be dying a little. I think it may be the large student population in that area that's keeping it ticking over.
Now it's obviously malicious and scurrilous rumour and opinion but they did say that at one time your gear nicked the night before could be found there the day after ;)
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I have heard that rumour so many times. :lol:
 
StewartR said:
Another place you might like is Aperture Photographic, near the British Museum. It's a wonderful second-hand camera shop, which often has some amazing gear in it (recently they had a Nikon 300mm f/2 - yes, f/2) and it also serves great coffee. Talk about a marriage made in heaven!
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Cheers another great find :thumbs: I could sit in a place like this drinking Coffee all morning, it's a pretty good idea. Where has all the real customer service gone ?
 
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DazJW said:
You can but it's not terribly easy. If you want something but you don't need it immediately you can make a search for that item, set it to buy it now only, sorted by newly listed, UK only, save the search and tell it to e-mail you daily when new items match the search. Eventually someone will list one below the usual asking price and you've a good chance of seeing it before anyone else does.
Both of my current DSLRs, my flash and one of my lenses were bought like this and it saved me around 20% off the average price of the bodies (and the ones I got were particularly good examples on top of that) and 30% off the average price of the flash and lens. I've seen things listed with even more off the usual price in the past.

I've stopped even looking at auction listings for the reason you've mentioned, people get too into bidding and end up paying too much.
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It is quite as depresssing watching something for 10 days only to see it bid up beyond you budget or woest still above retail retail prices!

I am going to try your idea and see what happens.
 
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