It’s how we did it in 1970

To be fair shops like these were doing the business for decades before this picture was taken in 1970.

But within a decade and bit, independent shops selling toys, prams and bikes would have been squeezed out by big shinny stores which could buy in bulk, reduce prices and lay out their multiple wares in big spacious spaces.

And the same fate faced many grocery shops, leaving shops like Pinkertons to expand  into selling a range of foods alongside their newspapers.

What I like about the image are the details, starting with the modern signage, the sheer variety on offer at Browns for Toys, and the reference to credit couched in that phrase “Terms Arranged”.

The shop was on the corner of East Court Terrace, but its location has as yet defeated me despite trawling the directories.

But someone will know. ...... And someone did .... almost by the return of post, Andy Robertson looked up the place in the 1969 directory, and discovered that

"Pinkertons 34 Stockport Road, Ardwick, Brown's Cycle Dealers at 32 and John Kirk, grocer at 36.

This block was between Eastcourt Terrace and Old Elm Street, opposite the Apsley Cottage pub, near the Apollo".

And that has allowed me to revisit the story and add the companion picture, which neatly places the two photographs in the run up to Christmas 1970.

Location; Stockport Road, Ardwick,

Picture; Browns for Toys, 1970 -2804, and 1970 - 2811, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass