Forums Forums Local News Liverpool’s Lewis’s department store.

Aahh, so sad,everything from my past is dissapearing!!!!
i have'nt been to Lewis's in years,but the times i did go i thought it was a massive place, i worked in Liverpool many many years ago and i would go there after work sometimes.
what will become of the building?

Lewis's rent the building from a different company. The Lewis's website had a press release stating the reason they were closing was because the building owners were going to 'renovate' the building. (Whether renovate means turn into appartments I'm not sure.)

The Lewis's building is grade II listed, which should mean the statue will be staying.

Think i heard it was going to be a complex with hotel,cinema and shops.

Is this the last old large independent store in Liverpool? Liverpool's great now, if you like the same shop repeated over and over again. They should just have three or four shops and have mirrors to make it look like loads, it'd save a lot of money.

"Is this the last old large independent store in Liverpool? "

I think that it's the last independant department store in the region after Beaties and Browns were both taken over but I think that Rapid is still independant and a large store.

i remember the smell of the food hall in lewis's. always smelt of ham & smoked cheese with ham, also the grotto at christmas, it was always impressive. it was fun going on the escalators. lewis's was a shop you could spend the whole day in.

Yeah, I though about Rapid.

On their website is a photo gallery and one of the images is a possible future Lewis's development, It's the 7th picture in the gallery. It has also been written on the website that they may return once renovations are complete. I hope they do, it was a great shopping experience.

Here's the link for their website:
http://www.lewissliverpool.co.uk/

Liverpool’s Lewis’s department store closes for the final time



THE city’s most iconic shop said a sad goodbye to its customers on Saturday, after a frantic final day of trading.

Lewis’s, which is set to become a boutique hotel and office complex, has stood as a retail giant on Ranelagh Street since 1856.

As the closing down sale came to an end on Saturday afternoon, queues of bargain hunters snaked around the shop floor, forcing staff to stay open an extra 45 minutes.

Sales assistant Donna Tambourini has worked at Lewis’s since she was a teenager.

She told the Daily Post: “I joined on a placement from the YTS scheme just two weeks off my 16th birthday.

“I’ve been there for the last 24 years from 15 to 39 years of age, I’ve grown up there. They were like my extended family.”

She added: “It was dead busy, really I didn’t have time to get emotional – it was absolutely chocca.

“We said we were closing at 5pm, but we had to stay open until 5.45pm because there were still customers there.

“There were queues like you’ve never seen before.

“There was still a little bit of stock left, but it just looked like a jumble sale, like a right mess.”

For some customers, it was heartbreaking to watch the city institution close.

Ms Tambourini said: “You’ve got your regular customers, the ones that used to come in and give you chocolates, some of them were in tears.

“They’d been shopping there for 60 years and their mums used to bring them in as children. One woman was telling us that she remembered seeing Ken Dodd in the food hall.”

Now the business is closed, the former staff have a series of reunions planned to say goodbye.

“After the doors closed we went up to the coffee shop and had a couple of drinks for about an hour,” said Ms Tambourini.

Last night, the staff were meeting again at the Adelphi, with a further event at Yates planned for staff past and present on Friday night.

Now the building, and its notorious statue, which has stood on Ranelagh Street since 1856, is set to become a boutique hotel.

Earlier this year, owners, Merepark, unveiled £37m plans to develop Lewis’s into a hotel and office complex, with a small amount of retail space on the site.

THE POST

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/live...-closes-its-doors-today-100252-26546393/

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