Not Wirral, but near enough I guess. The other day, Pinzgauer & I made a nostalgic trip to Lewis's in Liverpool. We both remember it from childhood, mainly for the Christmas grotto. It's closing on Saturday, so we just got there in time. I wonder what will happen to the famous Epstein statue. Any way, we spent about an hour there & talked to a couple of long serving employees. I managed to buy a couple of good quality casual jackets, reduced from £100 to £19.99. Here's the receipt for one of them. Sad day.

got a bargain there mate! its closing its doors for the last time this Saturday as far as i know dickys staying put!!!

Yes, as Chris said, it was a sad day. Lots of memories. Only 2 floors open now and a lot of empty shelves there too. The employees we spoke to had been there 23yrs and 32yrs. There's a big party for them at the Adelphi on Sunday. There will be a few moist eyes no doubt !

The lift attendant just goes between Ground and 1st floor only now. He was a little glum and who can blame him ?

You've got 2 days to grab some real bargains and take a last look round. Cheerio Dickie.

The message on the receipt is quite touching - so sad

Another one bites the dust. Very sad, really.

I remember my Dad taking me to see the Daleks there in the 60's, the first time they had appeared in public outside London. I xxxxxxx my pants and haven't been quite the same since.

i rember going to see batman in the 60's they always had good grottos went there the last couple of years got photos of the kids whith father christmas going to lewis's was always the start of christmas lewis's wont be forgotten

someone go and get photos of the 60`s barbers upstairs please as i`m working

you mean this?

yep, apparently it was untouched for many years then they discovered it.

I can't help but think that if they'd moved in to liverpool one, it would of survived.

yes mate true!
i run a shop on renshaw street not far from lewis and the place is like a ghost town no wonder its closing!

There's a video HERE and at the bottom of the page there is a link to a gallery of 8 pictures of the 5th floor.

cheers dd, i`ll take a look tomorrow

a U.E would be fantastic in there. Every Floor Peeps need to organise obviously i cant but hey !! Very sad indeed. Love the old lifts nostalja

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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