End of an era

I got my first proper job in Woolworths – one with a pay packet & a National Insurance card – when I was 14. A Saturday job for which I think I think I got paid about 11s 6d (57.5 p). We did not pay the full National Insurance, just industrial injury & National Health as I recall, so there were 2 separate stamps stuck to the card each week. Only pennies, but still, 10% of our earnings

For reasons best known to the management I was put on the electricals counter, rather than something more desirable like make up or biscuits. At least I knew the difference between all the various types of plug & could measure & cut all the different kinds of wire

It was not the sort of counter you stand behind, more like a long shelf across the back of the store. I stood by the till in my green overall. At least once each Saturday somebody would ask me if we had a wotsit. Can you see one? I would ask. No there’s none out. Can you go & look in the store room for me? And, after asking what sort of thing I was looking for, off I would go, on a frequently fruitless search. Heaven knows what other customers did while I was away

The pre-war sixpence must be worth about £1 these days. Woolworths prospered during the depression of the 1930s with the promise that nothing cost more than 6d (though our parents always said that you had to buy two single gloves for a total of 1 shilling rather than a pair), so we can look forward to the Pound Store Empire being a darling of the 2020 stock exchange

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