SHOPPERS have been reminiscing about the Aladdin’s cave that was Woolworths as administrators fight to keep the ailing retailer afloat.

The store has been a permanent fixture in Swindon town centre for decades and was seen by many as a place to socialise as well as shop.

Grandmother-of-three Sue Myres, from Cricklade, thought the store was a fantastic place to go with friends.

“It was wonderful,” she said. “We all loved going there at weekends.

“We would get our sweets and fizzy pop and sit outside and chat for hours.

“It seems an age ago now. I might be in my 70s but I can still remember the shop as the beacon of all shops to go to.

“Woolworths certainly provided me with a lot of happy memories.

“It sold everything you could possibly imagine. It wasn’t just a shop for kids, which is why it was so popular. I wish it all the best for the future.

“I hope it remains a fixture in high streets up and down the country for many years to come.

“It’s still a big name. Everyone’s heard of Woolworths.

“I still pop in from time to time but it’s thoughts from my childhood that will stick in my mind.”

Elsie Formoy, 85, a pensioner from Penhill, said she had been shopping at Woolworths for more than 80 years.

She said: “I first went to the shop as a child – back then it was a three pence and six pence shop, meaning everything in the store was either of those prices.”

Elizabeth Austin, 81, from Pinehurst, has been shopping at Woolworths since the age of 10.

She said: “I always remember they had great biscuits that my mum would give to us when we were children.”

Vicky Brown, of Tamworth Close, Shaw, worked in the store at the age of 14 in the 1950s.

She was taken to the shop in Regent Street from her Wootton Bassett home by her mother.

She said: “My mum had to drag me off to the Woolworths store in Swindon when I was 14 to acquire a Saturday job and to start earning my own pocket money.

“Woolworths was an Aladdin's cave with polished wooden floors, tall wooden counters full of wares.

“There were sweets, biscuits sold from large cardboard boxes, haberdashery, bric-a-brac, tins of paint, brooms and brushes, occasional furniture, clothes of all descriptions, seed potatoes, packets of seeds, groceries, light bulbs and lamp shades and hardware.

“But the best counter of all, as far as I was concerned, was the make-up.”

Do you have any memories or old pictures of the Woolworths in Swindon?

If so call the newsdesk on 01793 501798 or email bperrin@swindonadvertiser.co.uk.