This family owned business (officially E Jackson & Son Ltd) was opened in September 1875 as a gentlemen's outfitters (such a lovely old fashioned term!) by Edward Jackson. One Hundred and 38 years later his great grandson Brian Carter is the last Managing Director of this iconic shop, which has remained at the same location throughout those years. In my lifetime it has been renown as the place local parents visited for all their children's school uniform needs, for its extensive choice of up-market ladies and men's clothes and huge range of cross-stitch and related craft supplies. But of course what most people will likely remember is the pneumatic pipe system for transferring cash between the sales desks and the accounts department. It seems impossible to imagine how every customer transaction would involve an invoice and cash payment being sent via this system to the accounts department and then an awkward wait until the handwritten receipt and change would appear back in the tube. Very old fashioned service but that was the Jacksons way.
Jacksons has been overtaken by more modern ways of shopping on the high street and by the internet age. Nevertheless it will be missed.
One Sunday in May 2013, happier times for Jacksons although closure had already been announced.
Update:
Things haven't really changed...
No comments:
Post a Comment