Leeds Then and Today: C&A

What are your memories of shopping in C&A on Boar Lane in Leeds City Centre?

Transcript

00:00Hi and welcome to Leeds Den and today with me Andrew Hutchinson. C&A's Bower Lane store

00:06opened in November 1970 and welcomed generations of bargain hunters before closing in late

00:11January 2001. C&A was affectionately known as Coats and Hats by generations of shoppers

00:17whose memories still burn bright today. Spent my first wage on closing there back in 1986.

00:24My daughter got lost in there, found her dancing in front of a mirror. They were all over on

00:28the pillars so always after that I knew where she would be if it happened again. Used to

00:33trail around Leeds shops looking for clothes but usually ended up in C&A. If you ask anybody

00:38on the streets of Leeds, this retail gem is still held in high regard. I bought my wedding

00:43dress at C&A. Everybody went to C&A because it was cheap and usually the clothes lasted

00:51and when I was young, like a teenager, there was a place where you could get modern clothes.

00:58So yeah, I miss C&A but when I go abroad I can find C&A in a lot of European cities

01:03and it still looks the same when you go in those stores abroad. If you're at high school,

01:10your mother and father used to be able to get a grant from the school and it used to

01:14be for C&A. They had a good quality of school wear when I was young. I used to shop at C&A

01:22years ago and I used to get all my clothes there because of the type of clothes that

01:27I liked to wear and I really, really miss the shop. I remember traipsing around the

01:33city centre on a Saturday with my mum and going in and having a look around what it

01:39had to offer. And this is all before the internet age. It was bricks rather than clicks. C&A

01:48has obviously disappeared from the high street, not only in Leeds but in the UK and so it's

01:53now in continental Europe where we can all head over to enjoy our retail fix.