00:00Hi it's Andrew Hutchinson here from your Yorkshire Evening Post. Today I'm stood
00:04outside a beloved lost shop of Leeds. It was a jewel in the city's retail crown
00:10Lewis's department store on the head row. Lewis's became the place to go for
00:19aspirational shoppers and bargain hunters wanting their retail fix. It
00:23first opened on the newly widened head row on September 17 1932 and welcomed
00:30100,000 shoppers on its opening day. Founder David Lewis first opened the
00:36shop in Liverpool before subsequent stores in Manchester Birmingham and then
00:41here in Leeds. Before drawing up the final plans architect GW Atkinson
00:46visited America for inspiration. Lewis's boasted more than 150 departments selling
00:52everything from furniture to food. It was also home to escalators the first to be
00:58built in Leeds. It saw the city go up in the world. Although Lewis's closed in
01:041991 luckily there are still a vast amount of photographs celebrating its
01:09heyday which is housed on photographic archive Leodis which is owned by Leeds
01:15City Council. Here are some photos which may bring back some memories. Do you
01:21remember the ladies fashion department? Two mannequins display fashions of the
01:26day typical of the early 1980s featuring back wing sleeves and
01:30exaggerated shoulder pads. What about the perfumery department? It was on the
01:35ground floor along with fashion accessories and boots and shoes. June
01:401980 saw this spectacular float become Lewis's entry to the seventh annual
01:45Lord Mayor's Parade. Lewis's won the Lord Mayor's Award for best overall entry that
01:50year. The store marked its golden anniversary in 1982 with Santa conducting
01:56a jazz band in Dortmund Square to celebrate. The ground floor at the time
02:01featured a newly modernized food hall where you could buy freshly cut cheeses
02:05and loose biscuits sold by weight. Lewis's was well known for its legendary
02:09window displays at Christmas and throughout the year. This one was from
02:161977 with display manager Alan Banks choosing the theme the best of British
02:20in celebration of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. After holders took over the
02:25site in 1991 it traded until 2005 before falling into administration. In 2008 the
02:32building welcomed Sainsbury's, Argos and TK Maxx which remain today. Lewis's was
02:38the place to go back in the day for generations of shoppers. Thanks to its
02:43150 departments selling furniture and food the mere mention evokes happy
02:49memories. It's one of a number of lost shops around the city centre and if you
02:55remember them we'd love to hear from you. Please get in touch.
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