Father took us to Lowestoft in 1912/13 so I went to school in (Lovwell) Road in Lowestoft and then to a small college in Beccles.
I started work in Lowestoft and after 18 months I went to work in a wholesale draper in Bowchurch Lane in London, Cheapside. I'll be honest with you I was sacked along with 4 others people after 5 years. That was a bad time there. But then I was fortunate to get a job with Jarrolds and I've been there 41 years.
I started as an assistant in the Toy and Sports Department where I had to keep the floors clean, serve the customers and look after the store in general.
Then fortunately after a few years I become a buyer and I was a buyer there for 20 years until I retired in 1976.
They selected me for the job, they asked me if I would do it and I said yes.
The most important change was that Lego came out on the market and of course Mecano was a big thing, Hornby trains were a very big thing in Toys and of course in the Sports Department we had tennis rackets, tennis balls, table tennis tables and all the paraphernalia that goes with it.
In the early days we sold Dinky cars particularly and Mecano and we sold lots of jigsaws. Small toys for children and we sold quite a lot of peddle toys, like moving cars and toy cycles and that sort of thing. They were the mainstay of the toy trade until I became a buyer. But it gradually changed you know when Lego came along and that squashed out and then along came the rivals, a rival firm that made small cars, I've forgotten their name, oh yes Matchbox. There was a lot of competition between them but Dinky toys still held their own which was good mostly.
I became a buyer and had to buy for the Toy and Sports Department. I was responsible for the running of the Department and purchase of goods and sometimes even selling them. It was the general things that one did in a retail store, you know. You had to see that the cartons were reasonable and the staff were very good and you supervised them and were responsible for all that went on in that department.
Knowing what to buy was a bit of luck sometimes, but you knew what people required and of course you got information from other sources, like the manufactures. They would give you information about their goods, and you were excepted to sell them. Fortunately I made a reasonable profit each year so I was one of the successful buyers. I don't thinks that whilst I was a buyer and the other buyers, I don't think we let the firm down. Otherwise they couldn't do what they did today, cos a lot of people say its very hard to do business toady - well it was just as hard in those days you know.
Of course you worked much longer hours. You worked from 9-6 and then Saturday till 7. You had Thursday afternoon off in those days. The Store closed at 1pm on a Thursday.
When I started in 1935 I earned 4 pounds and 15 shillings per week. Then as a buyer I was on 12 pounds and 10 shillings then a gradual increase. I did well. I forgot what I earned when I retired. To tell you the truth my pension, when I retired, was more than I earned. They have been very good to me and until a year ago there was an increase every year so I have been very happy.
There was no selling technique - you simply just did it. I couldn't give you any real information about how I did it I just did it and there were all satisfied about how I did it.
Of course I used to go to Harrogate once a year and Brighton once a year and London twice a year, years ago. I spread my wings a bit.
I was responsible for all the staff selling, they had the responsibility but fortunately I was lucky I never failed them or never failed myself. So it was a combination of what to do and how to do it and bit of luck at the same time.
The two departments were they very different?
Well I don't know, there was Stevens in Swan Lane , they were very, very good and had a very large Sports Department but they also sold other things, you know, especially at Christmas time. They competed with Jarrolds you knew. Things like Jigsaw puzzles and other games - so it was quite fierce.
Well, you know there's no selling techniques like there used to be I be. I mean people go and pick it off the shelf today. There isn't the same technique as years and years ago. Years ago you always tried to sell them something else or something a bit more expensive. If they came to buy a tennis racket you would show them Dunlop or Slazenger. You tried to point out why it was more expensive than the other, You know, better gut, better wood and all that sort of thing. That's how you went on.
More recently we saw more of the owners. We used to hold a meeting about once a fortnight and we would discuss things together and they would probably suggest something about your department of other department. We got on well as a bunch of men. And we never let the firm down. That was the whole point. They never had to sling us out because we were not doing our job properly. That was the best thing.
I think Jarrolds is the best known store in Norfolk. I mean if you talk about Norwich you say Jarrolds. 98 out of 100 people, who were intelligent and had been to Norwich would know Jarrolds was there. They have a prime site really. Its a site near the market and near the city hall. It's in a reasonable position.
I simply remember the changes, when I first started, Jarrolds was only half of what it is today. In Exchange street there was between Jarrolds and the Corn Hall there was a shop (Banstons) which was an iron mongers shop. But the I believe Jarrolds did own the shop. So when the Corn Hall came on the Market, Jarrolds bought it and expanded. That was an exciting timer for us. Before they bought he Corn Hall there was no Men's Department, there was no gramophone department. That was a great gramophone department until that faded as other things cam along and took the place of gramophone records.
I cant explain why the change was so obvious. I mean people today that go in the store perhaps they might not want anything. They might go in to shelter from the rain. They might go in to use the very pleasant places they have.
At one time on the second floor there Jarrolds had a lounge department where people could go and rest and the they had a library on the second floor under (Miss Sneadon). They had a small haberdashery department. Well they are all gone. They even had a chemist on the ground floor. But that a has all disappeared in the course of the time I had been there. Its really very different to what it was. You cant imagine what it was like 50 or 60 years ago before the war. No-one can.
Since I retired there have been changes. The book department changed in to another section of the store. The commercial stationary used to be in the main store before they bought the Corn Hall and is now in a separate place in the Exchange Street. So the whole atmosphere changed.
You dont have to sell anything today. I mean you want a book you go in to the store and browse about and you see what you want. There's no selling in a book today is there. I mean if people want to buy, say a pen or a pencil, they can go and look.
The display today is very good, much better that it ever was. Window dressing is even better. The display inside the store is even better that was years ago.
So they're not the same - people just go in and browse around and that.. I mean they opened a restaurant in 1921 in the top floor. They've now got 3 restaurants. You know how much food was.. I mean people today can go out for lunch once or twice a week. They couldn't when I was .. even a buyer. I mean I never went out to lunch. We had lunch on the premises and that was that. You only went out to lunch when a traveller , when you interviewee a traveller you went t out to lunch somewhere. And then he took you to Jarrolds 'cos it was convenient. The changes are remarkable.
I mean I don�t care what people say. It also change out of all recognition. Well I mean, you go to any store you can walk around without been molested. In my early day if someone when want to Jarrolds or went into Buntings as it was then which is now Marks and Spencer or they went in to W H Smiths of they went anywhere, it was to purchase something. They never went into the shop or store unless the wanted something. But nowadays 100s of people wander through and perhaps go and have a coffee on the top floor. Well they have got to walk through a number of department before they get out, they might see something and say ..er I want that . So I mean they crated a certain number of sales with no trouble at all.
Changes in the Toys - well Cindy dolls were in the infancy when I started. But today - I cant explain what I feel about it, but as I say I think the whole of business has changed out of all recognition from what it was 70 years ago. It's remarkable.
When I first went the staff canteen was simply a deal table in a small room with seating round the edge of the wall and all you got was a cup of tea or a cup of coffee. But now the staff restaurant, where they can have a meal, is exactly the same as the customers. It's furnished just the same way and you go and choose what you want. Well in my day there was no meal served top staff at all. A lot of people took sandwiches and a cup of tea that we were able to do there We would simply sit there until our time was up. We had 1.1/4 hours for lunch. So they used to go down there they went to see what they wanted in the city . Or shopping for other things that Jarrolds didn't sell, that sort of thing. Its incredible the changes that took place. Not only in Norwich bit all over the county. But I think the great thing now is you walk through a store like Jarrolds of W H Smiths without being asked by an assistant if they can help. Of course if you are looking for something they might ask if they can help. I don't think there the same actual technique about selling goods as there was 70 years ago that just my opinion. I think its been a gradual thing. Well of course when Woolworths first opened when was a boy in Lowestoft they had a threepenny and six pence stall all round the country. Well I mean they're not the store that they used to be.
The staff are better treated now than what they were. Years ago you could be sacked like that. Well I mean there workers protection today. If one of your staff was doing something they shouldn't have, as a buyer would had to caution them. The if it that was not satisfactory, you had to report them to the staff manager of the store. And then if he wasn't satisfied or we couldn't do anything about it, the person being looked at got a letter, then if he didn't improve he could be sacked. But they went through 3 stages. Before you could, if I may be rude turf them out of the store. Unless of course they did something very naughty, then of course that would be instant dismissal. I think workers today are much more protected that even we were. They should be grateful for that.
