ColinBellsjockstrap
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 23 Dec 2009
- Messages
- 8,511
Hi all,
Some of you may remember I have mentioned in the past my late dad used to own a locally well known sports,toys and model shop in Gorton Manchester....(Alex Donaldson (not my dad) used to play for Manchester City and Scotland in the 1920's)
Well I have found an old photograph taken in 1960, just after he bought it, there is an interesting tale attached to it.....he used to buy and sell old second hand sewing machines on the markets, Ashton ,Halifax,Grey Mare lane, Southport etc, and decided he wanted to open a shop somewhere,....anywhere, but it must have four or five big windows to display his machines to the best advantage. My dad had no interest in sports whatsoever, but when younger was a City fan going to lots of games at Maine road as a kid in the 1930's.
Anyhow, as a business Donaldson's was very run down, there was hardly any stock, and supplier's bills were often unpaid. My Dad's idea was to get rid of the sports stuff gradually over six months, stuff like football boots will knock in studs and brown hard leather toe caps, lace up footballs etc, and then introduce his sewing machines over a period of time.
However, what he found was people kept coming in asking for darts, football adaptors, tennis rackets, and so on, so he thought to himself,... even though he had no interest in sports, there might possibly be a living to be made, so he bought a bit more stock from suppliers, and decided to move out of the sewing machine business altogether.
Four years later he opened a second shop in Hyde, called Hyde Sports Centre, on the corner of the now demolished Newton Street and Hyde Road, next to the bus station. This shop was demolished around 1975, when it located round the corner near where the post office is now, although by then he had sold out to a cousin of mine, who then later sold out to another relative.
In the sixties, the main sports shops in Manchester were probably my dad's, Roy Clarke's in Moss Side..(ex Manchester City of course), Altrincham Sports, Princess Road sports depot, Cookes on John Dalton Street..(Football specialists) and Tyldsley and Holbrooks on Deansgate...(Cricket specialists). In Stockport there were a couple on Greek Street, near County's ground, In Ashton Bower's and Schofield's..... who also had a shop in Oldham. Tina Schofield of course married Buzzer.
Of course there were no JJB Sports, Sports Direct, JD Sports, Allsports in those days....
Anyone remember the old shops mentioned?
Some of you may remember I have mentioned in the past my late dad used to own a locally well known sports,toys and model shop in Gorton Manchester....(Alex Donaldson (not my dad) used to play for Manchester City and Scotland in the 1920's)
Well I have found an old photograph taken in 1960, just after he bought it, there is an interesting tale attached to it.....he used to buy and sell old second hand sewing machines on the markets, Ashton ,Halifax,Grey Mare lane, Southport etc, and decided he wanted to open a shop somewhere,....anywhere, but it must have four or five big windows to display his machines to the best advantage. My dad had no interest in sports whatsoever, but when younger was a City fan going to lots of games at Maine road as a kid in the 1930's.
Anyhow, as a business Donaldson's was very run down, there was hardly any stock, and supplier's bills were often unpaid. My Dad's idea was to get rid of the sports stuff gradually over six months, stuff like football boots will knock in studs and brown hard leather toe caps, lace up footballs etc, and then introduce his sewing machines over a period of time.
However, what he found was people kept coming in asking for darts, football adaptors, tennis rackets, and so on, so he thought to himself,... even though he had no interest in sports, there might possibly be a living to be made, so he bought a bit more stock from suppliers, and decided to move out of the sewing machine business altogether.
Four years later he opened a second shop in Hyde, called Hyde Sports Centre, on the corner of the now demolished Newton Street and Hyde Road, next to the bus station. This shop was demolished around 1975, when it located round the corner near where the post office is now, although by then he had sold out to a cousin of mine, who then later sold out to another relative.
In the sixties, the main sports shops in Manchester were probably my dad's, Roy Clarke's in Moss Side..(ex Manchester City of course), Altrincham Sports, Princess Road sports depot, Cookes on John Dalton Street..(Football specialists) and Tyldsley and Holbrooks on Deansgate...(Cricket specialists). In Stockport there were a couple on Greek Street, near County's ground, In Ashton Bower's and Schofield's..... who also had a shop in Oldham. Tina Schofield of course married Buzzer.
Of course there were no JJB Sports, Sports Direct, JD Sports, Allsports in those days....
Anyone remember the old shops mentioned?