Woolworths (Shop)

I am a big woolworths fan (affectionatly "Woolies"). I can remember our Woolies even as a kid. I live in Coventry, and if anybody knows the town, then they may remember how it used to be.

It used to be a huge store with big doors and the pick n mix sweets at the front. I think the records and toys were next. The cafe has always been good, and its pulling power for me now, is that there is a small play area in the cafe which is great as when I am shopping with my son, we can go in there for a coffee or lunch, and they are all geared up for him.

One childhood memory is the foodhall. Now, our store doesn't have a foodhall now, and would be interested to know from other members if any stores sell food now. They used to sell Whitworth branded foods, and for years I thought that this was their own brand name, but of course it isnt.

Recently, I have been looking for 2 ERTL models from the Thomas and the Magic Railroad film. They hadn't got any in our store, so I looked up Woolworth on the Internet and their web site is very good.

I found that they offer a Woolworth Direct Internet service, as well as a mail order side that you can phone up and place an order direct. I looked up the toys I was looking for and found them straight away. I ordered them, and the order for some reason couldn't go through for processing. I was desperate for the toys so made a note of the order numbers and telephoned the order through.

I was straight through to the operator. I gave the numbers to be told that they were different on the internet than in the catalogue (I presume you can ask for a catalogue). I thought that this was a bit silly.

The operator said that if you place an order on the Internet, and an item/s are not in stock then it will very often not process the order (unfortunately the system can't tell you if an item is out of stock). I suddenly realised that I had infact made an error. I tried again and it went straight through. The postage for this service was only £1.50 which I thought was excellent. It is usually £3.50 for other shopping sites.

The email that confirmed my order said that I would be emailed upon despatch of my order. To my surprise, my parcel was delivered to my door in a plain white van, just over 24 hours later (didn't get a confirmation email after all).

My son will have the model trains that he wants for his birthday after all thanks to Woolies.