ALEX SMITHS AD - 1972

It was sale time at Alex Smith's in Commercial Street when this ad appeared in 1972.

For the gals there were things like skinny rib jumpers, mini skirts, mini jumpers and a clearance sale of satin & velvet hot pants (I didn't realise Smiths indulged!)

Amongst the guys stuff were car coats (remember them?), stretch nylon track suits, and it being '72 - good old Crombies!

Click on ad to enlarge.

B.G. FORBES IN COMMERCIAL STREET



Here's some ads pertaining to BG Forbes, a shop that sold records and musical instruments.

First though, the photo is a good wee reminder of its location - right on the corner of Commercial Street and Dock Street.

I shopped in here quite a lot in the 70's because it had a really cool selection of jazz vinyl that other record shops in Dundee didn't have - a fine array of ECM albums for example. Some I recall buying were - Terje Rypdal, Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny, Eberhard Weber, these kind of acts, although I must admit I also came home with a heap of pretty obscure albums from this place too. Names that spring to mind are Pacific Eardrum, Opa, Stomu Yamashta, Passport, Brand X, Casiopea, Shakti, Turning Point, PFM, Nucleus, Marscape, Solution, Azymuth, UK, Nana Vasconcelos, White Noise, Isotope....and plenty others of this variety.

Why they stocked records such as these was probably down to the fact that the guy who ran the shop, Rob Adams, was himself a bit of a jazz-rock aficionado. In fact he was also in a couple of local bands called Europe and Head, acts influenced by the likes of Weather Report.

Anyway, getting back to the above items - the first ad that's making a "note" of the name, dates from 1978.

The small ad under it is from a 1972 Telegraph and the next one is from a 1977 Telegraph - both displaying albums that were more commercial than the kind I usually bought from there.

The 2 yellow items date from 1980 and were adverts that cropped up on the reverse side of tickets for gigs on at the University. The idea being that if you took the ticket stubs into Forbes you got £1 knocked off the price of the related albums - these here being for Peter Gabriel and Mike Oldfield.

We'll just have to ignore the fact that the Uni got the address wrong on one of them!!

Top photo by Neale Elder.

DAVID LOW AD - 1971

I haven't mentioned much about Dundee's golf scene on Retro, so because I have some bits & pieces, not much, I'm gonna post them up over the next few days.

Starting with this ad from 1971 for David Low who were presenting themselves as golf specialists at the time. Although they stocked other sports items in their shop in Commercial Street, they did devote an entire floor to golfing equipment, a photo of which you can see in the December 2008 Archive.

David Low also used to have a shop in the Seagate on the corner of Gellatly Street but that one closed down in the early 70's allowing them to concentrate their efforts on this branch here.

ALEX SMITH'S AT NIGHT - 1964

On a rainswept night in April 1964, Alex Smith's store in Commercial Street is illuminated and some of their Spring collection is on display.

Photo by DC Thomson.

STABLE BOUTIQUE - 1970'S



Here's a fashion shop you may have forgotten all about - The Stable boutique in Commercial Street.
The photo was taken in the mid 70's.
Top ad is dated 1973 - so this was the era when guys were wearing their long shirt collars on the outside of their jacket lapels - the chosen image of countless clubby bands!
The Stable was where, in 1975, I bought myself a smart blue velvet formal jacket, then proceeded to wear it along with ripped jeans!
The other ad dates from 1977, although judging by the attire in the image, they appear to have chosen an illustration from 1973 to accompany it.
Crazy maaan, crazy!!

FILMING IN DUNDEE - EARLY 80'S - #1

I put a few items up in 2008 relating to the time when the BBC filmed the Alan Bennett play "An Englishman Abroad" in the early 80's, with Dundee being transformed into Moscow.

Well I have a really good bundle of photos which were taken behind the scenes when all this was taking place.

So, in the 2 pictures above, we have shoe shop Peter Lord, on the Murraygate/Commercial Street corner, being modified into it's Russian equivalent.

Across the road on the other corner was John Menzies, who also got the Moscow name change treatment.

It was actually forecast for snow around the time of filming but only a tiny flurry dropped, not nearly enough for what the director, John Schlesinger, had in mind. So the decision was made at 4am to use salt instead. 14 council workers were brought down to the city centre to spread 80 tons of the stuff around town in order that filming could commence at 8:30am pronto.

I was there. They did a really convincing job.

Below is the part of the film where you see the Commercial Street scene.

The actress is trying to find someone who could give her directions to an address she had been given. She then ends up searching around Exchange Street.

 

DUNDEE SHOPPERS #4 - 1984-86-87

3 Murraygate shots to finish the 80's shoppers sequence.

TOP - 4th February 1984 - pretty packed at this end of the street looking towards Arnotts across the road. Pretty cold too by the look of the clobber!

Some of the Murraygate shops are- Menzies - Curry's - Top Shop - Jean Jeanie - Peter Lord - Radio Rentals - Dolcis.

MIDDLE - 2nd June 1986 - not quite so packed but a bit warmer with most folk going around in their shirtsleeves.

A few more shops - Dixons - Question Mark - Top Man.

BOTTOM - 6th July 1987 - back to being busy, and now the height of summer.

Some of the items featured on the Dundee Summer Events banners are, Frigate Unicorn, Witch's Blood and The Rep.

You might even be able to spot Mrs Doubtfire in the crowd!

Photo by Neale Elder

JACK AND IRVING AD - 1987

This ad for Jack and Irving Hairdressing in Commercial Street is dated 1987.
Dawn, one of their stylists, did the hairdo in the picture.

ALEX SMITH'S INTERIOR - 1968

This interior shot of Alex Smith's Commercial Street store, was taken in September 1968. It has a mix of household items for the kitchen, bedroom & bathroom.
A couple of brand names I spotted are - Henley (cutlery) and a stack of boxes with FredoGlass stamped on them, although I've no idea what would have been inside!?
I do like the chequerboard drawers in the background mind you - very 60's!
Photo by DC Thomson

DUNDEE SUPPLY COMPANY

This ad from 1965 is for the Dundee Supply Company who were located a couple of doors up from DM Browns in Commercial Street.

I must admit, it's a shop I knew nothing about until I saw the advert for it. Mind you, I would still have been at primary when the shop was on the go, so it wouldn't be a place I'd visit by myself anyway.

Judging by the photo, it appears to be quite a sizable store, well stocked with fancy foodstuff.

It seems it didn't quite make a century being in biz though. As you can see, it was established in 1873, and although it is listed in my 1966 Dundee Directory, it doesn't show up in my 1970 one, so sometime in the late 60's the shop closed it's doors for good. Same goes for their Ferry branch.

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING IN ARNOTTS - 1973

Arnotts was the large department store located on the corner of Commercial Street and the High Street, taking over from DM Browns in the early 70's.
This ad shows some of what was on offer in their store in December 1973.
Bit of a mixed bag really, clothing, kitchen equipment, home accessories and electronic goods.
The 2 items illustrated are the Ronson Rapide hair dryer and the Jones Carousel cassette recorder, a fine piece of kit for it's day, responsible for many a home recording session, not to mention the occasional live bootleg album!!
Click image to read the large version.

SHISH MAHAL ADVERT - 1979

This ad for the Shish Mahal Tandoori Restaurant in Commercial Street is from 1979.

Not sure whether the sales pitch in it is supposed to be tongue in cheek or if it's a result of an over the top translation, but it makes pretty funny reading.

Click on the image to enlarge if needed.

HIGH STREET CORNER AREA - 1970'S

This is how the High Street looked in the early 70's, looking down towards Commercial Street from Castle Street.
The 3 main shops in the photograph are no longer there.
These are, from left to right, TIMBERLAND on the corner of Commercial St/Seagate. This was one of the very first shops to delve into the D.I.Y. market. All your tools, wood, paints etc under the one roof. It wasn't until a few years later that the concept came to be presented on a larger scale and placed in retail park warehouses.
On the High Street is HALFORDS, the bicycle shop. Again another shop that has gone for the larger retail park format. Not so handy if all you want is a puncture repair kit!
And of course, the Castle Street corner belonged to baker ANDREW G KIDD. Worth a visit just for the aromatherapy!!

1963 AD #3 - D.M. BROWN'S

3rd ad is for DM Brown's, on the corner of the High Street & Commercial Street.
This was a large department store, the perfume area being the first thing you'd come to when you went in through the main High Street doors, and consisted of a big maze of counters that seemed to take ages making your way through when trying to find the other departments in the store!
I remember my mother, aunties and their friends talking about Coty L'Aimant back in the 60's, so it must have been pretty good stuff. The one in the ad costs 11/6.
Below is an original 60's commercial for another Coty product - lipstick.

DAVID LOW - COMMERCIAL STREET

A little glimpse inside David Low's Sport shop in June 1972, the golf department being on the upper level.
Apart from all the obvious golfing equipment in the foreground, also on display are items such as (on the shelves above the assistant) boxes of "BIFFIT" sets, a Slazenger sports bag and a "Clock Golf" box, which was a putting game for the garden. Tucked away in the right-hand corner you'll find hats, gloves and golf balls.
My trips to the shop were 9 times out of 10, visits to the ground floor department where they had all the football goodies. Kits, boots, scarves etc. It was also a very handy shop for getting football match tickets. Even when Cup games were advertised in newspapers as being sold out, the shop managed to conjure up tickets from under the counter, which was a real life-saver sometimes!!
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG.

JOHN MENZIES CARRIER BAGS

I never thought I'd be able to put the top photo to good use but seeing as I mentioned Bruce's carrier bags in the previous post, I've decided to plonk it on here.

It's a John Menzies carrier bag and this is me arriving home with yet another album - picture was taken in 1975.
And just what LP is lurking inside?
Well it was a brand new release back then - Led Zeppelin with "Physical Graffiti".

The slogan on the carrier is - IT'S IN THE BAG.

The example underneath it is another JM record department carrier bag, this time from the 1980's.