{"id":424,"date":"2021-03-04T15:08:21","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T15:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.birst.co.uk\/history\/?p=424"},"modified":"2021-03-04T15:08:23","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T15:08:23","slug":"the-experience-of-visiting-beales-during-its-prime-and-how-this-differs-to-its-last-days-of-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birst.co.uk\/history\/the-experience-of-visiting-beales-during-its-prime-and-how-this-differs-to-its-last-days-of-business\/","title":{"rendered":"The experience of visiting Beales during its prime and how this differs to its last days of business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The magical feeling customers felt when visiting a big department store, like Beales, is what kept these stores popular in their prime, however this differs to the 21st century with the development of online shopping. The difference between the exciting experience customers experienced when shopping at Beales can be seen to diminish, as children instead of going to the toy department, prefer watching tv or ordering toys online instead. The promotional events at Christmas and the extravagant window displays which lead to Beales to be a memorable experience, and is what made Beales so significant to their customers, specifically during the 50s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A department store\u2019s window display gives the customer their first impression of the store and this is what draws them in through the unique window displays Beales was known for. Their seasonal displays at Easter during the 70s had dyed chicks and bunnies and Easter eggs making it a shocking experience for the customer to remember. Other seasonal activities include their efforts of organising a Christmas parade with decorated floats in the 1950s, and again recreating this in 2020, gaining a sense of excitement surrounding Beales and the Chester Chronicle article on it, showing the press and attention gained by this stunt. Their effort at Christmas, appealing to a younger audience with a grotto and children being able to take photos with Father Christmas, which not only gives a profit to Beales with this simple idea but also creates an annual tradition and returning customers who are able to take part every year. Other department stores, such as Selfridges in 1965, advertises their \u201cToy Town\u201d during Christmas, being described as \u201cmarvellous,\u201d \u201cexciting, gay, colourful.\u201d Even though this advert is from Selfridges, it demonstrates the type of ideas big department stores, like Beales and Selfridges, had in order to create an experience for their customers and to create this buzz around department stores. However, you can see a decline of these promotional activities as \u201cby the 1950s, department store demonstrations, exhibitions and publicity stunts had reached an all-time peak.\u201d The decline of interest in these promotional events mirror the decline of Beales as customers become less interested in these activities. The Bournemouth Daily Echo in 2018 argues that in Beales\u2019 decline you are able to tell when they have had an unsuccessful Christmas, despite Christmas previously being the most popular time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A postcard of Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth of the outside of the Beales building in 1906<\/strong>
Photo: Alwyn Ladell<\/a>. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The toy department used to be the most well known and exciting part of visiting a department store, especially for children. The overwhelming experience of the toy department for a child is what makes shopping at a department store a magical experience for them. This perception of Beales, through the eyes of a child, is what they remember most and what they know wowed them as a kid, leading them to think of shopping at Beales as \u2018the good old days.\u2019 These customers that grew up with this experience of Beales are their returning customers, even when they are older, to support this store they have magical memories in, even with an obvious decline throughout the years. This magical feeling in the toy department is not only specified to Beales but also Selfridges toy department in 1938, which is described as the \u201cenchanting third floor\u201d in The Times article, \u201cwhere happiness is always king.\u201d This description describes the uniqueness the experience of visiting a department store had, and the excitement the children felt when looking at the variety of toys on the shelves; an experience you couldn\u2019t get anywhere else. Beales departments were also seen as modern, by having \u201cspeedy reactions to shopping trends,\u201d as described by the Times in 1985, giving the impression of a futuristic experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n