Jackson’s – the ‘timewarp’ Department Store (Jacksons)

Name: libertybell

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Product:	Jacksons
Date:	30/01/01 (1811 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: They don’t make them like Jackson’s anymore, wide range of products

Disadvantages: It can’t last much longer, not yer trendiest shopping experience

Just when you think all signs of the world that existed when you were a kid had disappeared years ago – you run into ‘olde worlde’ shops like Jacksons in Reading. Okay it doesn’t take pounds, shillings and pence anymore – but in many other ways, walking into the shop is like stepping into a timewarp.

Jacksons is a small department store, which sells menswear, ladieswear, childrenswear and related items such as arts and crafts. It can be found on Jackson’s corner just down the hill from Broad Street and at the start of Kings Road. The Abbey National is on the opposite side of the road and next to it is Blackwall’s Bookshop.

The building itself is curved and is built with the grey and orange bricks used in the town hall. The store dates from about 1875 though digging out its history is proving to be difficult! The window display is very 1960’s. They sell those jumpers and trousers your Grandad would be proud of. Even the sale signs seem stuck in time – but they prices are a little more modern.

Upon entering the shop (or is it timewarp), the first thing you notice is the brown floor. No designer carpets here. There are glass counters on both sides. The Shop Assistants are all of a certain vintage – some may have been there as long as the shop! Seriously though – they sell everything – even those things you cannot buy anywhere else. And once the Assistant has put your purchase in its bag – they write you out a receipt (yes even in 2001!). But don’t belittle them. Their knowledge and experience is legendary. We are not talking W H Smith Saturday assistants here! The only apparent modern contraption they have in the store is the credit card machine and that must have been a struggle to get everyone trained in that! I’ve been told that Jackson’s even have one of those suction devices for sending money in little tubes to the Accounts Department!
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br>Our family visited Jackson’s last Saturday in a last ditch attempt to buy some pull up school trousers for our son. We hadn’t been able to find a pair anywhere else. I joined my Wife and son later and I wandered up numerous flights of stairs to locate the school section. And talk about big. They must stock every school blazer, scarf and PE top in a 30-mile radius of Reading. All neatly arranged. All labelled and with many items reduced in price.

Good old Jacksons did not let us down. They had the elasticated school trousers we required though they were a little long in the leg. Not to worry, one of the assistants on the ground floor knew exactly we were after and produced some of that material you iron on to create a new hem.

I must admit I haven’t been around the whole shop. When I do wander in, I’m often following my Wife down into the basement where the needlecraft section is. Really good value – she tells me. That part of the store has a pressure pad under one of the steps which rings a bell to tell the Shop Assistant there is someone coming. Very quaint.

How long will the store last? It’s been going since 1875 and I really wonder how it has survived. In the time I have lived in the area, I’ve seen Littlewoods and C&A close down; and they are far more modern than Jackson’s is. You get the impression they have little computerisation and a rudimentary stock control system. Perhaps the current owner is nearing retirement and the shop will be sold for redevelopment.

If you ever visit Reading, please come and check out Jackson’s. In an age of multinationals. Colour co-ordinated carpets and hi-tech computerised tills – they are a total anachronism. But I think they are great and they bring back memories of the shops I visit when I were a small lad!

Can anyone out there add anything – memories, purchases etc?

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