Woolworths, Stoke Newington, London

I don’t have the childhood memories of the looming wall of pick-n-mix, Woolies has never held a warm place in my heart and I doubt ever will, but I am sad to hear it is making such a royal mess of keeping it’s head above water. But… BUT! It’s does mean that you can grab yourself huge armfuls of bargains. Buy games. Bop-It especially. And Wollies sells it super cheap. We dove in to try and find Christmas pressie top-ups and came out with some great things (most of which we neither need nor really want). And what’s more, not only but also they were selling everything at 20% off. Worthy of particular mention is the Woolies own brand wind up torch and phone charger and came in a choice of grey or pink. It was the first thing we eagerly unpacked when we got home, keen to try it out. It does work, but you have to continously wind to charge your phone and lord knows how long it would take to get a full battery. Still, it’s a fun toy and it was cheap. Stokey would sorely miss you Woolworths. Shame I can’t say the same for Halfords next door.

I always regret going in here. Just SO dirty. Why can’t they put a new floor down and paint the walls or something. I have seriously never been in a more run down department store.
The prices aren’t bad and the staff are helpful. The security people though make me feel that I’ve stolen something every time I walk out. Man they look like they’ve seen plenty of action. And I’m not surprised. I don’t feel it’s my place to comment on the troubled souls that frequent the place - except to say I respect why the security guy might be in a testy mood.
Depressing.