Revealed: Top 5 most missed retailers from Harrogate's High Street

Raisin UK have analysed the search volume and social media engagement with our favourite brands - and the results may come as a surprise!

Harrogate is a busy place and High Street shops come and go - but a new study has revealed which one's we as a town miss the most.

Raisin UK have analysed the search volume and social media engagement with our favourite brands - and the results may come as a surprise!

Here are the top five Harrogate High Street shops that we miss the most...

57% of people reacted sadly to the news the brand collapsed, showing we really did care about one of the biggest names on our high streets closing.

In December, it was announced that all Debenhams stores were set to close after the failure of last-ditch efforts to rescue the failing store chain, after landing in administration for the second time in a year.

The retailer’s website crashed for days as shoppers attempted to grab bargains, with Debenhams stores reopening for a short period of time to clear stock.

Debenhams was a key part of the British high street, being one of the UK’s largest department store retailers after the earlier collapse of BHS. Debenhams sold a range of goods from clothing to household items and furniture. It’s Blue Cross Sale and Debenhams Beauty Club was a fan favourite amongst high street shoppers.

Sadly, Debenhams, who had been struggling for many years, suffered from the covid-19 lockdowns and their main concession operator, Arcadia, also entering administration. The news of the disappearance of brands such as Dorothy Perkins, Burton and Topshop led to JD Sports pulling out of rescue talks leading to the liquidation of the department chain.

Boohoo snapped up their online operations to bring Debenhams back online, selling a range of their usual concessions and beauty products that customers loved, with the reintroduction of the beauty club. Debenhams has also started rehiring to open a flagship Debenhams store in an attempt to bring Debenhams back to the British high street, so good news for shoppers!

With 44% of people who reacted that they loved the news about the return of the brand on social media, it proves 'Woolies' still has a place in all our hearts.

As the shutters closed on the chain’s final 199 shopfronts in market towns across the UK in 2009, a significant piece of high street history faded away. Woolworths was the place to get the majority of things you needed, where else would the UK turn to in desperate times? If you needed a bag of pick ‘n’ mix, a wardrobe of children’s clothes and a new CD… Woolworths was the place!

The only real way to describe Woolworths is Poundland with a lot more ambition.

Woolworths’ had aisles full of affordable impulse items that had no business in being together. Your school stationery set next to bottles of perfumes and socks, Woolworths was just the place to be.

Twitter is also flooded with memories of stealing from their Pic ‘n’ Mix counters, which does now answer the question of why people raved about their Pic ‘n’ Mix so much!

Unsurprisingly, Woolworths became a hot topic after a certain rumour in 2020 of an imminent return got people searching for Woolworths on Google and Twitter because let’s face it… we all wanted it to return just for the nostalgia of better days! Sadly, this rumour turned out to be a hoax but the memories remain with a hope of a return in the future.

With 51% of people reacting angrily to the collapse of the brand, blame was certainly pointed at Sir Philip Green’s management of the group.

British Home Stores, or mostly known as BHS, was one of our largest department store chains, selling clothing and household items. In its later years, BHS expanded into furniture, electronics, entertainment, beauty and even convenience groceries.

BHS was part of the Arcadia Group, managed by Sir Philip Green who later sold BHS for £1 in March 2015 to Retail Acquisitions Ltd led by the serial bankrupt Dominic Chappel, almost set for failure.

All BHS stores closed by late August 2016, being the biggest retail collapse after Woolworths. Despite not being known for anything outstanding, it was a huge part of the British highstreet and was hugely missed as many of the city centre’s largest retail units were left empty.

The rest of the Arcadia Group suffered the same fate as BHS in 2021 as they collapsed, leading to the loss of Topshop, Burton, Dorothy Perkins and more. These brands were later moved online and bought by ASOS and Boohoo. The BHS brand was later bought and now operates online selling ceiling lighting.

With BHS being part of our high street for such a long time, feelings were strong around the closure of the stores.

Mothercare is a huge retailer for parents across the UK, with it being part of many parent’s lives at such an important time. Therefore, it would come as no surprise that 55% of people engaged with a sad reaction to the brand’s collapse announcement on social media..

In November 2019, Mothercare announced it was to close it’s UK business after calling in administrators. The company, which opened its first store in 1961, had frequently struggled to compete with cheap supermarket clothing ranges and the rise of online shopping.

Mothercare had previously been part of the Storehouse Group which consisted of Mothercare, Habitat and BHS, but the group broke up when BHS was sold to Sir Philip Green.

Many parents had huge emotional attachments to the brand, with Mothercare being the leading childrenswear chain in the UK. Mothercare sold a range of clothing and home and travel products, such as pushchairs and car seats, providing essentials to parents. Mothercare stores were extremely busy with the build up to their closures as their closing down sales provided great bargains for new parents.

Mothercare has since completed a franchise deal with Boots, meaning the pharmacy chain can now sell Mothercare-branded products within Boots stores, allowing the brand to return to the high street. The Mothercare website has now also moved to the Boots website, allowing new parents to continue to purchase from the brand as usual.

Blockbuster is still in a very well deserved place in our nostalgia list. It collapsed into administration back in 2013, being a huge casualty to the high street with the closure of 528 stores!

It joined several other brands including Jessops, HMV (which survived administration again and again and again) and electrical chain Comet in being affected by online competition.

Could we ever see a return of Blockbuster? Sadly, probably not. With online streaming services such as Netflix and Disney Plus, a revival of Blockbuster would be for pure nostalgia and zero convenience. Netflix doesn’t charge any late fees after all!

But with 3.6k searches every month for the brand, it’s clear to see we have never forgotten them!

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