Did Woolies (Woolworths) ever sell valves?

[duncanlowe]

Going to sound like a stupid question, but let me explain...

Many (many) years ago I had a Saturday job in Woolies. I worked on the electrical (mostly lighting) department. A big part of it was putting new fittings (or replacement stock when the display one had been sold) on display. I found it irritating to have no way of doing a basic test for shorts before switching on. Only had the issue a couple of times myself, but the full time staff were forever popping fuses and I had to sort it on Saturday.

Now to the root of the question. In the stockroom amongst the fittings, I found a brown crinkle finish 'thing'. Bit of a flat base with an angled back that had a meter in it. Not used for anything. So I (with permission) took it home and turned it into basic continuity tester. Probes were made from 2.5mm cable, with flex to connect. In the depths of my memory, I'm thinking the flat bed part had various sockets, and they weren't lamp base sockets (we still used the lamp testers at the tills). So did Woolies sell valves, and have a basic go / no go tester at the tills?

Oh and BTW, the odd reason for my memory going back to this? I was asked today about an isolator switch that seems to have welded contacts (or possibly just melted internals). Last time I actually saw that was when one too many wrongly wired fittings had been fitted in Woolies and although the fuse protected it, the switch contacts succumbed.

[Aub]

How far are you going back Duncan? I too worked at Woolworths on Saturday, between 1969 and 1971 and I don't recal any valves then, at least not at store 227.

Cheers

Aub

[Silicon]

Could the mystery device in Woolworths be a battery charger for radio accumulators?

[emeritus]

Don't forget that retail price maintainance was still in force in the 1960's, meaning that manufacturers could legally specify the retail price of their products. Much of Woolies stuff was own-brand (generally Winfield: Embassy for records) which they could sell cheaper than the branded products sold in other shops. My recollection is that electrical stuff was things like mains plugs and sockets (made by WG), surface-mounting mains switches of Italian manufacture, wire and cables, lamp bulbs, 13A plug fuses, electric fires, batteries and torches. The only vaguely electronic items that come to mind were wander plugs in a range of colours, not just red and black. Dad used to get his valves from the various small local electrical shops that used to sell components and do repairs.

[duncanlowe]

Originally Posted by Aub

How far are you going back Duncan? I too worked at Woolworths on Saturday, between 1969 and 1971 and I don't recal any valves then, at least not at store 227.

Cheers

Aub

Late seventies to early eighties. Same store, too (small world). Said device was stuffed in a box in the lighting aisle with other random stuff. Smaller world, my wife also worked in the same store, probably about the time you did.

Anyhow back on topic. Pretty sure it wasn't a charger of any kind. It took a battery of it's own AFAIK.

I'll keep looking now I've been reminded of it and see if I can figure out what it was.

[rontech]

I remember Woolworths in Southport from the early 40s onward and never saw any valves. I would have noticed as my father was a radio enthusiast, As an aside, WG stood for Ward and Goldstone; the factory was in Salford. My aunt had been in domestic service with the Goldstone family
from the mid 1920's to about 1933. They had a large house on the promenade at Southport

[Cobaltblue]

There was a type of meter sold by a few manufacturers that was designed for "radio use".

These had a range suitable for HT batteries, and ranges for LT.

They also had a socket (B5) (but I can imagine there may have been meters with more than one socket) to test filament continuity.

One common example is the Pifco all in one

http://www.richardsradios.co.uk/pifco.html

As a boy I was given such a meter but it wasn't the Pifco one it was larger and had a switch to set the range rather than separate sockets again it had a B5 socket for filament testing. I always regret its demise.

Cheers

Mike T

[stevehertz]

I would doubt very much that Woolworths ever sold valves. There's far too many different types of valves and it's just way out of their operating area. Too much trouble for them.

[thermionic]

Woolies did, of course sell radios, and their own brand was marked as ‘Vesta’.

I can only remember them as transistor models, but wonder if they ever sold valve sets?

SimonT.

[dave walsh]

Yes no valves at Woolworths or valve sets. "Trannies" I do seem to remember. I worked Saturdays at Pauldens Department Store on Market Street, Manchester but it was mainly selling Kitchen Furniture, with the occasional foray into danger zones like the Food Hall on the ground floor where I was once left entirely alone, in the large Fruit and Veg section, with no experience but the customers helped me out, taking pity on my situation!

Sometimes a gang of football supporters would sweep though at high speed, like Locusts, resulting in a sudden shortage of fresh fruit There seems to have been a lot of scope for electrical activity in Woolies but I didn't even know they had Saturday jobs there.

Dave W

[Aub]

Originally Posted by dave walsh

There seems to have been a lot of scope for electrical activity in Woolies but I didn't even know they had Saturday jobs there.

Dave W

My Woolies Saturday job was just a general school kid dogsbody while I was doing 0 levels.

Cheers

Aub

[Richard_FM]

This site has a good history of Woolworths, no mention of valves when I've looked but some of the product lines they once stocked were very interesting.

http://woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/index.htm

Some more unusual departments:

https://www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/lostdepts.htm

[mark_in_manc]

I enjoyed those Woolworth links Richard.

Originally Posted by rontech

I remember Woolworths in Southport from the early 40s onward and never saw any valves. I would have noticed as my father was a radio enthusiast, As an aside, WG stood for Ward and Goldstone; the factory was in Salford. My aunt had been in domestic service with the Goldstone family
from the mid 1920's to about 1933. They had a large house on the promenade at Southport

Ward and Goldstone were Volex I think - I work near the site of their factory in Salford, near what was once Pendelton Coop (nearly everything around there is a 'used to be'). It's been a vacant plot with rubble on it for as long as I can remember (about 30 years) but one end of it still has a building on it, where I get my car MOTd!

[duncanlowe]

OK, so not a valve tester then. It did strike me as something that would have sat by the cats desk, just like the lamp testers that were used. I wish I could remember. Perhaps a battery tester for dry cells of different sizes?

Mine was a Saturday job and within the electrical department. I had to be diplomatic when people came in and asked for some chocblock and a roll of tape, and suggest a proper coupler would be better.

[John10b]

During my apprenticeship days in the mid fifties, I usually took a look around Woolies, in my home town of Tenby, during my lunch break, I don’t recall seeing any Valves or Radios.
John

[duncanlowe]

Originally Posted by duncanlowe

OK, so not a valve tester then. It did strike me as something that would have sat by the cats desk, just like the lamp testers that were used. I wish I could remember. Perhaps a battery tester for dry cells of different sizes?

Mine was a Saturday job and within the electrical department. I had to be diplomatic when people came in and asked for some chocblock and a roll of tape, and suggest a proper coupler would be better.

Of course that was a cashdesk not a catdesk. Apparently there was a black cat (Sooty) before my time, that got hidden away during visits from health officials and bosses.

[fetteler]

Originally Posted by dave walsh

Yes no valves at Woolworths or valve sets. "Trannies" I do seem to remember. I worked Saturdays at Pauldens Department Store on Market Street, Manchester but it was mainly selling Kitchen Furniture, with the occasional foray into danger zones like the Food Hall on the ground floor where I was once left entirely alone, in the large Fruit and Veg section, with no experience but the customers helped me out, taking pity on my situation!

Sometimes a gang of football supporters would sweep though at high speed, like Locusts, resulting in a sudden shortage of fresh fruit There seems to have been a lot of scope for electrical activity in Woolies but I didn't even know they had Saturday jobs there.

Dave W

Crikey! I remember Paulden's in Manchester. Thanks for the flashback


Steve.

[usradcoll1]

Originally Posted by thermionic

Woolies did, of course sell radios, and their own brand was marked as ‘Vesta’.

I can only remember them as transistor models, but wonder if they ever sold valve sets?

SimonT.

In the US, their radios were badged "Audition". They did sell valve radios when the Japanese imports started to become common. Usually made by the smaller firms. Never sold valves or radio batteries, except nine volt.
Dave, USradcoll1 going by memory!

[dave walsh]

I believe I heard a suggestion [on LBC News] tonight that Woolworths may be returning in a more limited form, resurrected from the American Holding Companies? Glad to bring back memories Steve [post 17*]. So they did sell valve radios [Dave radcoll, post 18*] but only in the US! I think the Manchester Woolies was just up the road from Pauldens in the corner of Piccadilly Gardens [next to the old BBC building that was still there in 1972]. It was a big Woolworths that sold Furniture on a higher floor. They had a pretty disastrous fire in the mid seventies. Sadly, the only casualty was a chap who panicked and ran down the front entrance staircase. He was hit by a bus in the road outside and died. The fire was believed to have been started by a cigarette end on a couch. This led to a national campaign and new rules to prevent highly flammable materials being used in furniture construction. These days it's exterior cladding

Dave W

[emeritus]

There were still Woolworths stores in Germany for some years after UK Woolworths stopped trading.