Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

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phands
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Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

Post by phands »

This is really sad. We knew the McSherry family very well....my sister was married to Ross for a while, and we used to help out in the shops as kids. Another piece of Saltcoats heritage bites the dust.

https://www.ardrossanherald.com/news/17 ... 112-years/
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creamolafoam
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Re: Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

Post by creamolafoam »

They had been trying to sell it for a wee while seemingly. That’s three shops gone in a wk in Saltcoats town centre, William Hill & Thomas Cook being the others. The town centre is pale shadow of what it once use to be, especially Hamilton St if anybody has the misfortune to go through there.
I know for sure there are other shops that have been trying to sell up for the last few yrs but as of yet, haven’t been able to do so.
Sad sight to see indeed.
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brian f
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Re: Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

Post by brian f »

Fair play to Starks surviving 112 years when the big supermarkets started selling the papers years ago the wee places had no chance.
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Re: Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

Post by John Donnelly »

creamolafoam wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 7:04 pm They had been trying to sell it for a wee while seemingly. That’s three shops gone in a wk in Saltcoats town centre, William Hill & Thomas Cook being the others. The town centre is pale shadow of what it once use to be, especially Hamilton St if anybody has the misfortune to go through there.
I know for sure there are other shops that have been trying to sell up for the last few yrs but as of yet, haven’t been able to do so.
Sad sight to see indeed.
That Thomas Cook wouldn't be what was A T Mays would it?

JD.

Must confess that I'm not sorry to lose William Hill.
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Re: Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

Post by glenshena »

I remember when AT Mays was in Hamilton Street and then it moved up to where the RBS stood on the top corner of Vernon Street. Don't remember it being in Dockhead Street. I do remember Starks when it was a wee shop in Windmill Street when Mrs. McSherry was behind the counter, before it moved to Hamilton Street.
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Re: Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

Post by bonzo »

John Donnelly wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:27 am
Must confess that I'm not sorry to lose William Hill.
I bet you are JD :D

AT Mays on Dockhead St was across from the litebite and down a wee bit.

I remember going to starks in windmill st when I was still at school (probably primary 7 or 1st year) to buy snuff :smt102
Those wimin were in the nip.
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creamolafoam
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Re: Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

Post by creamolafoam »

glenshena wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:57 am I remember when AT Mays was in Hamilton Street and then it moved up to where the RBS stood on the top corner of Vernon Street. Don't remember it being in Dockhead Street. I do remember Starks when it was a wee shop in Windmill Street when Mrs. McSherry was behind the counter, before it moved to Hamilton Street.
At Mays were in Nineyards St ( this building has been lying empty for yrs now) & Hamilton St. Certainly can’t remember them across from the litebite.
Heard also the big charity shop next to the wee fruit n’veg shop in dockhead st is closing down.
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bonzo
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Re: Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

Post by bonzo »

creamolafoam wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 3:50 pm

At Mays were in Nineyards St ( this building has been lying empty for yrs now) & Hamilton St. Certainly can’t remember them across from the litebite.
Heard also the big charity shop next to the wee fruit n’veg shop in dockhead st is closing down.
I was positive there was one in Dockhead st. I never used Mays for holidays (always Fraser's)but Mays was where you got Scotland tickets.
Those wimin were in the nip.
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Re: Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

Post by meekan »

I’m pretty sure that Wallace’s newsagents which was across from the Candybar Dockhead Street, McSherry tobacconist Windmill Street, and Starks newsagent were all owned by the same family. McSherry the solicitor was or is part of the same family
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Re: Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

Post by Penny Tray »

I was disappointed, first of all, to see from the photograph in the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald that 'Starks' now looks just like any other newsagents. My recollection from the early 1960s is that their shop in Dockhead Street, opposite Green Street, stood out on its own as a quality retail outlet. It was like walking into a chapter of a Charles Dickens novel - subdued lighting, glass show cases, the finest stationery and writing materials, especially pens; everything reeking of quality, and the aroma of what I presume, as a non-smoker, were the finest tobaccos available. What a loss to Saltcoats.

Incidentally, the first book I ever bought there, having enrolled at 'night school', was 'PITMAN'S SHORTHAND - NEW COURSE' - and I still have it.
Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.
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Re: Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

Post by glenshena »

Penny Tray wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 5:15 pm I was disappointed, first of all, to see from the photograph in the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald that 'Starks' now looks just like any other newsagents. My recollection from the early 1960s is that their shop in Dockhead Street, opposite Green Street, stood out on its own as a quality retail outlet. It was like walking into a chapter of a Charles Dickens novel - subdued lighting, glass show cases, the finest stationery and writing materials, especially pens; everything reeking of quality, and the aroma of what I presume, as a non-smoker, were the finest tobaccos available. What a loss to Saltcoats.

Incidentally, the first book I ever bought there, having enrolled at 'night school', was 'PITMAN'S SHORTHAND - NEW COURSE' - and I still have it.
Thats what I remember about their shop in Windmill Street. I have no memory of the shop in Dockhead street.
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Re: Saltcoats newsagents Starks to close after 112 years

Post by glenshena »

The Homecare Discount Store in Dockhead Street (Wee Pakis) is also up for sale. It's been there for years and years. You were sure to find anything you were looking for in there. Maybe that's where Starks used to be before moving to Hamilton Street. Also Del Grecos Cafè in front of the post office is up for sale after more than 30 years in the same family. Very sad. Hard to believe. Perhaps their children are not intesested in the catering trade. Cavanis cafè has been up for sale for more than a year too. Will they close too? What's happening to Saltcoats? All these well known local landmarks giving up, Saltcoats will be losing it's appeal to holiday people and will become a ghost town. :(
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