“We used to come here for our Christmas shopping when I was a kid,” Doreen Nelson tells me at the entrance of Aberdeen’s flagship Marks and Spencer.
She’s here with her husband James hours before the food hall at St Nicholas Street shuts its doors for the final time this evening.
This Christmas will be the first in her memory where she hasn’t headed to the city centre spot – pushing the boat out to pick out a plump turkey and trays of tasty trimmings.
Inside, the shelves are emptying rapidly. Plush items have been reduced to rock-bottom rates as the end nears. Soon enough, there won’t be a Percy Pig in sight.
The retail giant is investing £15 million into expanding its Union Square branch, doubling it in size as the decades-old department store off Union Street closes.
The reimagined Union Square food section will open on Friday, about 12 hours after this food hall closes.
It’s bittersweet for Doreen to see it go. This shop has been part of her life for as long as she can recall.
“There’s just things in Markies that you just can’t get anywhere else,” she smiles.
“This place is where we would go for our nicer stuff…”
‘I’ve known this shop my whole life’
Doreen’s sentiments are shared by other shoppers taking the last chance to peruse the St Nicholas branch, which has been part and parcel of the area for more than 50 years.
Maggie Duff was another who had finished her final trip to the city centre staple, and I stopped her for a chat as she headed out into the scorching April sunshine.
Having moved here from America with her parents when she was a toddler, Markies has been a staple throughout her whole life too.
She reminisces: “We moved back here from the States when I was four, and this has been here since I was a kid. I’ve got great memories of the store.
“It’s been here all these years, and it’s a good store.”
She worries that some older folk may struggle to get to Union Square, though she will be able to head there herself.
Maggie added: “I’m really lucky for my age that I can still go down, but I do feel it’s a shame.”
A few moments later, another M&S fan arrives as Christina Ashworth appears to share her thoughts.
She tells me: “I’ve got fond memories of the store.”
The shopper adds: “I’ve been in Aberdeen for 15 years now, I do like coming here.
“I know Union Square is only just 10 minutes down the road but it’s not quite the same for me.”
Are shoppers excited to visit new Union Square store?
Heading down McCombie’s Court with her day’s shopping, Margaret Palmer stops briefly to give us her view on the closure of the food hall.
“It’s a shame really that they’re taking it away from the city centre,” she says.
“It’s more out of the way at Union Square, and the end of a long connection with the city centre.
“It won’t put me off from going to Union Square, but it’s a shame that it’s closing.”
What do you think of the move to Union Square? Let us know in our comments section below
M&S closure in long line of department store departures
Duncan Stephen is just making his way on to the Granite Mile as he stops for a quick chat.
The closure has got Duncan thinking of the glory days of the Granite Mile – a time before online shopping and out of town retail turned people’s habits upside down.
“It’s another institution that’s gone. Esslemont and Macintosh, Debenhams, you could go on and on,” he shrugs.
The new food hall will open at Union Square on Friday.
Aberdeen’s St Nicholas branch will remain open until the summer, with the other departments on the ground and second floors still serving customers.
Read more about M&S Aberdeen closure:
- ‘We became best friends while working at Aberdeen’s flagship Markies 40 years ago – and now we are moving together to Union Square’
- Cheap deals on chocolates, booze and luxury grub as prices SLASHED ahead of Aberdeen M&S food hall closure
- Emotional reunion for 100 retired M&S workers as they say goodbye to flagship Aberdeen store
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