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Moreen Simpson: Aberdeen’s unforgettable department stores are much-missed at Christmas time

The countdown to Christmas always brings back memories of Aberdeen's once great department stores, decked out for the festive season, writes Moreen Simpson.

Luckily, Evening Express readers liked Elizabeth Taylor perfume more than Evening Express staff did (Image: Helen Hepburn)
Luckily, Evening Express readers liked Elizabeth Taylor perfume more than Evening Express staff did (Image: Helen Hepburn)

The countdown to Christmas always brings back memories of Aberdeen’s once great department stores, decked out for the festive season, writes Moreen Simpson.

This is the time of year I really miss Aberdeen’s magnificent old department stores.

In Union Street, super-posh Watt & Grant, Falconers and E&M’s. In rustic George Street, Isaac Benzie’s, Reid & Pearson, The Equitable, and, every child’s favourite, The Rubber Shop. Through that wee lane (where my mum worked as an upholstery sewer) to the fabulous Copie Arcade.

All glitzy, glamorous places to wee yins in the bleak midwinter of the black-and-white 1950s and early 1960s, who took our broken toys to the Dolls’ Hospital in Falconers, and thrilled on the countdown to the arrival of loadsa Sunties in stunning settings.

The grotto in The Rubber Shop was aye the best – a spine-tingling, long (it seemed to us) green cavern, full of elves and other surprises, before we reached the great man. A bit like finding the Wizard of Oz.

A couple of decades on, I used to get just as excited taking my kids to the store Santas. Sadly, most didn’t have the same spellbinding Toyland settings or atmosphere as the old ones. Sometimes just charisma-and-grotto-free al’ mannies, plonked on chairs in the middle of the shop.

One memorable year, a white-bearded gadgie, having given presents to my two, turned to mum, whispering: “Gee’s a Christmas kiss, grunnie!” Black affronted, she fled, hissing to me: “He reeks of whisky!”

Festive memories of Fraser’s

Scroll on the years, I’m in features at the EE. Falconers has become Fraser’s, bought over by the wealthy family, and undergoing a huge refurbishment.

As it neared completion in 1985, the newspaper got together with the store and set up a range of Christmas specials. They all revolved round the imminent launch of the new Elizabeth Taylor perfume.

Falconers department store (which later became House of Fraser), pictured in 1975. Image: AJL

We’d a readers’ competition, where the winners would win two years’ supply of the scent and a load of Fraser’s goodies. We also sold tickets to a series of fashion shows, with free glasses of Buck’s Fizz, and cut-price bottles of the new ET.

The good news was, we were overwhelmed by demand. However, me and the wifie from Fraser’s were having hairy canaries because the scent was delayed. In fact, it didn’t arrive until the day before the first show. Spik aboot nippy-bum time.

Perfume didn’t cause a stink

Spraying masellie generously from my freebie bottle, I headed back to the office to make last-minute arrangements. Not long in, I hears a sub-editor harrumphing: “Fit’s that pong?” Then a quine goes: “Gads. Like a cat’s tiddled.”

I listened. I sniffed my wrist. Yup. The latest from the Hollywood superstar was fair kickin’ up a stink.

The Rubber Shop on George Street in 1986.

Had something gone wrong in the distillation process? Ye gods, fit would the readers think? The next day could be a disaster.

Nope. Our wonderful EE faithful loved it. I even think it’s still selling to this day.

So, cheers to that Fraser’s wifie, and the many other shows we organised. It’s exactly 20 years since the store closed. But, wasn’t it – and all the others – unforgettable?


Moreen Simpson is a former assistant editor of the Evening Express and The Press & Journal, and started her journalism career in 1970

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