This project started as a personal reaction after endlessly going through supermarkets and other shopping centers with no luck in getting what I needed. I thus turned my attention to some shops in Birmingham that still kept the “old ways“ only to soon realize that they were an opportunity.

The people that worked here, all had a history behind them along with stories worth told. They didn’t seem very much affected by the passing of time or the more modern alternatives to their businesses.
Many of them seem to let you know that somewhere deep inside they know that whenever people want quality services and feel that the old ways are better, they come back to shops like these.

This is a photographic documentary of three Birmingham-based shops that still stick to those old ways.

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The first and oldest of these shops is a hardware store on Summer Lane.
With Birmingham being originally an industrial city, hardware stores used to thrive in most businesses.
Marc Wright, along with his brother Jonathan and sister Susan, have owned White’s Ironmongery for
over 30 years.
INTERVIEWER - How did the Ironmongery start its existence?
MARC WRIGH T - (gasps) You’re talking 1849. It was founded by Mr. White 150+ years ago. My father
came here in the 1950’. It was Mr. White who originally founded the company. He just decided to open an
ironmongers.

I. - How did you come to the store?
M.W. - My father came here, he was an accountant in town and it was Mr. Greyted then who married
Mr. White’s daughter. Mr. Greyted was revamping the shop, he wanted someone to come in and completely
look after the book-keeping side of things. He was a wealthy man who had plenty of big connections in
town and he just put the word around asking if anyone would be interested in coming there to oversee the
administrative part. Greyted and his wife didn’t have any children so he talked to my dad and two other
associates; when Greyted died, he left the shares at an affordable price for the three of them and that’s
how my father came here. Obviously I’ve just carried on with my brother and sister.

I. - Speaking of family traditions, how did the responsibilities pass on?
M.W. - I remember when I was at school, my father said “There’s a job here if you want it, just do well at
school.” I never thought I was going to do anything else, I was always going to come here and that’s how it
came about: I just came here. The rest of us all followed soon.

I. - Were there any important events that happened during the store’s long history?
M.W. - The only thing that I remember was when the top was built. The whole of Summer Lane was
closed down; we had the mayor who opened the street. They had to close it because of all these RS J’s
here (Rolled Steel Joist beams). Basically they closed the whole of Summer Lane. That’s about as much
as I know.

I. - Did the store go through any renovation or major changes?
M.W. - No. It’s only been added to. The building isn’t 150 years old although it does look old. I would
say it is about 100 years old, maybe 90. It’s been added to as time’s gone on. The original building was on
this spot, on this piece of land which has been here since 1849.

I. - How do you think the appearance of stores such as supermarkets has
changed the hardware business?
M.W. - We deal with the tradesmen so the B&Q’s of this world don’t really worry me that much.
Obviously there are other independent companies bigger than us; they’re more of a problem. Another
problem is that the area has changed, it’s not industrial anymore. That’s why we’re suffering. If you put
us next door to a B&Q we would do unbelievable, because seeing what B&Q people charge in relation to
what we charge, we’re so much cheaper that it’s ridiculous. Our location isn’t the best anymore, it was
fantastic and it was so industrial around here when I came, 35 years ago. In 35 years this area has died.
B&Q’s are OK for do-it-yourself kind of people but unfortunately those sorts of people don’t know of
people like us, if they did they would never go to a B&Q.
I. - Looking forward to the future, have you got any plans worth mentioning?

M.W. - No, not really, it’s tough. It’s been going for 160 years so I’ll just wait and see. It’s tough
trading now, it really is, so I don’t look too far ahead. Just carry on and try to make a bit of money and
see what happens. I think if we had the opportunity to sell the land we’d probably do that. This area
is not industrial anymore so if the right offer came along then obviously we’d sell the land and let the
developers build on. It’s a bleak outlook as a business but we’ll see what happens.

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At 25 Colmore Row is a shop that has undergone a transformation. The former “Anatomical
Shop“ has been renovated and taken over by Crocket & Jones. Nevertheless, a lot of history has stayed
behind, as former shop owner Joanne Heath explains.

INTERVIEWER - What was The Anatomical Shop?
JOANNE HEATH - The shoe shop, in which we made shoes as well. We used to manufacture shoes
downstairs and sell them; we also sold all makes of shoes. It started up in 1907, way before my time.
There were two brothers that had it before me and they’ve been here a number of years. They were in
their 80s when I bought the shop from them. One of the brothers used to measure the feet and the other
brother used to make the shoes downstairs. I know their name was Richards and they lived in Handsworth
Wood. People like barristers, solicitors and all the business men around here used to have their shoes
repaired. The brothers had their phone numbers and would wrap the shoes in brown paper in a box with
string and have someone take them to the customer with an invoice and they’d use to come in and pay on
invoice or post a cheque. Couldn’t trust people like that now, could you?

I. – How did you come to the shop?
J.H. – When I came here in 1984, my husband used to work in orthopedics. The company that he was with
used to go to hospitals and they used to have problems with shoes. They used to go to factories to get
adaptations to shoes but then my husband and I bought this shop so we did them here, on the premises.
The lads that worked downstairs also adapted shoes. If you had a shortening in one leg or big problems
with your feet, we could do something about it, we could make a shoe or adapt a shoe for that particular
purpose.

I. – Did the shop in your time see any major people or events to happen?
J.H. – I don’t think so much in those days. We had people like these chief superintendents of Birmingham,
people from television studios but they wouldn’t remember it now if I were to mention it to them. And then
we had Geoffrey Dear and Philip Knights who used to come into the shop regularly and buy shoes. The shop in those days was very different to how it is now because when I also had the shop I did
alterations to shoes. We used to sell every single lace that you could buy, mend into a shoe in every
color, every style. We used to sell polishes ranging from yellow, blue, purple, green, pink, any color,
anything. Anything to do with leather, we could repair. If ladies had fat legs of thin legs, we used to take
a piece out of the boot and take them in or we could put a piece in the boot, or make Velcro fastenings
for people with arthritis in their hands. We also used to put locks or alter the lock combinations of
handbags and briefcases. Anything to do with leather, we could do. We were always known as
The Anatomical Shop.

I. – How was the transition to Crocket & Jones in 2006?
J.H. – They always wanted this shop because the clientele was here, it was a specialty shop as well and
we were in the right area. Mr. Jones said “If you ever sell the shop, let me know.” And I did, and they
came up from London and they said “Yes, we’ll buy it.” Because I’ve been here for so long, it was sensible
for them to keep me on. I liked doing it and they were pleased, obviously, because when the customers
came in, they knew me. Also, they saw the same face, it didn’t frighten them and they could see I was
here.

I. – Are there any major renovations that are to take place?
J.H. – This is going to stay as it is. It can’t be touched. All the other shops have got to come in line with
this one. A lot of people would prefer the old way but we can’t stay like that forever.

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The most recent of the three shops has its own personality. Starting as a single man’s passion
for music, the store saw many music lovers and even celebrities. Jimmy Shannon shares a bit of his 40
years working here.

INTERVIEWER - How did The Diskery start to take shape?
JIMMY SHANNON - The Diskery started to take shape in 1952 by a man called Morris Hunting who,
from his love of jazz music and blues music, used to buy jazz and blues 78s (records) but in an effort to
make things a bit easier for him he would maybe send off to America for them. Instead of sending for one,
he might send for 4, 5 or 6 knowing that other friends and enthusiasts would buy them off him which
would help the cost of the posting. So he’s a great music lover anyway, plus that all the 78s you could
buy in this country had that same style of music. Then he opened the shop after he had a car accident and
the compensations he got from the injuries of that helped him on the money side. So after dealing in jazz
records only to start with, I think what must have happened was that the ordinary everyday people were
actually being exposed to popular music which was exploding at the time. It was a new way of enjoying
your free time, enjoying music, the radio etc. I’m sure he must of thought himself “These people are asking
for the likes of Bing Crosby, Ruby Murray, Tony Bennett ”, all the singers of the day, and therefore he
would open accounts with the certain record companies that started to stock this popular music and it
just grew from there. Other styles of music that then exploded and he would’ve delved into would be soul
music, rhythm & blues music, blues itself, there’s a difference between blues and R&B. Then in the 60’
when a west-Indian-early-reggae kind of music emerged, he would’ve stocked that because of the large
west-Indian population in Birmingham although there were shops in places like Handsworth and Lozells
who also sold this, and therefore any kind of music form that came along and the shop was aware there
was a market for, it would stock.

I. - What were the customers like? What kind of people came into The Diskery?
J.S. - I would think mainly working class people, everyday people and middle-class people too, anybody
and everybody really, although the stores in town all had record departments, quite good ones as well,
but there were obviously areas of music they weren’t prepared to stock or take the risk on, which
Morris was; other people who worked for him gave him guides on their thoughts as well, so the shop had
a great wealth of stock of music.

I. - Given it’s age, did The Diskery see any celebrity customers?
J.S. - Loads. I’ve been working here 46 years nearly. Before my time people like Frank Sinatra Jr, Tom
Jones, Robert Plant, all the members of Black Sabb ath, other members of Led Zeppelin, Joe Cocker,
Stevie Winwood, other members of the Spencer Davis Group, all the members of Slade, mainly anybody
from the West Midlands used the shop; people from The Move, Wizzard, all these people in their younger
lives would’ve used the shop at one time or another. American jazz musicians, there were plenty of those,
lots of American rock musicians and recently, across the road from us in a hundred yards, there’s the O2
Arena which has a lot of plans that we’re not familiar with but they have a following and you quite often
have some of those artists come into the shop because they have a great love affair with vinyl, not just as
it emerged recently. There’s always been a love affair with musicians and the old format, so we get a lot
of musicians that are probably bigger and more well-known than we know actually.

I. - Speaking of vinyl, what makes it so special?
J.S. - I always thought that one word is “warm” or “warmer”. It isn’t as cold as digital. There’s
hundreds of thousands of people out there from different generations who probably have never ever
heard anything except a digital sound. I’m not criticizing it, if they did hear that old analog sound, as it’s
called or traditional-kind-of sound, I think a lot of people would fall in love with it because it’s just a
cozier sound.

I. - How do you feel selling record in this digital age?
J.S. - I think we’re a champion, to come through the digital age, to still be doing as well as we always
have done. It’s quite good for the scene and I think it’s a big pat on the back for this shop. We’ve gone
about what we do in our own way; there are no set patt erns for that so obviously we try to do what we
do well. It’s a very wide selection of music, we buy lots of music in good condition only and there are lots
of styles of music that we don’t want to know about anymore because we’ve got plenty of it and nobody
is buying it. So we’re very happy. CD ’s will go out the window sooner or later; records will outlive
them, how phenomenal is that? It’s almost that the quicker the replacement format comes along, it kills
the old format but nothing’s killing vinyl.