Woolworths, or Woolies as it is fondly known throughout the North East of Scotland has had a long presence in Aberdeen. Up until the mid eighties it could be found on Union Street near the Trinity Centre. It can now be found at the rear of the Bon Accord Centre. This review will describe the shop facilities throughout the Woolworths Aberdeen shop with handy information like parking. There is also the opportunity to shop online at Woolworths which gives you access to special offers and home delivery.

Aberdeen Woolworths Review

Woolworths Aberdeen is located on the ground floor of the Bon Accord Centre. There are no internal steps within the outlet making this ideal access for disabled shoppers and for people with pushchairs, prams, etc. The store is well laid out with ample spacing between aisles and shelves. There are no doors to negotiate to get into Woollies once you are in the shopping centre.

As you enter the well lit shop there are handy purchases like drinks, sandwiches, magazines, newspapers and snacks. There is also the firm favourite of any shopper to Woolworths - the pick n mix sweeties! Next to these are a wide selection of sweets and chocolates, often on a buy three and only pay for two offers. This store is also one of the few places you can buy large tins of chocolates like Roses or Quality Street throughout the year. At Christmas chocoholics are spoilt for choice with a wide range of advent calendars, selection boxes, Christmas tree chocolates, and confectionary gifts. Continuing the seasonal themes this Woolworths always caters for the latest celebration and stocks a wide range of Christmas gifts and decorations, Halloween treats, St Valentine card, Easter Eggs, etc. Throughout the year there is always a wide range of wrapping paper and greeting cards for most occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, etc

There is a wide range of toys and games stocked at Woolworths Aberdeen which includes the Chad Valley and Fisher Price ranges as well as popular and latest puzzles, soft toys, dolls, stationery, arts and crafts, cars and models, musical and learning toys and popular books and annuals. There are usually located in the middle of the store.

Clothing tends to be aimed at babies, toddlers and younger children though there is a hosiery section and seasonal wear like gloves for ladies. The child range is colourful quality clothing and offers range from discounted prices throughout to buy two and get one free mix and match offers. Of note for this review of Woolworths Aberdeen is that is it popular for parents looking for bargain school uniforms and has one of the cheapest prices for school trousers, skirts, shirts and blouses for primary school children whilst still offering comfortable, durable clothing. The Ladybird brand is the most popular range.

The electrical section is located at the rear of the Aberdeen Woolworths and sells items ranging from CDs, DVDs, computer games and consoles, DVD players, TVs, mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras etc.

The household section varies from lighting, hot water bottles, pots and pans, luggage, cushions, bedding, one of the widest range of batteries in Aberdeen, handy items like coat hangers and generally items you can't find in your average store since Arnotts closed in the 80s. If you can't find it after trawling Union Street do try Woolies, they are bound to have it!

The flooring is wooden type rather than carpeted so makes walking, pushing a buggy or a wheelchair much easier. It is always clean and there are many assistants around to help. Other than Christmas, when every store around the UK is busy, we have rarely had to queue for long.

For the more active Woolies sells seasonal sports equipment and toys from golf equipment, footballs, exercise equipment, cricket, ride on toys, camping and picnic gear, bicycles and the most popular trampolines. There is also a garden section selling seeds, bulbs, ornaments, solar lights, BBQs, character gnomes and seating.

There is a beautiful seating area with plants right outside the Aberdeen Woolworths shop. I usually sit there in comfort with a hot chocolate and muffin from Millies whilst the family do the shopping. There are some wooden seat and benches at the other end of the shopping centre, near to the Schoolhill exit.

Big W Aberdeen

The Big W Aberdeen store opened in July 2003 at the Beach Boulevard Retail Park Aberdeen. It was a short lived venture and closed after about 18 months. The store was left empty for some time but is now an Asda store. This review information relates to the Aberdeen, Bon Accord shopping centre branch.

Woolworths Parking

Parking can be found at the Bon Accord car park which is sign posted from Union Street. It can be found by driving down Union Street and turning left into broad Street just before King Street. Then follow the road past Marischal College on the right and look for the turning on the third left into Paul Street. The multi storey car park is directly on the left. You will need to take the ticket from the machine and carry this with you because you need to pay at one of the special machines at the pedestrian entrance to the car park when you return from shopping.

There are parent and toddler and disabled parking spaces in the car park. There are lifts that take you to the shops however there are some heavy doors to get from the car park to the stairs and elevators. There does not seem to be any automatic doors for disabled access. It is busy though and most Aberdonians are polite enough to help open doors.

This seems to be the cheapest car park in Aberdeen if you stay more than 2 hours. You are charged for the first two hours at a set price, there is no reduced rate for one hour parking. The Trinity Centre does though it is a bit of a long walk.

When you exit the Bon Accord car park there is no right turning permitted.

How To Get To Woolworths Aberdeen

If you take the park and ride then get off at The Baker's Oven in Union Street and walk to the pedestrian crossing, cross the road and enter the St Nicholas shopping centre beside Marks and Spencer. Walk through the shopping centre and right outside the exit is another lighted pedestrian crossing. The entrance to the Bon Accord Centre is across the road between Burger King and a hairdressing saloon. There are automatic doors to both shopping centre stores at the outer doors. The middle doors can be a bit on the heavy side and have to be manually pushed. Woolworths Aberdeen can be found at the far end of the Bon Accord Centre.

Nearest Toilet

There are no customer toilets in Woolworths. However there are some in John Lewis next door or at the upper mall. The lift and escalator stairs to these are just by the exit of Woolworths. The free to use toilets are at the opposite end of the mall next to the restaurant and cafe area. These are well maintained and spotlessly clean, so much so that they won an award for best toilet a few years ago! Ladies will be pleased to hear that these are one of the few public toilets in Aberdeen that have more cubicles devoted to them and reduces or stops the need for queuing. There are disabled toilets and parent and baby changing facilities. The gentleman toilets are to the left of Boots and the female toilets are just beyond. There are seats outside to wait in comfort.

Christmas Job Vacancies Woolworths

Each September Woolworths takes part in the Bon Accord job recruitment day where information and application for any work vacancies are advertised. Staff and managers are available to talk with and interviews take place on this day. At other times a job vacancy will be advertised at the local job centre or on the positions vacant pages of the Evening Express.

Woolworths Address Website and Phone Number

Woolworths
Unit 19a
Bon Accord Centre
Aberdeen
Scotland
AB25 1UG

Telephone Number: 01224 625950

Website: www.woolworths.co.uk

Do you have a photograph of the original Woolworths store on Union Street, Aberdeen? I'd love to put the photo on this Aberdeen Woolworths review page. Please Contact Me if you can help.

Bon Accord Shopping Centre Review

History of Woolworths

The first Woolworths store was opened on the 21 June 1879 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, America by Mr Frank Woolworth. It was based on an idea he had whilst working as a sales assistant in the Augsbury and Moore Dry Goods Store in Watertown, New York.

The owner, William Moore, asked Frank to make a display of varies items priced at 5 cents. In those days the goods were stocked on shelves behind the counter and did not display prices. Customers liked not having to ask an assistant for a price of a product and Frank's display of red and gold material and lettering added customer interest.

And so the idea of Woolworths was born. Frank knew customers would prefer a store to be filled with items where they could see the prices displayed and make decisions based on the value of the products on offer, rather than a single counter and being under the mercy of the assistants who often made up prices depending on the look of a customer.

Frank persuaded Mr Moore to let him open a shop of his own in Utica, New York. Sadly this failed because the shop was on a side street. Frank Woolworth then opened his own store in the high street of Lancaster (USA). It was a roaring success and took $127.65 on its first day - a fortune in those days.

A second store was soon opened in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was run by Frank's younger brother Charles Sumner Woolworth who was nicknamed Sum. This too was a success and the brothers businesses grew and grew. It introduced a 10 cent range and together with the original 5 cent idea was known as Five and Ten throughout America.

Three more stores were opened and in 1912 the brothers and their partners merged with Frank's old boss William Moore to form the company F.W. Woolworth.

First UK Woolworths

The first UK Woolworths shop opened on Church Street in Liverpool on 5 November in 1909.It was known as Woolworths Limited and was a subsidiary of the American company F.W. Woolworth. Branches soon opened throughout England, Scotland and Wales

The home music boom of the sixties and seventies helped secure Woolworths success during a time of changed shopping habits because they adapted to this market by providing double sided singles which covered two versions of a hit at a cheaper price.

In 1982 the UK company was purchased by Paternoster Stores Ltd who later became Kingfisher plc. During the nineties shoppers were demanding larger stores and the Big W was developed to accommodate thee tastes, much like the Wal Marts of the USA. These did not catch on in the UK and these stores were sold to Asda and Tesco in 2004. Some were rebranded as Woolworths Out of Town stores.

Woolworths in Union Street Aberdeen was famed for its record department before it closed and moved to the Bon Accord Centre. Top musicians, singers and bands would hold record signings for their fans. For example on the 5 April 1987 the lead singer of Simple Minds, Jim Kerr, was mobbed during his record signing.

There is an in depth account of the history of Woolworths at their official website where you can visit their virtual museum and view historic images and photographs and read through the eras including after the World Wars.

In November 2006 Woolworths announced that it had designed a range of merchandise to celebrate the engagement of His Royal Highness Prince William to his long term girlfriend Kate Middleton who he met whilst at St Andrews University. No confirmation about their engagement has come from Buckingham Palace but Woolworths were unable to produce merchandise for the wedding of HRH Prince Charles to Camilla and did not want to not be able to provide customers with Royal merchandise like plates, tea towels and mugs.

More Aberdeenshire Shopping.

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