Tommy Balls

lancsdave

lancsdave

Peel Monument
Overlooker
Suprised nobody mentioned this already. The administrators closed it down yesterday and all staff made redundant.
 
is that both shops dave? the top one & the one that does the cheaper ones at the bottom ?
 
Thats sad, although I'm not surprised. The last few times I have been in I've not found anything that I wanted, and I think it put the prices up alot and couldn't compete with the shops in town.

Wonder what will happen to the building?
 
God that's terrible, to be told there and then you are out of a job

For some of them too it will be so hard to find other work, ie if they have done that job most of their life and are of a more mature age

Hopefully they will get the help they deserve
 
it wasnt actually Tommy Ball who had it though was it? he died a while ago, they just kept the name on
 
flashytart said:
it wasnt actually Tommy Ball who had it though was it? he died a while ago, they just kept the name on
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That is right. I am informed that it is owned by the same peop0le who own Byron Supplies - the building supplies company, though I wonder if that company will offer sany of the Tommy Balls staff jobs?
 
It seems a shame that what was once one of Blackburns most thriving companies has gone to the wall, I think Tommy's was the first shop of its type to sell shoes cheap. He was a very generous man, in the 80s he used to come in the Great Tree in Hassy every Saturday lunchtime, just to torment te life out of Dale Winfield, and when Tommy drank everybody drank:D
 
When it first opened you had to queue up to get in, and there were coach trips to it (like they do to Ossy Mills now)
 
my nan used to work for him, he would dump hundreds of shoes in her cellar and she would have to try and make pairs out of them lol that was about 40 years ago
 
TB sold his empire several years ago.
It is still sad to see it go though.
I looked after a relative of TB many years ago and TB came on the ward and gave all the nurses a chitty for 3 pairs of shoes....any shoes.....price no object.
 
That is a shame, my mum has always gone there for the kids shoes for school. Clarks shoes at affordable prices, going to struggle now.
 
BERNADETTE said:
That is a shame, my mum has always gone there for the kids shoes for school. Clarks shoes at affordable prices, going to struggle now.
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It's terrible trying to get good children's shoes e.g Clarks round here.

The only one I know of locally is the one on Blackburn Rd, Accrington.

Passion for Soles I think it's called.

I have had children's Clarks shoes from there.

I also go to Little Feet in Barrowford, they have some lovely shoes in there and they last a long time. This is a must for me as my children's feet grow very slowly. I only buy shoes for them every 9-12 months so if they're not long lasting they soon look scruffy. :(

However, you wouldn't go to Barrowford if you didn't have a car of course.
 
There is the shop on Whalley Road as well Lilly, I paid about twenty pounds for some lovely boots there when my daughter was a baby(she is thirty two now) and mum got the exact same boots from Tommy Balls for 99p:eek:
 
I know Mothercare at Blackburn has a clarks department
There is the shoe shop on the bottom of Whalley Rd nr town that has clarks too, not sure if thats the one you are on about
 
AccyLass27 said:
I know Mothercare at Blackburn has a clarks department
There is the shoe shop on the bottom of Whalley Rd nr town that has clarks too, not sure if thats the one you are on about
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Yes, I forgot about the Whalley Rd one.

The Mothercare one is a beggar to get to without a car.

It's those without a car that I feel sorry for. If you've got a car it doesn't really affect you, you can just go elewhere.

I'm not just talking about shoes now. Trying to get clothes, toys, books, anything, is a nightmare for people without a car. These retail parks are great but they're always out of town. :(
 
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