20th Century

Timeline

Shopping

Markets and Fairs

A Trading Town

Arcades

Department Stores

Malls

Department Stores

The beginnings of what were to become department stores began in 1854 when John Heelas opened his draper shop selling cloth material in Minster Street. The business did well and soon started selling other goods such as carpets and furniture. The shop grew, buying the shops on either side and by 1929 it had expanded into Broad Street. Heelas always had a good reputation for quality, Queen Mary shopping there at one stage. In 1949 Heelas became part of United Drapery and was taken over in 1953. In the 1980’s the shop was rebuilt on its present site.

McIlroys was another of the departments stores, being founded in 1903. It was sited in Oxford Road opposite what is now the Broad Street Mall and was known as Reading’s Crystal Palace. The building still exists, but McIlroys closed in 1955.

Marks and Spencers first Reading shop was in West Street in 1904. Unlike Heelas, it was advertised as a penny bazaar, and was open fronted with no doors. A second shop was opened in Broad Street in 1912 and this expanded, with the West Street shop closing in 1936. The Broad Street continued to expand, taking some of the space of the Market Place arcade.
In the first half of the twentieth century many local shops became larger and almost the size of the department stores. Bulls, on the north side of Broad Street started at the turn of the century and eventually expanded through to Friar Street before closing in 1953. Wellsteeds on the south side of Broad Street eventually became Debenhams. The site is now part of the Oracle. The Coop, which had started in 1860, moved into a new store in 1928 in West Street, and closed in 1998. Milwards opened a branch in Reading in 1890 and made Reading their headquarters. The family firm was taken over in the 1990’s.