Rushden Research Group: Shopping Week 1949

Shopping Week

This shop window won second prize in a window dressing competition
Rushden Hall is depicted in the background artwork used by F L Caswell
for this display of perambulators in 1949 - see below.

The Rushden Echo and Argus,
23^rd September 1949

Among this crowd are many of the
Rushden and Higham Ferrers
assistants who will serve you if
you visit the shops during
“Shopping Week”.

They were entertained by
the members of the
Chamber of Trade at a party in
the Windmill Hall on Wednesday.

The Rushden Echo and Argus, 23rd September 1949, transcribed by Gill Hollis

Retail Staffs Tune Up for Rushden Shopping Week
Rushden’s Bid for Prestige - Shopping Service to be Demonstrated
Increased prestige for Rushden as a shopping centre is the goal of tradesmen who are now completing their arrangements for the Chamber of Trade’s big Shopping Week.

To-morrow and throughout the week of Rushden Feast every effort will be made to show residents and visitors that Rushden deserves a new and permanent status as a place where all kind of shopping can be done, with advantage to the buyer and in an up-to-date atmosphere of service.

The Chamber of Trade, whose membership extends into Higham Ferrers and the immediate district, has for months had the planning of Shopping Week high up on its committee agendas. The result is a programme which places responsibilities on the retailers and offers diversions for the general public.

Street banners will announce the occasion, and to-morrow’s High Street crowds can amuse themselves trying to spot the “Mystery Man,” who has prizes for those who challenge him correctly. A leaflet, obtainable free of charge from any Chamber of Trade shop, will offer information in this matter and provide “hunters” with the correct form of challenge.

Window ‘Slips’
Special window-dressing takes place this week-end, and when it is complete many of the windows – each one specially marked – will contain some article obviously foreign to the establishment. There will be prizes for the best lists of misplaced articles, and the first prize has been given by Mr. W. E. Capon, chairman of Rushden Urban Council. Entries will be made on forms obtained from the C. or T. shops, and these forms have to be returned by mid-day on Thursday next, so that all the prizes can be distributed at the Ritz next Friday evening.

Prizes will also reward the best window displays by the tradesmen, and windows entered for this contest will be viewed by the adjudicators next Tuesday. In this work Mr. P. E. Peddar, of Messrs. E. P. Rose and Son, Ltd., Bedford, will be assisted by the firm’s display manager and his assistant.

A public whist drive at the Legion Hall on Monday will be one of the social sidelights of the week.

The Rushden Echo and Argus, 30th September 1949, transcribed by Gill Hollis

Bright Show by Traders
Autumn, with its suggestive colourings for window displays, was seized upon by Rushden retailers of ladies and children’s wear and by florists in the Shopping Week window display competition.

Child dummies in tartans were imposed on a background of trellis and apples, and pebbles and “conkers” lent themselves to the foreground of a display of women’s wear in muted checks against a lantern-lit “village shop.”

A profusion of golden chrysanthemums and scarlet gladioli, with the mauve of Michaelmas daisies and the stark white of Madonna lilies, made the striking centrepiece of a High Street florist’s shop. It was a “framed” still life picture, effective in its simplicity of motif – the oft-repeated painter’s choice of flowers in a silver bowl.

Mouth-Watering
Provision stores staged unexpected shows of colour – and the most mouth-watering Pigs’ heads in butter stood out against cuts of streaky bacon and the brown crusts of pies and Christmas puddings.

Underwear shops went in for the delicacy of pastels, and the men’s wear departments brought forth their best tailored shirts – pastels again, in regimentation of line with brighter splashes of colour in socks and ties. Even men’s woollen winter underwear was to be seen in shades of forest moss, copper beech and bark shadow.

Result
Experts from Bedford who adjudicated said that the general standard of the window displays was very high. In some cases they had great difficulty in deciding upon their awards.

Messrs. Saxby and Son, pork butchers, High Street, received the prize for large food shops.

In the section for large non-food shops first prize goes to Josephine Gowns Ltd., High Street, and second prize to Messrs. F. L. Caswell, Wellingborough Road, for their perambulator window.

Two High Street firms, Messrs. E. Abington and Son Ltd. and Messrs. F. Randall Ltd. are highly recommended – the latter for their “Wolsey” window.

The contest for the small non-food shops has been won by Messrs. Horace Wright Ltd., High Street. Twenty-seven windows were entered for the competition. Certificates announcing the awards will be displayed in the winning windows.