Comments on: At William Gee Ltd

By: Marcelle Garner

Marcelle Garner — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 03:44:32 +0000

What an amazing shop.I am always complaining about the lack of Haberdashery shops .They are sadly missed.Here in Australia there are only superstores where one can buy haberdashery & they only sell a small amount,normally not having what one needs.plus if one does not have a car ,As I do not it means difficult public transport journeys .If I still lived in London this is where I would go. Such a wonderful history.Thank you.

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 23:56:07 +0000

Lady Diana was not a Princess, she was Lady Diana Princess of Wales.

HRH Katherine Duchess of Cambridge is not called ‘princess’; neither is Prince Charles wife, HRH Camilla Duchess of Cornwall

Why do people call Lady Diana, Princess? Especially English people who should know better.

I’m English! I doubt if this will pass for publication! 🙁

By: Gary Arber

Gary Arber — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 16:48:58 +0000

This post revives a memory from the past of my old printing works.,In the 1940’s and 1950’s we used to print for a cardboard box maker in Hackney Road called Sollash, he made boxes for William Gee, he sent van loads of flat cardboard on which we had to print the name “William Gee” he then made them into packing boxes for the company’s products.
Gary

By: John McVey

John McVey — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 14:44:00 +0000

I too thought of hardware stores; indeed thought the essay might be about one, rather than a haberdashery.

Why? Maybe the look of the first photograph: the broad open counters, the overall color scheme (ca 1965), the stuff hanging from walls…

Lovely story.
And the photo of Janet Vanderpeer, Buttonmaker. Nice to be reminded that buttons like everything else, need to be made by someone!

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 14:12:10 +0000

I was quite taken by how “hand made” the window displays were. As if, perhaps, the employees had come in early and done them themselves, using anything at hand. “Here, we could spell out the name in buttons…….and, wait a minute, how about using strands of trimmings to form
streamers? Yes, that’s it.” Everything about this place is inviting — I could spend hours there.
GA, thanks for knowing how much we love to see sample cards and signage.
Another discovery. Another reason to marvel.

By: John Francis

John Francis — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 13:20:11 +0000

I remember shops like this one when I was a kid. Long may it continue and more people discover and buy from it.

By: Helen Breen

Helen Breen — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 11:58:38 +0000

Greetings from Boston,

GA, thanks for your colorful piece about these haberdashery survivors in London. Long may they continue.

Reminds me that last year I had occasion to try to match a button on a jacket I owned. It had been many decades since I pursued such a quest. I could not believe how difficult it was to find any store actually selling buttons! I had remembered a very enterprising “Windsor Button Shop” nearby in my youth – now long gone.

Finally came across something to fill the bill in a fabric store – but not the same…

By: Stephen Barker

Stephen Barker — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 09:52:35 +0000

Jim, I was going to make the comparison with hardware shops as well. Long may the business continue.

By: Sparks

Sparks — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 07:53:15 +0000

Thank you for the wonderful tour of Gee’s, I have passed it many times at weekends but it’s never open on Saturdays – I wasn’t sure if they were open to the public at all.
I hope they are able to keep going for a good number of years.

By: Valerie-Jael

Valerie-Jael — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 07:14:38 +0000

So glad the place still exists, I remember the shop well. Valerie