Miss Bennett's and the other little shops in the '30s, '40s and '50s

In my blog about being an entrepreneur at the age of 6 I mentioned a Miss Bennett's shop. To me this was an Alladin's Cave of treasures. There were children's books, notebooks, pens, inks in every colour under the sun, businesslike rectangular erasers, not just for pencil but also for ink. Then there wer paper clips, wrapping paper, string, writing pads and envelopes, birthday, Christmas, Easter cards and postcards. Scrapbooks, stamp albums and packets of stamps to collect.You name or imagine any sort of novelty, toy, gift or small collectable and Miss Bennett would have it somewhere. She also had a library in the back room where you could borrow one book at a time for 1d (a penny) a week. Miss Bennett was slightly stooped, wore glasses and was very quietly spoken.
Next door was Miss Everett's haberdashers offering everything you needed for any sort of sewing, knitting, crochet and loads of dressmaking patterns. Miss Everett was jolly, dark haired and wore make up and would chatter away quite happily about everything under the sun.
These little shops on the outskirts of Liverpool were a pleasure to visit and were part of my childhood. They were called after the people who owned and served in them. Mr. and Mrs.Eaton had the sweet shop, Mrs. Jones was the greengrocer and  Frost's was the newsagent. Mr.Fairburn had the chemist and Mr.Parry was the butcher. He gave us a chicken for the first Christmas dinner after my father was killed in the RAF in 1944. I can't remember the name of the fishmonger but he taught me to gut, fillet and skin fish when I was about 8 years old. An accomplishment of which I was inordinately proud. I would promote the consumption of herrings so I could show off.
Will today'schildren remember Tesco, Waitrose, Boots and all the other big  multistores with the same affection that I have for all those men and women who weren't just shopkeepers. They were friends.

To find out more about my on line shop click on the link  http://www.kleeneze.com/distributors/2449/MRS-THEODORA-COCHRANE?returnUrl=/ and if you would like to start your own business click on ‘Earn Money’ to give you an idea of the fantastic opportunities available from just making some pocket money to achieving a high earner income.