Do you ever miss York's high street stores that were around in your younger years?

With the rise of internet shopping and fierce competition in city centers, store closures are inevitable.

However, that doesn’t make it any easier when our favourite shops are forced to close down.

Here are some local stores that just don’t exist anymore.

Burgins Perfumery



This perfume shop closed in 2017 after operating for more that 130 years.

The Burgin’s shop first opened as Mark F Burgin’s pharmacy in 1880, before being changed into a perfumery by the Wright family in 1972.

R A Braithwaite

Once located in York city centre, this jewellery shop closed in 2019 after 72 years of trading.

The business first started in the 1940’s when Reginald Arthur Braithwaite rented out a small shop in Gillygate.

Red Rhino Records

Tony Kostrzewa set up this shop in 1977 and it was often filled with students and budding musicians eager to get their hands on records and posters.

Sadly, the record shop closed in 1992.

Russell’s of York

Many local residents of York will remember buying their first bike from Russell’s.

The firm operated for over 96 years before closing in 2000. It was started by Charles Sidney Russel and had firms in Lawrence Street, Clifford Street and Toft Green.

Blockbuster


Before the days of online streaming, movie nights started here. Now, choosing a DVD or video off the shelf is a nostalgic memory.

Blockbuster went into administration in 2010 and slowly began to disappear from our highstreets.

Blockbuster store in York Road, Acomb, closed in 2013.