I liked Woolworths spearmint chews, its leaping salmon, and a furry pink gonk. (Sad, isn’t it?)

East Anglian Daily Times: The fabulous fish and seafood counter in the Ipswich Carr Street branch of Woolworths in 1968 - featuring the model salmon so many people remember Picture: ARCHANTThe fabulous fish and seafood counter in the Ipswich Carr Street branch of Woolworths in 1968 - featuring the model salmon so many people remember Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant)

My main memory

When I was a child, the two-floor Ipswich Carr Street branch seemed vast. There was an imposing fresh fish counter – featuring a seven-foot fibreglass model of a leaping salmon, with water cascading over it.

Best thing (as a child)

Pic ’n’ mix sweets. Grab a bag – drop in some of these, some of those. Drop some on the floor. Favourites: Spearmint chews, pink ‘shrimps’ and orange-and-lemon boiled sweets.

MORE: Woolies’ rise and fall. Are you still missing its pic ’n’ mix sweets?

Best thing (as an adult)

Shelves and shelves of board games and other toys. Great choice at Christmas. Still miss it.

Go-to place for

Everything. Including car-tyre footpumps, booth for passport photos, records and CDs.

Craziest buy

A gonk (limbless ‘doll’) covered in frizzy candy-flossish pink hair and with a black beard. Whatever possessed me? Mind you, it was 1970.

Most pointless buy

Key-ring with little plastic football. Inside were several dice with numbers and symbols said to help you predict match scores and win the football pools. I was 13 and didn’t do the pools… Maybe I should have. Life might have been so different...

Legacy

Two boxes of Christmas baubles – one red set, one golden – bought in 1987. Five balls in each. At £3.99 per box, that’s 2.5p per bauble per Christmas (I think). And still plenty of sparkle in them yet.

Unanswered question

Why didn’t they spell pic ’n’ mix with a K (pick ’n’ mix)? Their way made no sense!