THIS week’s nostalgia feature looks at a Llandudno department store steeped in almost 100 years of history.
Clares, at 97-99 Mostyn Street, was established by the Baxter family in 1927, which saw it rebuilt into a ladies’ dressmaker’s and milliner’s.
Born into a poor family in Runcorn, Robert Clare Baxter had been so successful by 1927 that he had seven businesses along the North Wales coast.
This included Baxter’s Bon in Lower Mostyn Street, which sold good-quality men’s clothing.
He later married one of his employees, Mary Lewis, and when he died in 1950, the business continued under the guidance of his son Dougie and grandchildren John and Ann.
The store still has its cage lift, while the Lamson pneumatic device, which whizzed payment by tubes to the cash office and sent back the change, was removed in 2002 when the store was taken over by Ulster Stores Ltd.
The shop was designed by Arthur Hewitt, whose other works included the Palladium and the Washington Hotel.
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