Spalding family celebrates 60 years of Hills Department Store
The owners of one of Spalding’s most well-known stores are celebrating their 60th anniversary of serving customers.
David Turner and Elizabeth Hall returned home from school one day in 1959 to find their father Fred “Sheddy” Turner had bought Hills & Company Department store.
Back then Hills was competing against the likes of Beryl’s, Frost’s, Pennington’s and Hanson’s but has been built-up to become a mainstay of the town centre.
Over the years, Hills has weathered numerous recessions, moved locations and brought big names to Spalding shoppers. The family will be celebrating this milestone anniversary on Friday.
One of the directors Katie Freeman, who is David’s daughter, said: “The old shop was very much like Are You Being Served but without Mrs Slocombe!”
Fred had purchased the Hill and Company store, in what is now Lloyds Pharmacy in Market Place, from the Bradshaws with the aim of providing a business for his children, who were then aged 15 and 14.
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After training in a department stores in Yorkshire David and Elizabeth returned to take over the reins from their mum Ada in the early 1960s.
David said: “We concentrated on things that Hills had a decent reputation for whch was haberdashary, wools and linens and built it up from there.”
As the business began to grow, the family began to look for new premises and eventually settled on their current home in Broad Street, which was once The Greyhound Hotel, in the 1970s.
From then, the family began to expand and alter the Broad Street store while still trading from Market Place.
In 1985, David, with help from an old school friend and a trolley borrowed from the bulb auction, moved the operation fully to the existing site and left Market Place.
The shop underwent further changes in the early 1990s which included the first Dorothy Perkins clothing in the town, the introduction of the cafe and a cosmetic counter.
Director Emma Allmand said: “This had a big impact as for the first time in Spalding, shoppers could buy Dior, Lancombe and Estee Lauder.
“It was a totally different retail operation from the early days as we had gone from serving customers on wooden counters.”
When the family first took over Hills, linens and furnishings was the biggest seller, now it is cosmetics.
Further changes also happened in the 1990s when Directors Richard and Edward Hall started the furniture store, which is now in Bridge Street.
The family, which also owns the Coffee Pot in Johnson Hospital and Turner’s Fish Shop, have thanked their customers and staff for their support.
Richard said: “Our biggest asset is our staff. They are extended family,”
Katie added: “We also have incredibly loyal customers.”