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From the 1920s to the late 1940s, one of the most successful smaller shops in Derby was Freeman’s drapery and hardware store on The Spot. Barbara Fibiger, granddaughter of the founder, Joe Freeman, worked there herself as a young woman, until it closed in the 1950s. Barbara, of Willington, talked to Pat Parkin about the shop’s heyday and the store which she and her mother ran in Normanton when Freeman’s shut its doors.

The staff outside Freemans Freemans' shop front

OLD shops hold a fascination for many of us who recall the days when assistants never handled money but sent customer payments whizzing across the ceiling on wires, food was weighed out to the exact amount you wanted and the Co-op was the first store to offer self-service shopping.

Instead of buying every-thing under one roof, specialist shops provided a vast choice of products and you could always rely on help and advice from the friendly staff who really knew what they were talking about.

One such shop was J Freeman Ltd, a drapery and hardware store on The Spot, next door to Daltons radio and television shop, in premises which had housed one of Derby’s oldest shops.

Freeman’s was opened around the beginning of the First World War when Joe Freeman took over the premises of the well-known wine and spirits shop, Ada Burton.

He was assisted by his daughters, Phyllis Johnson and Elsie Ditchfield, better known to the customers as Mrs J and Mrs D, and quite a large staff.

They built up a thriving business, particularly in the 1920s and 30s, and it continued successfully until it finally closed in the 1950s.

Phyllis’ daughter, Barbara Fibiger, of Willington, remembers she began “work” there as a seven-year-old.

“Well, it wasn’t actually work. I would go along and do little jobs like passing out pots to people because I was small and light enough to stand in the box where they were kept.

“ I joined the staff properly when I was 17 and was paid the princely sum of 27 shillings (£1.35p) a week. I stayed there about four years until my son was born.”

Later, when the shop closed down, she and her mother opened a similar shop, Carlton Hardware, in Normanton Road.

“It did pretty well for a time until 1971 when decimalisation came along. That caused a great many people a lot of trouble and I’m afraid we chickened out and decided to close down,” she laughed.

Barbara has many fond memories of her time at Freeman’s. As a teenager, she recalls her least favourite job was cleaning the window.

She can still remember that the name of the previous shop, Ada Burton, could still be seen traced on the glass, even though the white enamel letters had long since been removed.

As well as selling clothing and all sorts of hardware, the shop ran a “pot club” which was intended to help less affluent customers.

People paid money into the club each week and then, after about 10 or 20 weeks, used the cash they had saved to buy goods.

“Some customers would save as little as three pennies a week but there was one lady who put in £86 every week.

“It was a very good business for the clubholders, who received 10 per cent of whatever was saved.

“Many of the people used their savings to buy items for their bottom drawers which, for the benefit of younger readers, was not a piece of furniture but the cash young women saved to pay for their wedding trousseaus.”

Added Barbara: “Both shops did good business. The hardware side was really busy.

“I remember my mother telling me that, at the beginning of the war, the shop sold eight miles of blackout paper for people to cover up their windows from the enemy.

“Things like that are not needed any more, but I think it’s a pity there are so few specialist shops selling hardware now.”

At one time, Freeman’s had around 18 staff working for it with the premises stretching a long way back.

After the family vacated the premises, it was acquired by Daltons, the record shop next door, who used it to sell electrical appliances.

Joe Freeman, who lived “over the shop” until he moved to Chaddesden, died in 1971, aged 95.

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This article is from the Derby Evening Telegraph and is reproduced online here.

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