Lewis's Fifth Floor - A Department Story

"This brand new exhibition of photography taken in Lewis's, one of the UK's oldest and most iconic department stores, reveals a world that has been hidden since the early 1980s.
The fifth floor, with its hair salon, cafeteria and restaurants, was the epitome of style in the 1950s. Three decades later the entire floor closed to the public and it has been used for storage since then. Local photographer Stephen King has beautifully captured the faded glamour of this lost world, including many of the original features." liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

Me and a friend stumbled across this exhibition by accident as we were walking past the conservation centre in Liverpool and decided to take a look. Having grown up in Liverpool and seeing the many changes over the years it was fantastic to have a glimpse into the past of how the Lewis's department store used to look. I remember when I was really young it was still a popular store, but over the years it has declined and sadly closed quite recently. I think in our modern age the format of a department store is considered quite old fashioned. People tend to prefer to go to stores that specialise in certain products rather than a store that has everything udner one roof.

I can see how people feel nostalgic for this past time, When going into town shopping was a day out not just somethin one does all the time, Lewis's was at the forfront of the retail experience in Liverpool and I think this exhibition is a wonderful way to conclude the stores legacy.

I think the combination of the interior which appears to be stuck in time paired with the people who worked in the store evokes alot of emotion for how life was when the store was thriving. The workers are now mostly pensioners and the experience of a working class life in liverpool shows in their eyes. You can see their passion for the place they worked in for so many years, sharing stories and jokes from how the store was.