Allders - Croydon

A facebook friend was praising John Lewis the other day and it reminded me of Allders, which may or may not be defunct depending on which website I look at. 

 

Allders was a vast department store in Croydon. I was very fond of it. Less so as a child - I remember being dragged reluctantly through the store each December on my mum and nan's annual Christmas shopping trip. But I did like it as an adult in the nineties.  

I remember popping in there at lunchtime on the first day of my new job at CU Head Office and was soon hopelessly lost. For it was a huge department store with few signs.  I finally found the exit several weeks later. This happened for most of my first year. It was like the Cretan Labyrinth with clothes. Occasionally I was ejected into the street in what appeared to be a different decade and once emerged in Nottingham.  I don't remember ever buying anything...

I'm writing this to remind myself to use it as the location for a chase in a detective novel, where the person fleeing is unable to find an exit. Or emerges somewhere completely unexpected.