Glasgow - Barrack Street

In January of 2013 after exams at University had finished...

I set off on my Scottish adventure.  It was a very early hour in the morning as I had booked a ridiculously cheap train ticket on Megabus.com for £7.70 return to Crewe! :O Can't complain at that!

I was staying with my friend, Mark who's studying at the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow and we had a busy schedule planned for the 2 days including a trip to Glasgow Cathedral, a wonder around Glasgow University which involved a long walk down by the water passing BBC Scotland and STV (very exciting!), the famous City Chambers, a mooch around the shops (where I'm sure I caught a glimpse of One Direction's Harry Styles!) and of course a trip to a Morrisons! Unfortunately Mark doesn't own a car so we could only visit places which were within walking distance.  

It just so happened that a few months previous a new Morrisons had opened... 

just around the corner from his flat!  I'd never been to a Morrisons in Scotland before so was a first for me. The main noticeable thing about this Morrisons was it had a very stylish café, very different to the ones I've previously visited.  It was set out like an American Diner - very cool!  Does anyone know if this is a new idea or a one off? 

My Glasgow trip was drawing to an end and next stop was Edinburgh to visit my friend Swie Joo.  

I got on the bus (a lot cheaper than the train!) and set off.  We weren't even 5 minutes into the journey when I saw the big Yellow M (Not the McDonalds one) - I was so tempted to ask the bus to stop to let me visit but didn't think he'd appreciate that.  And as if the journey couldn't get any worse, a few minutes after that we passed yet another Morrisons - two in the space of 10 minutes and not being able to stop at either - this certainly was torture!  Definitely going to have to plan another trip to Scotland but next time with a car! 

Glasgow - Barrack Street - January 2013

Does anyone work at a Morrisons in Scotland? 

Do you know of anyone else who has a similar hobby to mine? If so, please get in touch with your story. :)

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M 'Shine'

Take That

A successful English boy band

+

Morrisons

A successful English supermarket

=

A successful TV advert!

Back in 2008, numerous TV adverts were produced containing the very famous song along with some famous faces including Denise Van Outen and Ant & Dec.

I don't know about anyone else but whenever I hear Take That's 'Shine' I always think of my favourite place, Morrisons!

It also reminds me of one of my best friend's mum, who I'm sure is as mad about Take That as I am about Morrisons! She has been to all their concerts numerous times and even has a wall dedicated to a certain member of the band (Guess who?!) - this makes me feel a lot more 'normal' about having had Morrisons Wallpaper & visiting their stores numerous times...agree?

Do you know of anyone else who has a similar hobby to mine? If so, please get in touch with your story. :)

Morrisons Atlas - I have been informed by someone who works at the petrol station at the Chippenham Store that they aren't produced any more :( This is very sad news.

Question: "I have noticed that Morrisons are looking for a new charity to sponsor - does anyone know how to go about recommending one?" 

A big hello to Colin the Butcher at Colwyn Bay who's been in touch this week - do get in touch if you work at a store - especially if I've not visited! 

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'M' DIY

It's been a while since I last posted about the "Morrisons Story" rather than adventures to Morrisons stores.

Back in 2008...

I would say this is when this obsession reached it's peak!  With the carrier bags on the walls of my room, the Morrisons flag being used as a blanket on my bed, the uniform being worn as pjs and the large collection of caps - where else could this go?! 

The end of August...

A time for new school shoes, new uniform and of course ... new stationary.  This particular year I decided to do some DIY...I gathered some old folders and a Morrisons carrier bag to try and create my own M folder.  It turned out pretty well especially with it being reusable - if ever the bag ripped, it could easily be replaced! 

My school bag took a break for a while whilst I replaced it with a Morrisons bag for life, which were relatively new at the time. However, with all the folders and textbooks I had to carry it soon got too heavy so I left the Morrisons bag behind.  At this stage, there was also an idea of using a Morrisons trolley to carry items around the school campus but I decided this would be a step to far!

Here is me in my room with my large collection of Morrisons items including the hand-made 'M folders' - (Yes I did take them to lessons - the looks I got were hilarious!)

Do you know of anyone else who has a similar hobby to mine? If so, please get in touch with your story. :) 

I'm also still waiting for an answer for my question regarding the Morrisons' Atlas - does anyone know if they are still produced?

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Weymouth

Afternoon tea - reduced cakes!

15.Weymouth Morrisons

After a successful summer last year with the +Olympics and +ParalympicSportTV games and having the chance to watch the Athletics at the Olympic Stadium and the Rowing at Eton Dorney, we wanted to see where Olympic sailor Ben Ainslie had won his Gold Medal.  This meant a trip to Weymouth - and of course a trip to the local Morrisons! 

In Weymouth Morrisons Car Park!

 Since I was last there, it was great to see that Weymouth had had the changeover to the 'New Market St.' look!  I did get some funny looks (as usual) having my photo taken in front of the sign and store!

The new layout!

During the day, we visited the Morrisons twice! Once in the afternoon for a cup of tea and then again in the evening for dinner!  It was perfect timing when we arrived, as they'd just reduced the cakes! Mum particularly enjoyed the Lemon Drizzle Cake, whilst Dad had the Cheesecake and my Sister and I shared the Toffee Lumpy Bumpy (one of our fav's!)

My Sister and I in the Café

Whilst we did get to see the waters where the Gold Medal was won, we missed out on seeing the Olympic rings at Portland so no doubt Weymouth Morrisons will be seeing us again very soon! 

Do you work at Weymouth Morrisons? Or have you seen the rings at Portland?  If so, please get in touch - I'd love to hear from you!  I'm also still waiting for an answer for my question regarding the Morrisons' Atlas - does anyone know if they are still produced? 

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Bristol - Cribbs Causeway

Whenever we call at Bristol - Cribbs Causeway I know I'm on holiday or I'm on my way home from a holiday...

This has been one of my favourite calling points for many years.  It's very handy being just of the M5 at Junction 17.  With Motoway services becoming very expensive, it's great to know we can stop off at Morrisons, fill up with fuel & get something to eat!  It's also where I first saw the Morrisons flags, one of which I now use as a blanket. (Read more about that here) 

The past week I have spent in the beautiful South West staying in a holiday cottage in Axminster, where unfortunately they don't have a Morrisons!  Perhaps a destination to open a new store? 

On the way down we called into Bristol to pick up cheap fuel and on the way back we called in for something to eat.  I have very fond memories of meeting my grandparents here for meals on journeys down to the South West, so it's always nice to call back.  We even managed to get a free cup of coffee on this trip! Mum had got a coffee but felt her cup was only half full so when we explained this to the staff they were only more than happy to help and offered her a free cup!

Whilst we were there we also called into the petrol garage to pick up a new 'Morrisons Road Atlas' only to find they didn't have any! Does anyone know if they have stopped producing them?  Mine is from 2008 so quite outdated! 

Morrisons birthday cakes

My 15th birthday seems like ages ago but I remember it quite well...

It was on a Saturday (6th October 2007) and I had come home from school for the weekend, unfortunately my mum was working so Dad, my sister and I set off on our adventure.  

We managed to visit 3 Morrisons that day - Widnes, Liverpool - Belle Vale and Warrington.  Not the usual way to spend your birthday I know! 

Thanks must go to my dad for this with the help of +Cadbury UK  Mini Rolls! 'Jaz' was also my nickname at the time. 

Even when my Grandad turned 80, we managed to add some Morrisons "M's" and 'Ham Sandwich and Custard tart' to his birthday cake! 

What was your most memorable birthday?  Anyone else ever had a 'Morrisons' themed cake? 

Cleveleys and Blackpool

This past week I have spent in the company of my Grandad in Poulton-le-fylde in Lancashire.  It has been a fantastic week visiting places, catching up with friends, attempting to play golf (I don't suppose it helped that I was wearing heels!) and of course plenty of meals out including 3 trips to Morrisons!

8. Blackpool Morrisons

On Thursday my Grandad and I headed over to Blackpool in search of the Accountants I am going to be doing some work experience for in July.  After finding where it was we headed over to Morrisons to do the weekly shop.  It had a been a while since I'd been to the Blackpool store so it made a nice change.  Not much had changed since I'd last been but it was nice to see they were getting ready for the changeover to the 'fresh new look' style.

7. Cleveleys Morrisons

The weekend saw a trip down memory lane.  On Saturday we picked my sister up from school and headed to Morrisons.  A trip which I use to do every weekend (Read about it here). I even remember the days when it was a Safeway before Morrisons took it over.  

It's definitely got to be one of my favourite stores - after going there for so long I recognise so many of the staff and some even recognise me!  My Grandad often gets asked how I'm getting on when he goes by himself which is nice.  Even the guy who sells the double-glazing windows knows us!  I was very impressed with the 'fresh new look' the store had - definitely a great move for Morrisons!  

On Sunday we were back again but this time we had the famous Fish and Chips!  Here's a picture of us from Saturday enjoying Soup & Jacket Potatoes.

Grandad, my sister (Elise) and myself!

I did say last time that my next post would be about Birthday cakes but I thought I'd save that for another time!  

Since my last post I have heard from a lady who works at the Minehead store who has invited me down to visit - she even said she may be able to get hold of a 'gilet' for me which would be super cool!  I will hopefully get round to heading down there before the end of Summer.  I've also heard from a guy who works at the Wetherby store which is in West Yorkshire - somewhere else I need to plan a trip to!  It was interesting to here he'd been working there for nearly 13 years! That's dedication!  It's always nice to hear from Morrisons staff, so do get in touch if you work for +Morrisons.

Home for Summer

So June has finally arrived which means exams are done and 2nd year of university is over!  Where has the year gone? 

I am now nearly all unpacked and the mammoth task of washing has started!  I normally do my washing at university but I thought, 'why spend money when I can wait a week and get mum to do it for free?'  There's also the case of the "special" items which need to be hand-washed...

A few weeks ago I wrote about the flag which I use as a blanket.  Mum always knows when I'm home for a while when she see's it pegged on the washing line! (A bit like when the Queen is in residence - I thought I'd adopt the same approach!)

My mum works from home so there is often a question asked as to why we have a Morrisons flag on the washing line!  This usually leads to a shortened version about my crazy hobby.  Its very amusing sitting in the next room listening to their reactions! 

Besides this I still need to decide what to do about my 100th store.  

I've had a lot of feedback from people suggesting which it should be including: the one in Gibraltar - which apparently they have a license in the café to serve alcohol - anyone know if this is true? Another suggestion was Nelson - this was apparently the 100th store they opened.  Bradford was another due to it being the home of Morrisons.  Someone even suggested I should try and 'cut the ribbon' for the opening of one of their new stores - that would be pretty awesome although I don't know how do-able! 

Let me know your thoughts!

Next time: Morrisons birthday cakes! 

Collecting the Uniform

So from receipts to bags...to Uniform? 

As if this hobby couldn't get any stranger, at one stage I started collecting the uniform (will add in here that it was all new!).

At various stores we'd go in and speak to the store manager and after explaining about this interesting hobby, they'd go and see if they had any spare items lying around.  They were always more than happy to help in any way they could.  I remember visiting the store in Malton, the manager was so friendly - she even ended up offering me a job - unfortunately being miles away from home and only 15 at the time it wasn't very practical!  I wonder if the job offer still stands?  Anyone work at Malton Morrisons? 

I eventually ended up with shirts, ties, hats, lots of hats, my own name badge...I think I got a bit carried away.  

By now you're probably thinking, what use is a +Morrisons  uniform to someone who doesn't even work at the store?! 

Well, the caps were brilliant!  I'm afraid to say I did wear them out in public! I did have a picture but can't seem to find it at the moment.  However, the butchers hat never made it out (Thought that was taking it a bit far) I even used the shirts as 'night-wear' - the looks I got from the other boarders were priceless! 

Unfortunately, after having a clear out a few years ago, all I have now is a few hats and the name badge!  Anyone got any spare uniform?  Particularly fond of the green gilets and jackets... 

Carrier Bags for wallpaper...

Over the next 2 years I started getting a bit carried away with this 'hobby' of mine.  

I never really was a fan of the yellowish-creamy colour of the walls in my room at school, and no matter how many posters you put up there was always a gap - this needed sorting!  

Since the +Morrisons flag was permanently on my bed, I thought it was only right that the walls matched as well.  So I stuck up a carrier bag...

This then led to a lot more carrier bags being stuck up, A LOT more!  It even reached the stage where I'd run out of bags so friends would bring in bags to school and say "I went to Morrisons last night and picked you up a bag"!

This shows part of the wall and the ceiling...

One of the 'old' designs

I soon ran out of wall space and began sticking them to the ceiling.  My room mate thought I'd completely lost the plot and I think she was slightly worried.  

Unfortunately the 'ceiling paper' did not last long, as one evening when my house-parent came to say goodnight she said,

"Janine, I can cope with the bags being on the wall (just), but the ceiling?! What if one fell off in the night and you suffocated? I don't want to be responsible for that!"  

So, sadly I had to take them down, I still kept the ones up on the wall though!

Can this get any stranger...?

Morrison's flag!

This is probably one of my treasured possessions, it's sad to say! 

In December 2007, my dad wrote to Mr Morrison asking for one of the flags which are used at their stores as a present for me for Christmas!  

The Reply from Mr Morrison!

By now you're probably thinking - What use is a Morrison's flag to a 15 year old girl? 

What better use for a flag than as a blanket! It spent 5 years at school on my bed - my room was often shown to prospective parents (not sure whether this encouraged them to send their son/daughter to the school or not), I often got some funny looks and occasionally people would ask why there was a Morrison's flag on my bed & where did it come from?  So I'd tell the story and the usual response was "oh, that's different" (with raised eyebrows)!  

Another plus side of the flag was that it came in handy during fire alarms, it always seemed to be the closest thing to grab - I would get many funny looks from the rest of the school who were all either in pjs, dressing gowns or still fully dressed (which I never quite understood at 3am in the morning)!  

It is currently enjoying life at University - it is always a conversation starter when I have friends round to visit! 

The flag in my room at school!

Next post - Carrier bags used for wallpaper? 

Which stores I've visited so far...

Currently on this crazy adventure of mine, I've managed to visit 148 Morrisons! For those of you who are thinking how can I prove this...I have also collected receipts from each store, unfortunately not detailing what I purchased but none-the-less it says the name of the store! 

Quite a few of these visits also have a story to go with them, I will write about these accompanied by pictures in a separate post.

The list: 

Chester  Morecambe West Kirby Paignton Gloucester - Abbeydale Bodmin Cleveleys  Blackpool Tiverton Taunton Tewkesbury Bristol Cribbs Causeway Bridport Totnes Weymouth Speke Southport  Preston  Colwyn Bay  Redditch  Bromsgrove  Stone  Nantwich  Walsall  Heywood  Rochdale  Kidderminster  Telford - Wellington  Swansea  Ross-on-Wye  Leominster  Shrewsbury  Hereford  Tavistock  Cheltenham  Todmorden  Widnes  Warrington  Winsford  Chorlton-Cum Hardy  Liverpool - Belle Vale  Morley  Bridgewater  Nottingham - Netherfield Newcastle Under Lyme - Goose St.  Scarborough  Harrogate - Starbeck  Malton  Ripon  Keighley  Buxton Stoke-on-Trent  Congleton  Weston-super-Mare Warminster Newquay  Liskeard  Redruth  Penzance  Saltney  Bath  Stockton  Darlington - Morton Park Peterborough (2012) Stanground (2012) Stamford (2012) Wrexham (2012) Bangor (2012) Caernarfon (2012) Frodsham (2012) Wilmslow (2012) Openshaw (2012) Rhyl (2012) Ormskirk (2012) Connahs Quay (2012) Denbigh (2012) Holyhead (2012) Salford (2012)  Manchester Grafton Street (2012) Kirkham (2012) Derby (2012) Newark (2012) Mansfield (2012) Mansfield Woodhouse St. (2012) Helens - Baxters Lane St. (2012) Helens - Boundary Road (2012) Oswestry (2012) Welshpool (2012) Lincoln (2012) Shepherds Bush (2012) Banbury  High Wycombe  Cardiff Tyglas  Crewe  Ellesmere Port  Leicester  Glasgow - Barrack Street (2013) Acton (2013) Middlewich (2013) Yeovil (2013) New Brighton (2013) Camberwell (2014) Peckham (2014) Birkenhead (2014) Windermere (2014)  Falkirk (2014) Blackpool Cornelian Way (2014) Oxted (2014) Huddersfield (2014) London Teddington (2014) Gyle (2014) Ferry Road (2014) Canterbury (2014) Manchester Picadilly (2014) Kirkstall (2014) Hilmore House (HQ) (2014) Bradford Thornbury (2014) Bramley Gosport (2018) Totton (2015) Portsmouth Leamington Spa (2016) Herne Bay (2016) Bristol Fishponds (2017) Preston - Blackpool Road Binley Small Heath, Birmingham (2018) Market Drayton (2018) Wincanton (2018) Plymouth (2018) Westbury (2018)  Eccles (2018) Whitefield, Bury (2018) Solihull (2018) Aldershot, Hampshire (2018) Southwood, Farnborough (2018) Fleet, Hampshire (2018) Stratford-Upon-Avon (2018) St Peters, Guernsey (2018) L'Islet, Guernsey (2018) Perelle, Guernsey (2019) Acomb, York (2019) Swinton, Manchester (2019) Reigate (2019) Southwark (2019) Exeter (2019) Crediton (2019) Sutton

The beginning!

Is there a store near you I haven't visited? Let me know about it.

The reply from Mr Morrison...

In August 2007 I got the reply from Mr Morrison!

I couldn't believe he'd actually read my letter (See previous blog post), let alone replied! Definitely one of the highlights of my Morrisons journey, although there's been a few others since!

I still have the list of stores he sent me, although it is 6 years out of date now. Came in very handy though for finding the stores before we invested in a Sat Nav.  

Mr Morrison was very kind and even sent me £20 in gift vouchers with the reply - as you can probably imagine, they soon got spent! 

I have had a surprising amount of interest since my first post, it's been great hearing from people who work at Morrisons and have read my blog.  Many people keep asking whether I've visited a store near them, so my next post is going to list all 99 stores that I've visited so far.

The Beginning!

A lot of people have asked what the story is behind this crazy obsession of mine so thought I'd start a blog to tell my story...

2007

My +Morrisons journey first began back in 2007, when I was 14.  Sadly my Nanny was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2005.  It soon became clear that the highlight of her day was to visit a café at one of your stores mainly at Cleveleys and Blackpool because her favourite meal was 'Afternoon Tea - Ham Sandwiches and Egg Custards'.  I have very fond memories of this, particularly when my Grandad had to swap the cream scone for Egg Custards - my Nanny was very particular about what she wanted!

Back then, I was at school in Fleetwood and every weekend both Saturday and Sunday my grandparents would collect my sister and I and take us for lunch at Morrisons.  This was a great opportunity to spend time with them and eat some PROPER food (School food wasn't great & as soon as Monday came the countdown would begin until Saturday was around again!)

During the Summer and Easter holidays my family would accompany my grandparents on holiday to one of our favourite destinations, Devon.  Days out were planned out around a trip to a Morrisons, even on the journey we would stop at a Morrisons for lunch - this was usually the one at Bristol Cribbs Causeway.  To make this job easier, before everything became so 'online' we invested in one of the Maps which had a little 'M' symbol which indicated where the Morrisons Stores were.

After accompanying my grandparents so many times, I started thinking 'I wonder how many stores I've been to?' (At the time it was something like 18!) I then thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool to visit every store, of the 368 they then had!' (This has now increased to 400+ making my ambition a lot more difficult, although I am very pleased they are expanding!)

In August 2007, My sister and I wrote a letter to Mr Ken Morrison explaining about our interesting hobby and thus began the journey,


11-08-07

Dear Sir Ken Morrison,

I am writing to tell you about our hobby. It is like no ordinary hobby. My sister and I are at boarding school in +Rossall School, Fleetwood near to where my grandparents live. Every weekend they collect us from school and take us to lunch at your Clevelys or Blackpool branch.

Our hobby started because of my nanny who sadly has Alzheimer’s. The highlight of her day is to visit your café mainly at Clevelys and Blackpool because her favourite meal is the “Afternoon Tea – Ham sandwiches and Egg Custards”. After accompanying her many times this started me thinking that, I would like to visit every single one of your 372 stores and eat in the café if they had one. Recently I have found out that the number of stores has gone down to 368 and we were very disappointed that you had sold your Poole store to Sainsburys! So far, my grandparents and I have been to 33 of your stores and I have started to collect receipts from them. It brightens up our time together and my grandad (who is 80) is always planning trips, which include a trip to a new Morrisons where possible. So far, I have been to:

1. Chester 12. Rhyl 23. Skipton
2. Blackpool 13. Kirkham 24. Bangor
3. Clevelys 14. Bridport 25. Shrewsbury
4. Preston 15. Kendal 26. Weymouth
5. Southport 16. Crewe 27. Ellesmere Port
6. Winsford 17. Morecombe 28. Bodmin
7. Paignton 18. Nantwich * 29. Gloucester
8. Bristol 19. Yeovil 30. Tavistock
9. Totnes 20. Plymouth 31. Tewkesbury
10. Rochdale 21. Congleton * 32. Taunton
11. Haywood 22. West Kirby 33. Tiverton

The ones which have stars by them have no café, which we were very disappointed by and we were wondering whether you could open a café up seeing, as they are very popular at your other stores?

This hobby has become very absorbing to us and we have also become interested in the store layouts, the merchandising and staff, attitude and behaviour. As my grandfather spent most of his working life in the wholesale and retail trade, he has been able to enlighten us about all the aspects of retailing.

Because of our “obsession”, we are wondering if you have facilities at the head office for people like us to come and view your management operations.

I look forward to hearing your observations on our unusual hobby.

Yours sincerely,

Janine and Elise Schofield

(Aged: 14 and 12)