Mobile Shop Collection

The Perfumers Costume (colour engraving)
XIR154617 The Perfumers Costume (colour engraving) by Bonnart, Nicolas (c.1646-1718); Musee de la Ville de Paris, Musee Carnavalet, Paris

J D McFarland mobile butcher seen here trading in the suburbs of Glasgow, 27th April 1955

The housewives of Glasgows Drum Chapel housing project seen here queuing for the mobile shop. 26th April 1955

World War Two - Second World War - Families receive help and a hot drink in a neighbourhood devastated by the German V1 Flying Bombs. Circa : Sept. 1944

One of the travelling shops which serves Glasgows new housing schemes. 13th April 1957

Early 1960s Austin LD high top van (mobile Shop), Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, 1965. A van belonging to the Scunthorpe Co-operative Society (SCS). 498 FFM was used as a mobie shop by the SCS

Greengrocer bringing goods by boat, Marken, Holland, 1936. Artist: Donald McLeish
Greengrocer bringing goods by boat, Marken, Holland, 1936. From Peoples of the World in Pictures, edited by Harold Wheeler, published by Odhams Press Ltd (London, 1936)

Selling pots and pans in Devon. 1935

All Professionally Made to Order for Quick Shipping

Flashback to the past: A J D McFarland butcher's mobile shop in the suburbs of Glasgow, 1955. Amidst the backdrop of post-World War Two Scotland, families received essential help from traveling shops like this one. The housewives of Glasgows Drum Chapel housing project queued for their weekly supplies, as one of the many mobile butchers and grocers served Glasgows new housing schemes. In contrast, a 1965 photograph from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, shows an early 1960s Austin LD high top van, transformed into a mobile shop. This era of mobile trading was a lifeline for communities, especially in the UK's industrial heartlands. Meanwhile, across the sea in Marken, Holland, a greengrocer brought goods by boat in a simpler time, as depicted in a 1936 color engraving. In Liverpool, children played on the wreck of a dumped car at Kirkby in 1965, while their mothers shopped for pots and pans from traveling vendors, reminiscent of the Devon market scenes of the 1930s. Through these images, we are reminded of the resilience and resourcefulness of communities during challenging times, as mobile shops played a vital role in providing essential goods and services.