If you wanted to buy anything from a new shirt to a radio in the Scottish Capital in the 1950s or 1960s you didn’t have the option of ordering over the internet, or even popping to an out-of-town shopping centre.
Instead a trip to the city centre was required to satisfy your consumer urges – a journey to Princes Street, Lothian Road, Leith Walk, or one of Edinburgh’s other shopping areas.
The 1950s and 1960s was a time of new inventions, electrical gadgets, contemporary fashion, and changing habits – and it was the golden age of the department store.
These huge shops filled multiple floors with everything you could want to buy, with restaurants, cafes and even milk bars for when you needed a break.
The most famous example is probably the much-missed Jenners, on Princes Street, which finally closed for good in 2021.
But there were plenty of other famous names in Edinburgh that attracted hordes of shopper, particularly at Christmas and for the traditional January sales, including the likes of Binns, Goldbergs and R.W. Forsyth.
Here are 20 pictures to take you back to the heyday of the Edinburgh department store.
Make sure you don't miss a moment of breaking news from across Scotland by signing up to our free newsletter here.
9. It's beginning to look alot like Christmas
Christmas window displays in Patrick Thomsons Department Store, on North Bridge, in December 1965. | TSPL
11. Painting a picture
The new paint and wallpaper department at St Cuthberts Co-operative Association, on Bread Street, in June 1960. | TSPL
12. Royal best wishes
Smalls Department Store, on Princes Street, with a sign marking the royal wedding of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones in May 1960. | TSPL