Category Archives: C&A Modes

Like many other multiple retailers, C&A increasingly leased units in large-scale commercial developments during the 1960s and 1970s. Branches opened in the Lower Precinct in Coventry (1965), the Merseyway Centre in Stockport (1968), the Arndale Centre in Doncaster (1969), Drake Circus in … Continue reading →

Five of C&A’s UK stores were destroyed by bombing: Oxford Street (‘Bird Street’), Southampton, Sheffield, Portsmouth and Birmingham. A higher proportion of the company’s German stores was lost, with just two out of 17 stores surviving. Replacing the stores on home … Continue reading →

The first completely new store to be designed by North, Robin & Wilsdon for C&A occupied a corner site on Oldham Street in Manchester (1928). This was faced in cream-coloured faience (glazed terracotta) and adopted a simplified classicism with art … Continue reading →

Despite adding a bright splash of primary colour to British high streets, with its rainbow logo and blue/red oval badge, C&A gained a reputation for selling rather dowdy clothes. An association with cheap polyester haunted the company from the 1970s, … Continue reading →