Today's trip down memory lane takes us back 10 years to when Woolworths closed for the last time in Dumbarton.

Here's how we told the story of the incident in the Reporter back on Tuesday, January 6, 2004...

A HIGH Street favourite will close its doors for the final time today. Dumbarton’s Woolworths store first opened in 1922 and over the years has become a landmark in the town.

But due to the financial crisis which is currently hanging over the global economy it was forced to shut-up shop after falling into administration.

And as the high street chain slashed its prices to try to recoup as much profit as possible, Dumbarton shoppers hit the store in their droves to grab the final few bargains on offer.

Shoppers who had come down to Woolies during its final days of trading spoke of their sadness at the loss. Harriet Ford, from Bellsmyre, and daughter Carol-Ann have enjoyed using the shop many times and reckon the High Street will be a different place without it.

Harriet, 69, said: “I think everyone will be disappointed that it is shutting. Kids would always go to Woolies and it was never called Woolworths it was always known as Woolies.

“I know people who used to work there. My friend worked in there for years, at least twenty years, it was the last place she worked before she retired.

“Unfortunately we missed out on the bargains because the shelves were already bare. It think it is going to lie empty for a while because we haven’t heard of anyone who has bought it.”

And David Neeson, of Dennystown, used to think that Woolworths was the one shop he would never see leave the High Street.

The 51-year-old said: “If you think of all the shops in Dumbarton that have come and gone, it has been a constant in the High Street.

“It was a great shop and it is sad that is going to be another one that has to go, it has been here for a very long time.

“People will have a lot of memories of Woolworths, I used to love it as a wee boy getting all the sweeties and stuff.”

Rena Reid, 65, remembers the days when people could go to the famous shop with their families and then pop into a cafe for a tea and coffee, but she reckons those days could now be lost forever.

The Bellsmyre woman said: “We need a family shop here to keep people coming down to the High Street but I don’t know if anyone will come in.

“It is a shame for the kids as well because that is where they go for things. I don’t know anybody who works in there by name but you know all the faces.

“I never managed to get anything from the closing down sale, they had sold out of everything I wanted.”