From fallen high street giants like BHS, C&A and Toys R US to cherished independent stores like Casey’s sweet shop, Jenners department store, many of these businesses have sadly shut their doors for goods since these nostalgic pictures were captured.
But others have weathered the storms, including Covid and online shopping, and are still flourishing all these years later.
Toy shops, record stores, award-winning butchers and fishmongers, and fashion outlets are among the firms pictured in this retro photo gallery.
Chart-toppers Wet, Wet Wet, and the legendary ballet dancer Dame Margot Fonteyn are among the famous visitors pictured, at HMV and a famous Glasgow bookstore, respectively.
But these atmospheric images also show ordinary customers, from an 18-month-old getting fitted for shoes and a young girl playing with Sylvanian Families characters to one of the first shoppers through the doors of a new Argos store.
Among the shops pictured is the fabulously named Sheepish Looks knitwear store, the treasure trove discount outlet Ali’s Cave, and a fishmonger’s with a very unusual catch on display.
How many of these stores do you recognise, and what shop from the 80s do you miss most?
For more 80s nostalgia, why not check out this look back at the most popular perfumes and aftershaves of the decade?

29. Fossil-hunter
Professional fossil-hunter Stan Wood with the skull of a prehistoric fish (found in a river in the Borders) at his shop in Edinburgh, in January 1988 | TSPL

30. Prize-winning haggis
John MacSween outside Charles MacSween & Son's butchers shop on Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh, in July 1987. He is holding an award from the Cercle Epicurien Mondiale for the firm's haggis. | TSPL

31. Princes Street shops
Three shops (Viyella, Barratts and Watches of Switzerland) on Princes Street, Edinburgh, in March 1988 | TSPL

32. Argos
One of the first customers at the new Argos catalogue shop on North Bridge, Edinburgh, after it opened in September 1985 | TSPL

