ASDA in Blantyre opened on Tuesday 21 October 1980.
The date of the new £3m superstore was unveiled to Blantyre residents a month before and for the best part, many people were excited and looked forward with anticipation.
It was the third superstore to open in Lanarkshire, one of the largest. Mr Peter Firmston-Williams, ASDA’s managing Director undertook the rope cutting ceremony. Before he did though, on the day before special VIP guests and selected members of the public were invited along for a tour of the new building. Some guests, ordinary people in the surrounding community were sent random postal invites, a ballot of sorts.
The new store had a sales area of some 40,000 square foot, a shopping area difficult for people to comprehend under one roof. The shopping centre attached was to include a pub and 8 shops, which were still all under construction at the time of the store opening. The carpark, built over abandoned streets like the one pictured a year earlier, accommodated 420 vehicles.
Can you remember the opening day?
