BAYKO in Binns Stores

Department store chain, Binns Stores were part of the House of Fraser group of large departmental stores and had a presence in many Scottish and northern English cities.

The image [right] is what appears to be the original architect's sketch of Binns Edinburgh store. The final building was very similar, though the corner tower is angular rather than circular. The store is amongst Scotland's most prestigious retail sites, being located on Princess Street in Edinburgh.

This item [below] is a slender, soft backed catalogue, which was produced for Binns Edinburgh store, and is shown courtesy of the Glasgow University Archives, whose reference number is shown below the image. It is printed on high quality, gloss paper, still relatively uncommon as post-war austerity was still the order of the day.

It is relatively easy to date this catalogue, as the prices it quotes only applied during the second half of 1949. The restriction of the range of sets available to set #1 and set #2 is interesting, as sets #0 to #3 had actually become available at the time, though perhaps not at the time of going to press.

Please excuse the image distortion, it's because I was only allowed to take a photograph, not a scan.

Click on the image below to see a larger image of the BAYKO section, which can be found just right of centre at the bottom of the double page spread.