While it's perhaps unfair to suggest that Edinburgh's main shopping thoroughfare has seen better days, there are definitely one or two lost shops we would like to see brought back.
Princes Street was once known for its abundance of department stores, but with the recent closures of capital institutions Jenners, BHS and Frasers, the days of multi-level shopping all under the one roof may be well and truly over.
Here are a few of our favourites from days gone by:
John Menzies
No trip up the toon back in the day was complete without a venture into the 'big' Menzies. Laid out over several floors, the Edinburgh-established stationer and magazine specialist sold just about everything from classroom tidy tubs to the latest chart hits. There was a great deal of debate over how you pronounced "Menzies". Elder family members would always insist it was "Mingis", which, funnily enough, you'd never hear on the TV adverts. The Princes Street store closed in 1998.
HMV
On the go since the 1980s and heavily refurbished a decade later, the HMV store on Princes Street was a delight to visit in its heyday, back in the days when people actually cared about chart music.
Virgin Megastore
Also specialising in the latest chart releases, video games and movies, Richard Branson's brainchild was inexplicably situated just a couple of doors down from its main high street rival, HMV. Somehow the two stores managed to happily coexist on the same stretch until the late 2000s.
BHS
In many ways, the collapse of BHS marked the true decline of department stores in Britain. The former retailing giant's Princes Street store was massive and spanned several floors. It seemed as if it would be here forever.
Littlewoods
A not-so-distant cousin of BHS, Littlewoods department store had occupied Princes Street for years when it closed in the mid-2000s. Famous for its impeccable selection of pick 'n' mix. Today it's the site of Primark.
C&A
Dutch department store firm C&A had a foothold in central Edinburgh for a number of decades. The purpose-built store on Princes Street was demolished in the early 2000s and the plot is now home to an H&M outlet.
Jenners
This is a sore one. The demise of Jenners, Edinburgh's famous family-founded department store brand, has been a hard one to take. A new life as a luxury hotel for this once great institution beckons.
Frasers
A West End mainstay for generations, Frasers was another department store that was packed to the gunnels on a typical weekend. The disappearance of the brand from our main thoroughfare is sad as it was there for so long. That said it's great to see the art deco building repurposed as the new Johnnie Walker hub.
Wimpy
British burger chain Wimpy had been on the go in Edinburgh for a couple of decades when they opened their flagship store on the corner of Princes Street and Castle Street in 1984. Famous for their curiously titled Bender Burgers, this particular Wimpy outlet became Burger King in the 1990s.
Woolworths
Situated at the east end of Princes Street, the big Woolies store was a part of every Edinburgh kid's childhood for almost 60 years until its closure in 1982. Today the building is home to Edinburgh's Apple store.
Disney Store
Seeing how it faced an actual castle, the presence of a Disney store on Princes Street seemed like a good fit. The wall of official Disney toys was a particular highlight. Now, with the closure of the outlet at the Gyle, Edinburgh no longer even has a Disney Store. Sad times.
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