Black and white photograph of an interior view from the Vokins department store in Brighton, showing a long line of jackets on hangers (no date). Taken from the Vokins Archive housed at the University of Brighton Design Archives.

Interior view. Uncatalogued (no date).

The Vokins department store was a mainstay of the Brighton retail scene for over one hundred years until its closure in the 1997. The archive includes a wide variety of records: photographs, documents, press cuttings, ledgers, plans, and correspondence. These relate to staff, sales, stock, store development and promotion. As a case study of an independent provincial department store, the Vokins material provides an invaluable source for scholars interested in urban and local history, retailing and consumption.

 

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Advertisement for the Vokins Department Store from Autumn 1906, advertising their Autumn and Winter fashions. From the Vokins Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.

Advertisement for the Autumn and Winter fashion in 1906. Catalogue number: DES-VOK-3-2.

Black and white photograph of the exterior view of the Vokins Department store in Brighton (no date) with fabrics in the shop window. Taken from the Vokins Archive housed at the University of Brighton Design Archives.

Exterior view. U-VOK-30-1-16 (uncatalogued).

Colour photograph showing an interior view of the Vokins department store with piles of sheets on sale on display tables. Taken from the Vokins Archive housed at the University of Brighton Design Archives.

Uncatalogued. Vokins Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.