I'm trying to find if there are any books available (either in-print
or out of print) that describe shops that used to be open in the UK.
I'm only looking for books that cover chain stores that covered at
least a part of the UK - if they are regional in focus that's fine. 
I'm thinking about stotes such as Thomas Lipton or Home and Colonial
which no longer trade.

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Clarification of Question by jollux-ga on 05 Jun 2004 01:37 PDT

I guess i'm looking at more of a potted history about them.  There
have been some good examples on some stores - such as the book on
Sainsburys "The Best Butter in the World" by Bridget Williams (Ebury
Press). But I would like to discover whether there is a book that
covers a number of stores that no-longer trade rather than focusing on
one store.

Primarily my interest would be in a short history about the stores,
where they started, how they spread, what they sold, why they closed.

It may be that there isn't such a thing and stores have only published
their own histories (or not at all if they closed!).

Could you give us a bit more of a hint as to what you are after- books
covering what aspect of these shops would be a good start, sales
figures, store numbers, locations, architecture?