Fred Aldous' reindeer of Christmas past... @FredAldous

The shop window of Fred Aldous on Lever Street, supplier of art craft and design materials with a very clever and nicely subtle festive display of wooden mechanical reindeer and sleigh. This photo was taken two Christmases ago but as the company has been in business since 1886, what's another year? The 2013 window display is below. 

When I was a kid seeing the window displays of Hamley's toy shop on London's Regent Street signaled the start of the festive build-up for me.  In recent years it has been Fred Aldous' creative window displays that herald the start of my countdown to Christmas.

Over to them..."Manchester in 1886... a man called Fred. Fred had two things – a bright idea and a cracking beard. He had been working in a cotton mill, like many people in the city at the time, when he noticed that the cotton was being trundled around in baskets. This gave him the idea for a business – he wanted to start importing the cane for the baskets from abroad. We, Fred Aldous Ltd, were born out of that idea...

Supplying craft materials to Salfordian, Stopfordian and Mancunian artistic artisans soon followed and they had to overcome the fall of the cotton trade, to be reborn in new form. They've also had to survive:

"...2½ fires, a flood, a demolition ball, scam artists, two world wars and the invention of television."

They even have a blog. Cheers to Fred! 

Linked to the Our World Tuesday blog.