Details and pictures of a long established Electrical and Radio
Engineering and retail shop provided by Fred Standley's son.
Sadly the business closed in October 2011 when the owners made the
difficult decision to close the long-standing business, due to
decreasing sales attributed to the recession and competition from
online sellers.
This family run firm was established in 1927 by Mr Fred Standley who
died in 1996 aged 87. He learnt his trade in the Royal Navy and began
the business in a bedroom of his mother's Market Place furniture shop
after a motorcycle accident cut short his career the Navy.He opened his
own shop on the Market Place in Wymondham in 1932 selling Radios and
all types of Electrical Appliances, Cookers, Boilers etc. He also
carried out all sorts of electrical work for local farms and councils.
In the late 40's often wiring complete villages and employing up to
eleven electricians. In the 50's the firm moved into Television Sales
and Rental, installing Aerials etc. The firm relocated to the present
address in Market Street in the mid 60's. In the early 1990's They
joined the Euronics buying group and have never looked back until
recently. Four generations of the family have run the company. Fred
Standley's son David continued the business until his retirement and
David's son, Chris and his nephew ran it until it closed in October
2011.
Chris said that they had made the decision to close after a lengthy
period of decreasing sales attributed to the recession and competition
from online sellers. His father,David, had been propping the business
with his own money hoping for the recession to end but it didn't look
as if it would end in time. Five staff members lost jobs as a result of
the closure.
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Alice Standley who was Fred's mother gave birth to twenty one children and managed to run three antique shops in Hingham, Watton and here at 16 Market Place, Wymondham. This is an early picture of David Standley's uncle Billy and aunt Winnie outside the shop. Today this Grade II listed building is still an antique shop. |
 Fred Standley as a 20 year old young man set up his business in 1928 just two doors away from his mother's Wymondham shop. Here we see his wife, Edith, in the shop doorway in 1930. |
David, Alice's grandson, mentions that the shop sign had to be removed as it had not been approved by the planning authorities even though it had been there for twenty years. The blackboard in front of the shop is promoting charabanc trips by a local firm to Yarmouth and Lowestoft for 4/6. This firm H Semmance founded in 1922 is still in business today. |
 The shop in the 1930's at a time when milk was delivered by cart and horse. |
 An invoice from 1938 for an electric iron and the installation of wiring for a 3pin 5amp plug. |
This is how the shop looked in 1960 and where they did business until 1965. |
 A change in direction for the firm, note that the original Wymondham 92 telephone number has still been retained but is now somewhat longer. |
 The firm's van with television set on top outside the old shop taking part in the Queen's Jubilee celebrations in 1977. |
The new and larger premises on the other side of the market square
as it was in the 1970's. After the business closed the premises were
occupied by a firm of auctioneers.
