This is how shopping in Dorset looked in bygone days.

We have a marvellous array of pictures of shops from the past for you to enjoy, including a picture of the original Woolworths store in Weymouth town centre.

The pictures also show how pivotal small independent stores were to village communities, with even tiny hamlets in Dorset having their own shop.

Scroll down to see these wonderful 11 pictures from Dorset's shopping past.

Woolworths, Weymouth, 10 to 12 St Mary Street from 1938 - the shop was demolished in 1985

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Blandford and Webb corn merchants 1960s

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Meyers in the 1970s - now flats opposite the chip shop by Dorchester West station

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Constance Lampard outside her family’s shop in Queen Street, Gillingham

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Post Office, Duck Street, Cattistock, 1920s       Picture: Peter M. Farmer

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Rapsons store at Durweston, Blandford in the 1950s and 60s Picture: Peter M. Farmer

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The Old Fossil Shop in Lyme Regis - demolished years ago to widen the road

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The rotted remains of Miss Rose Fudge’s sweet shop at Glue Hill, Sturminster Newton

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Village shop at Shillingstone in the 1930s

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Westcott Jeweller’s, Market Place, Blandford

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Woolworths Dorchester staff 1932

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