Withy Grove Stores

Manchester has retained much of its architecture from the Victorian era, and even a few of the city’s businesses can trace their history back to that time period. However, none of the city’s businesses from the 19th century seem quite so enigmatic as Withy Grove Stores. Spread across two Victorian-era buildings, Withy Grove Stores looks like a safe and office-supply store that is never open and is potentially abandoned. However, the stock and other items within the store are occasionally shifted around, although many years may pass before anything visibly changes inside the business.

The history of Withy Grove Stores starts with the Richmond Safe Company, which was established in 1799 by John R. Solomon. This business later relocated to the street named Withy Grove in 1840 and subsequently decided to rename itself Withy Grove Stores. The shop became well known for its safes, and it even opened two additional stores in Liverpool and Leeds.

Over the centuries, control of the company was kept within the Solomon family, although the ownership of the individual stores was divided up in the 1980s after a falling out among the three brothers who operated the business at the time. According to the UK government’s company information service, however, Withy Grove Stores in Manchester is still owned and operated by Brian and Anthony Solomon.

In the 21st century, the operation of the store has become quite unconventional. Instead of simply opening during regular business hours, Withy Grove Stores is apparently open only by appointment after calling the company’s phone number. (The business also once had a website, but that is currently not operational.) As such, the store usually appears closed, and the safes and other items on sale inside hardly ever seem to move. 

The exterior of Withy Grove Stores has changed only slightly over time. In 2024, the windows on the corner were covered up, graffiti was cleared off the storefront’s other windows, and “no flyposting” and “no graffiti” signs appeared on the exterior of the ground floor. Otherwise, the building appears to be in need of maintenance, and the business inside still appears to be not only abandoned but in some strange state of suspended animation from a couple of decades ago.