the closure of bourne and hollingsworth department store on oxford street in january 1982 following swiftly on the heels of swan and and edgar atpiccadilly circus and whiteleys of bayswater seemed to many to mark the end of an era in the shopping cultures of the west end of london the times was in elegiac mood mourning the passing of the shop's genteel, unchallenging consumption culture bournes was one of those gracious institutions. old-fashioned virtually from its inception, known forbits infinitely patient service and its policy of benevolent paternalism towards its employees however the reference to dinosaur bones indicated that this was a way of retailing that many regarded as effectively extinct in the late-twentieth century