For a splendid assortment or articles suitable for presents, there was no better place than Mr Thomas’s Library, except, perhaps, the new drapers, Messrs Stevens. This shop offered “all manner of pretty things – silk petticoats in all colours and woollen opera hoods of fleecy white texture.”
     The window of Messrs Jordan and Gray (forerunners of Jordan and Cook, now also lost in history), in South Street, was set out with drawing-room refinement and luxury and was bound to delight all who inspected it. Articles of furniture were “tastefully and invitingly placed so that one feels tempted to occupy one of those delightfully easy chairs at the risk of becoming the observed of all observers outside”.
     Patching and Co attracted crowds with its “grand window display, containing many beautiful articles of furniture set out in the most tasteful manner”. In those days, “tasteful” was the in-word and one of the finest accolades any Victorian copy-writer could bestow.
     By the time the Victorian shopper had reached Marshall’s, any pretence of recording the festive gift scene dispassionately had been abandoned. “At Marshall’s,” a contemporary writer gushed, “may be seen a window that can hardly fail to have a magnetic influence upon ladies, so charming are the coats, mantles, costumes and muffs displayed, as they are, with the great regard to effect”.
     In South Street were the establishments of Mr Crawford, Foyster’s Library, Walter Brothers Bazaar, Mrs Mason and Mr T. H. Crouch, the jeweller, while the grocers, Mr Denton, Mr Godwin and Mr Clarke, exhibited “the most wonderful collections of Christmas confectionery”.

A century ago, grocery and provision merchants Potter Bailey, in Worthing’s High Street, were happy to offer free home delivery – and, judging by this evidence, they never had a staff shortage

     Long-established Worthing residents will notice familiar local names here and more than half the firms mentioned were still in business after World War Two. Sadly, most have now vanished.
     There has been a tremendous change in the pattern of Christmas gift-buying.
     Today’s youngsters, for example, would fail to appreciate the suitability of what Mrs Newington’s shop, in Warwick Street, was offering as Christmas gifts for their Victorian ancestors. Silk blouses for little boys in scarlet and several other shades, with frilled collar and steel buttons, for example.
     Other residents might have appreciated “comforts which cannot be dispensed with, if used wisely”, from Roberts and Son, the wine and spirit merchants. It became Worthing’s oldest continuous business before being sold out to a national chain.
     In those days, they had to compete with the local brewing of Mr H. Chapman, Messrs Constable and Son, the Tamplins Company, Mr G. Pacy and Mr G. Grevatt. Worthing then had at least a dozen local breweries that were not under threat from foreign imported beers. Things have changed a lot in the past 110 years.
      “Prettiness” was still very much a Victorian vogue. One local scribe noted: “A very pretty show of fans is to be seen at Ellis’s. They are composed of lace, decorated with spangles or painted with floral devices, any of which would form a delightful Christmas present.”
     Another observed: “Jewellery is a gift always appreciated by both sexes and Messrs Gooch Bros have a goodly show of scarf pins, belt clasps, silver photo frames and purses”.
     “Dainty buckles and charming sets of clothing are displayed at Messrs Bentall and Co,” related our Victorian observer, adding: “A little further down South Street, an endless variety of things may be had at a shop where every article is procurable for sixpence-halfpenny.”
     In George Smith Junior’s window were “extremely pretty tea cosies, as well as a selection of dainty aprons and pinafores for tiny children”.
     Many suitable presents for youngsters could, of course, be found at Darby’s, one of Worthing’s leading Victorian toyshops. Everything from sturdy, wooden rocking horses to early – and flimsy – miniature replicas of adult-size magic lanterns, the earliest forerunners of today’s flat-screen televisions.
     It would be another century before the Gameboy and  X-Box gripped our children’s demanding imaginations, but would you have guessed that one of the most envied Christmas presents on sale in Worthing back in Christmas, 1899, also came from Japan – a rather oddly described “music stool of Japanese bamboo with a crimson velvet coat”? Don’t ask!