I found this on page 10 of the 'Evening News (London)' dated 6th May 1958: “From a 3,000-year-old sculpture of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti to a rather more recent “rock 'n’ roll” motif, from a Chianti bottle to a Siamese cat. In Regent Street, the most recent and elaborate of the Lewis of Westminster shops, has grown into a miniature store on three floor levels, with departments not only for the usual tobacconist's stock in trade, but also for cosmetics and perfumery, greetings cards, confectionery, travel goods, cameras, stationery and books, pottery and glass, gramophone records and - on the lower ground floor - a barber’s shop.”
...and this on the same page:
“When the dictionary goes into its next edition, its compilers, I suspect, will have to give more than a couple of lines to the definition of a tobacconist, for during the past five years there has been a great transition - and a dealer in tobacco no longer describes one-tenth of the character and function of the 1958 tobacconist. Nowadays - as a casual glance round some of the 300 branches of Lewis of Westminster will show you - he must know how to sell anything from tobacco to teddybears, cigarettes to cocktail shakers, candy to cat food, tobacco pouches to ???, cigars to clocks, pipes to postcards and whiffs to walking sticks.”
...and this in the 29th May 1959 edition:
“LEWIS of WESTMINSTER (Tobacconists) 95, Regent Street, W.1. and Branches.”
...and this on the same page:
“When the dictionary goes into its next edition, its compilers, I suspect, will have to give more than a couple of lines to the definition of a tobacconist, for during the past five years there has been a great transition - and a dealer in tobacco no longer describes one-tenth of the character and function of the 1958 tobacconist. Nowadays - as a casual glance round some of the 300 branches of Lewis of Westminster will show you - he must know how to sell anything from tobacco to teddybears, cigarettes to cocktail shakers, candy to cat food, tobacco pouches to ???, cigars to clocks, pipes to postcards and whiffs to walking sticks.”
...and this in the 29th May 1959 edition:
“LEWIS of WESTMINSTER (Tobacconists) 95, Regent Street, W.1. and Branches.”