MEMBERS of a family-run shopping empire will be reunited today to launch an exhibition celebrating a retail phenomenon.

Selling everything but food, Doggarts branches throughout the old County Durham area were a popular place for families to furnish their homes and kit out their children for school.

Doggarts was more than a family-run store - staff and customers were part of the family as well.

In Bishop Auckland, it had the best site in town, with windows facing both the Market Place and Newgate Street.

Founded in 1895 by Arthur Robert Doggart, this was the first of the 13 branches which employed 1,200 people and traded far beyond its "drapery and house furnishings" banner.

Arthur's son Jamie, whose brother Sandy launches the display in Bishop Auckland Discovery Centre this afternoon, said: "We called ourselves a family store. That was our ethos. We served the family and all Doggarts' staff were a family too."

Having to announce the closure in November 1980, he said, was the worst day of his life.

Hit by recession and rising wage costs, Doggarts was too large to become a self-service operation and too small to have the buying power of larger chains.

The exhibition was instigated by Bishop Auckland's town centre manager, Derek Toon, and the Town Centre Forum and researched by Discovery Centre volunteers.

Eventually, Mr Toon hopes to find a site for a permanent display. He said: "When I arrived in September 2003, everybody spent the first six months telling me that it has never been the same since Doggarts closed."

The display opens to the public tomorrow and runs until August 6. The Discovery Centre is in Bishop Auckland Market Place and is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10am to 3pm.