THE DEPARTMENT STORE
Grace Brothers Department Store
became possibly the most famous store in the world for a while thanks to
the BBC-Television Series, Are You Being Served?
Are You being Served Theme Music
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OTHER DEPARTMENT STORES CONTINUED
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11. DIMMEY’S OF MELBOURNE CONTINUED
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THE DEPARTMENT STORE ON SWAN STREET CONTINUED
OVER FIFTY YEARS AT THE CORNER OF
SWAN & GREEN STREETS
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The Dimmey’s Department Stores were established in Maryborough, during the Victorian Gold Rush (1851-late 1860s), with the opening of the drapery store, Dimelow & Gaylard’s. Apparently, shoppers quickly began referring to the store as Dimmey’s and this shortened name was officially adopted by the owners during the early 1900s.
There has been a building at the corner of Swan & Green Streets in Richmond since 1878. The first building on the site was a two-storey drapery owned by Joseph Britten whose family had established and operated an earlier store in Richmond since 1853.
Swan Street
This photograph appears at the Victoria Places website and is from
the The John Young Collection
I am awaiting permission to reproduce this photograph
In 1898, Joseph Britten’s Swan & Green Streets’ store was purchased by Dimelow & Gaylard’s, when it became known as Dimmey’s. In 1904, the store was taken over by John Sims Jeffery who retained the now well-known name, however it was markedly damaged by fire two years later.
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In 1907, Mr. Jeffery built a new steel-framed building to replace the damaged store at the corner of Swan & Green Streets. Additions and modifications have been made to the building since this time, which have turned it into the iconic establishment known to both shoppers and to visitors to Melbourne. In 1997, the building was ranked first in the Melbourne Icons Series published by the newspaper, The Age.
Dimmey’s Department Store in 1952
Note the Store Display Windows on Green Street , the Iron Veranda on the First Floor
and the presence of Roman Numerals on the Clock Face
The store was designed by Melbourne’s foremost practitioners of American Romanesque, H.W. & F.B. Tompkins (Harry & Frank Tompkins; partnership formed in 1898) and constructed by Robert McDonald. The new store featured a Romanesque façade along Green Street. American Romanesque-style designs were popular at the turn of the century as Australian Architects were eager to break with British architectural design.
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The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing Colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia united to form the Commonwealth of Australia. The Constitution of Australia came into force, on 1st January, 1901 and the former Colonies collectively became States of the Commonwealth of Australia.
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Between 1907 and 1915, Mr. Jeffery extended the store along Swan Street and replaced Joseph Britten’s original first floor façade with twelve Romanesque Arches, which now complemented those of the frontage on Green Street. The store now stretched for 39 metres along Swan Street and 67 metres along Green Street. In addition, Iron Verandahs were also added to the first floor facing Swan Street.
In 1910 Mr. Jeffery added a Clock Tower to the building. The Clock Tower was topped by a Globe, which was originally covered with ruby glass and internally lit at night, which allowed it to be seen for miles around. In 1939, the glass was replaced by a covering of copper and with the name of the store written across it. Originally, the four clock faces were decorated with Roman Numerals, but were replaced in the 1960s by the letters, DIMMEYS STORE.
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At the turn of the twentieth century, Richmond was very much a working class area. However, Mr. Jeffery was eager to attract more up-market customers, and to encourage this, he changed the name of the store to Dimmeys Model Stores and began to offer a wide range of high quality and fashionable goods for sale. The first floor of the store housed workshops where many of the goods were produced. Also present here was a Mail Order Service.
With the depression, the policy of the store was to change and it began to focus on the sale of quality goods at reduced prices. Following the end of the Second World War, the store ceased its manufacturing activities and went on to become the most prominent bargain stores in Melbourne.
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Changes to Dimmeys Model Stores were made to the store starting in 1959 and continuing through the 1960s. These changes included the:
- removal of the Iron Verandah from the first floor of the Swan Street façade;
- removal of the Roman Numerals on the clock faces and replacement with letters;
- removal of the cladding around the iron columns found in the store;
- withdrawal of the Timber Services; and
- the removal of the Pneumatic Cash System used to send payments to a central office and to return the receipts and any necessary change;
Pneumatic Tube System
In the 1970s, the original large display windows that faced both Green and Swan Streets were removed, but only those on Swan Street were replaced.
Dimmey’s Department Store Replacement Windows
Far Right: now with no display windows facing onto Green Street
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The store acquired the adjacent retail area to its west in 1986. The space was remodeled and incorporated into the store thereby allowing it to extend along Swan Street from Green to Byron Streets. This addition was built with red brick and had five large Romanesque arches around the windows of the first floor and brought continuity to the façade.
Dimmeys Department Store now stretching between Green & Byron Streets
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Forge’s Department Store
Top Left: The Footscray Store in 1947; Bottom Left: Headquarters of the Combined Company
Right: Western Suburbs Store
In 1978, Dimmeys Model Stores purchased its main competitor Forge’s. Forge’s was established as a Drapery Store in 1898 by Christopher Forge (1860-1912) in Footscray, a suburb of Melbourne. Following the sale of the store then present on Geelong Road, Dimmeys Model Stores traded as Dimmeys & Forges. In 2008. The Forge’s Store was sold to developers and Forge’s was removed from the business name.
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As a point of note, The Forge’s Store on Geelong Road, Footscray, has remained vacent since November 2008. On 27th July, 2016, The Leader – Community News, Melbourne published an article where it was reported that the site could become the site of a six cinema complex, supermarket, restaurant and medical centres. In addition, a planning application lodged with the local (Maribyrnong) Council requests the right to redevelop the west section of the site for a 235- apartment block with two towers of 13 and 19 storeys. We await the Council’s response.
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In 2003, Hayden Dewar, a local artist, was commissioned to paint a Mural on the Green Street façade of Dimmey’s. The Mural was commissioned to celebrate the store’s 150th Anniversary and to represent its history of the store and that of the State of Victoria since 1853.
Hayden Dewar at work on The Dimmey’s Mural
I was fortunate enough to visit Melbourne while Mr. Dewar was working on The Mural. I spoke to him on a number of occasions and he kindly explained the its plan and also answered a number of questions about some of the characters displayed that I was not familiar with.
Slim Dusty (1927-2003), like many others, appears on The Mural
Slim Dusty’s most famous song, A Pub with no Beer (1957)
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Please Note that
THE DIMMEY’S MURAL
ON THE GREEN STREET FACADE
will be discussed on a later page
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Dimmey’s began to suffer financial hardship from the 1980s onwards, which eventually brought about the company’s collapse in 1996. This resulted in its subsequent sale to a consortium. Unfortunately, Dimmey’s woes did not end here, for between 1999 and 2013, it was fined on a number of occasions, as a result of insufficient care to Safety Standards, as applied to certain products.
The size of the fines levied against the company resulted in it going into Voluntary Administration. The company made a request to be allowed the to continue trading while selling off some of its assets to help pay the fines.
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In 2008, The Dimmey’s store on the corner of Green & Swan Streets, was sold to developers for A$16 million. In addition, the company also sold its Forges of Footscray store for what is believed to be a similar amount.
Following the sale of The Swan Street Dimmey’s, the new owners announced a plan to build a ten storey residential building on the site. The plan included the preservation of the Clock Tower and façade of the building, however some of the mural (see later) would be destroyed. The council contested the plan since it did not agree with the loss of any part of the mural. Fortunately, it was decided to leave the mural untouched and The Store continued trading for several years more.
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However, sadly for everyone who enjoyed shopping at The Swan Street Dimmey’s, on 31st December, 2012, its doors were closed for the final time.
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Please Note That The
REBUILDING ON THE SITE OF THE
FORMER DIMMEY’S STORE ON SWAN STREET
will be discussed on a later page
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Mr. Kenneth Henderson for his helpful discussion in the preparation of this series.
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Click here to return to THE DEPARTMENT STORE HOME PAGE
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Hi Charles,
As far as I know there are no Dimmey’s stores in downtown Sydney , but are one or two in the outer suburbs. There are however numerous stores in NSW, Queensland and Victoria and mostly situated in bigger Austalian country towns.
When we lived in Melbourne for four years and we use to visit the Swan Street store about once per year and always ended up buying something, as there was always a big selection of goods and at excellent prices.
Over the past ten years, we have been visiting our eldest son who lives outside Melbourne, and when we drive there we usually play golf along the way and stop in one particular town called Corowa in Victoria.
It seems that whenever we go there to play golf one of us forgets or needs something, and we usually end up going to Dimmey’s to buy socks or pants or a shirt or a jumper!
The prices and the relative quality are so good that you can virtually wear whatever you buy and afford to throw it away after the first wear. However, because the quality is generally quite good, I end up with various odds and ends in my wardrobe that lasts forever!!