Dimmey’s Department Store on Swan Street in 2006

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Traveling to Finders Street Railway Station during the Rush Hour

I remember clearly the first time that I saw Dimmey’s Department Store.  I was traveling on a train from Oakleigh, one of the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, where I was staying at the time.  It was in the middle of the early rush hour, but I had managed to get a window seat before the train filled up with commuters going to their jobs in the Central Business District (CBD).  We had just left South Yarra Station and were heading towards Richmond Station when I noticed a tower with what looked like an orb at the top.

Left: Dimmey’s Tower & Globe; Middle: Dimmey’s Clock; Right: Wickham’s Tower

For some reason, the tower reminded me of Wickham’s Department Store in Stepney, although to be honest, it did not resemble Wickham’s Tower at all!  I asked the person seated next to me if she know what the building with the tower and globe was and she told me that it was Dimmey’s Department Store and added that it was something of an institution in Melbourne.  After thanking her for the information, I made a mental note to visit The Store, and visit it, I did, and on several occasions, as I found each visit to be extremely enjoyable!

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Boulevard des Capucines by Claude Monet (1840-1926), painted between 1873 and 1874

I have to confess that I do not enjoy shopping.  It is something that has to be done, but I am more than happy when I have arrived home and the purchases has been stored away.  What I do enjoy however, is to visit Department Stores and some shops when I have nothing to buy.  I enjoy looking at the buildings and admiring their architecture.  I have favourite stores that I have enjoyed visiting on many occasions and these include Harrod’s, Gallerie Layfayette and Macy’s at City Center Philadelphia especially when the Wanamaker Organ is being played.  However, my favourite store was Aux Trois Quartiers on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris, which sadly is no longer in business and its building has been taken over by other companies.

Aux Trois Quartiers

People were always amused by my preference for Aux Trois Quartiers since they regarded it as a store frequented by their grandmothers!  Of course, I was not interested in the goods being sold, no, I was interested, and more than slightly amused, by the ambiance that existed in the store.  Les Vendeuses, mostly older women, were elegantly dressed in black dresses with little or no jewelery.  These ladies were extremely polite and obviously used to a shopping clientele with sufficient means not to worry about cost and not in search of bargains.

Vendeuses

The clientele were mainly women of the Bourgeois class with an occasional man in tow.  These women were extremely well-dressed with perfectly coiffed hair and shiny polished nails.  I always felt that they wore too much jewelery and wore too heavy make-up with over red lipstick to accentuate their thin lips.  They discussed their possible purchases in a loud, slow, very formal and highly exaggerated French that amused me and often referred to each other as Ma Chère.

Although Fashion Changes, Attitudes & The Sense of Entitlement do not 

To amuse myself on occasion, I was known to indulge my merriment by entering into such an exaggerated conversation with a Vendeuse, which later I acted out for my friends at gatherings.  Please note that I was not laughing at the Vendeuse when I entertained in this manner.

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Dimmey’s had a unique appeal and quickly became one of my very favourite stores to visit.  It was, at the time, like no other store I had seen elsewhere.  In many ways, I found it to be a non-traditional Aladdin’s Cave for treasures (yes, treasures!) were to be found there with careful searching, of course!

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DIMMEY’S OF MELBOURNE CONTINUED
OVER FIFTY YEARS AT THE CORNER OF
SWAN & GREEN STREETS