Australia's Lost Department Stores I (Craven's, Spring-Summer 1928-1929)

 Back in the twentieth century, each capital city in Australia had a city centre filled with locally owned and run department stores.  Shoppers were spoiled for choice, and a visit to "town" was not only a shopping expedition, but a day's entertainment as well.  However, all good things come to an end.  The growth of suburban shopping malls, the spread of credit cards (as opposed to store-based credit) and the beginning of online shopping meant that many department stores were no long economically viable.  One by one the stores closed down or were absorbed by more flourishing concerns.

Today, only a few department store chains remain in Australia.  Every city centre has the same selection of shops and stores, all selling the same goods at the same prices.  All that remains of the old department stores are a few photographs, advertising and articles in yellowing newspapers, and people's memories.  And, of course, the surviving store catalogues.

Over the years I've collected a few of these catalogues.  Though I don't have a full set (by a long shot!) I do have a fair sample.  I'd like to take a look at some of these stores—and the fashions they sold to their customers!

I'm going to start with Craven's of Adelaide.  This  is the oldest Australian store catalogue in my collection, and also one of the rarest.   Craven's was originally established in 1886 as Craven and Armstrong.  Upon the death of Armstrong in 1912, Craven turned the store into a limited liability company and expanded the premises on the corner of Pultney and Rundle streets.  Craven's developed a reputation for offering "value for money" as John Craven was a shrewd buyer of merchandise.    

Up to the early 1950s advertisements promoting Craven's appear in all the Adelaide newspapers.  Things fall oddly silent after that, though Craven's was still in business.  Possibly it was already past its best, but the store in Adelaide hung on until 1965, when it was burnt down during a burglary.  The burglars got away with around £3,000 in cash, while the fire did around £250,000 worth of damage!  Craven's was apparently of so little importance by 1965 that the fire and the burglary weren't even mentioned in the local papers.  Instead it was reported in the Canberra Times.

The image above is from the inside front cover of one of J. Craven & Co.'s catalogues (the cover itself being damaged).  It's from the store's heyday, and illustrates some delightfully "twenties" voile frocks on the left, and cotton dresses with matching bloomers for little girls on the right.