Source: Grace Bros. 1973. "Mt Druitt Grace Bros Opening Advertisement," The Sydney Morning Herald, October 9: 4.
I had to do a quick scan of the internet to find out a little as to what happened to the store. Going by what I have read, the store closed in 2004. The space is now occupied by Coles and other speciality stores.
.
I was told by a very senior (retired) Grace Brothers executive some years ago that the development of this shopping centre was an unmitigated disaster for the company. The store itself never made a profit, but contractual obligations required that it was kept open for thirty years, after which it promptly closed. The decision to invest in building the centre was made on the back of promises by the then State Government that large scale (non housing commission) residential development was to be permitted nearby, and that major transport infrastructure works would be completed in the near term (specifically the completion of the Castlereagh F2 Freeway, and the reconstruction of Mt Druitt railway station as major bus rail interchange.
ReplyDeleteI can confirm the details shown above. The decision by Grace Bros to sign a thirty year lease was the biggest mistake. They believed that the promises made by the state government would turn Mt Druitt into a major regional center and when this didn't happen they (Grace Bros) could not get out of the lease. Throughout this period department stores were struggling to survive in the face of competition from the many new specialist retailers opening stores, adding to the problem at Grace Bros Mt Druitt.
DeleteI worked in the store from 1973 until about 1982. The store was trading at a profit in simple terms but when a share of head office and other costs were deducted the result was a loss.
Grace Bros was a well run business and this was one of very few mistakes made by management, believing politicians!
I worked at GRACE BROS Mt Druitt from sept 1973 till sept 1993 my husband ,son,and daughter,worked there too i started as part time and got promoted to dept manager of sporting goods i can quiet promise you that mt druitsporting dept came up very high in the profit market when years later they started closing deparments down it was after they showed high profits the staff that worked in those departments could never understand why they were being closed first the carpet dept, then furniture, then they culled the butchershop,fruit and veg the pipeing hot and rondo room Resturants piece by piece i watched that beautiful get put into oblivion so many customers that came in to say good bye and gave thier grace bros credit card back to the general office they were not happy customers you see GRACE BROS was so uniquely great you could buy a needle,a bedroom suite,shoes,flowers,tyres,
ReplyDeletePaint fishing rods and reels,prams ,tents and camping gear,bbq and garden setting,clothes,a puppy or kitten and birds,fridges,tvs,lightings a meal,cup of tea or coffee and oh boy so much more you could walk into Grace BROS and do all your shopping in one store yeah politics shut Grace Bros down NOT lack of profits i must conclude karma is catching up with same politics
Ps long lives GRACE BROS in the hearts of the loyal loveing staff of MT DRUITT STORE
Exactly what they did a Grace Brothers Macquarie Centre,although it was a very successful anchor tenant.I worked in 'Food City" the in-store Supermarket and sometimes 'flying squad". We were always busy in Division 71, Christmas time was non stop busy ,the Supermarket was only 9 years old , when were a new store when they decided to shut it and the food areas down. Our Supermarket shelves had just been replaced, they were new, though the freezer units were always breaking down, thank God when a had a huge freezer room in the reserve out back . I can remember a big inspection was coming, we spent hours one night after the night fill facing the all the products and cleaning, we did that most days anyway, but this time everything had to be prefect, the Super Market and whole division looked a treat. The inspection team of suits came up to level 3 and walked straight past and didn't enter.A few months later the bad news arrived, i was just a 15 year old, never seen grown adults cry in public in the work place.Every thing else slowly went too, the restaurants, sports, home gardening, pets, deli, in-store butcher, confectionary, chemist, music and lastly the liquor store. We were proud of our division, everyone got dirty each day from work, but we loved it.
ReplyDelete