Remember This? John Cootes Furniture advertisement (1987)

From 1983 to 2018,  John Cootes Furniture was a big player amongst Sydney furniture stores. Below is an advertisement from 1987 that was uploaded to Youtube by "Robert Pugsley".

I used to have a Betamax video with an advertisement from early 1984 and have seen one on Youtube from a complication of Sydney advertisements recorded in 1986 and it is interesting to follow the evolution of his commercials during the 35 years of trading. Compare this one to even ones you may remember in the 1990s.

Older advertisements tended to be filmed in a studio. 1990's commercials tended to have Cootes on the shop floor himself, with background music. I think the inclusion of Cootes in the advertisements was essential to any marketing for the store. It is the same as having Gerry Harvey personally feature in advertisements for Harvey Norman - whether it is radio or television. I remember seeing the commercials in its final year of trading and they were tacky. Just not the same 

The Cootes family sold the business in June 2014 to Elanor Investments Group. They embarked on an expansion campaign across Sydney, regional NSW, and Canberra but became a victim of competition from retailers and online shopping.

I think online shopping was not the factor that killed John Cootes but merely the choices available for furniture - Harvey Norman, Domayne, IKEA, Freedom Furniture, Fantastic Furniture, Nick Scali, Amart Furniture and others. A very crowded marketplace.