Remember this? Boxing Day Sales Ads in 1996

Welcome to our annual summer series - Remember This? 

The past few years has seen the frenzy associated with the Boxing Day sales in our retailers has diminished as Australia embraces the Black Friday Sales that are part of life in the United States. One does not have to wait until after Christmas for a deal. One can find a good deal at any time or is prepared to wait for a sales period. Mid year stocktake sales may not get the attention that Boxing Day sales get, but you can still snap the same type of bargains.

A quarter of century ago,  Boxing Day Sales were the sale that was most anticipated. The 1990's might be regarded as when the frenzy was at its peak. The recession of 1990-1991 saw people become more frugal with their money. In 1992, shoppers at Grace Bros Sydney CBD were injured as part of a stampede. Even a security officer was injured. I'll leave it to a future entry.

Boxing Day sales did not commence on Boxing Day itself in Sydney in 1996. Retailers were closed for Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Once the shops closed on Christmas Eve, the decorations immediately came down and the promotional signage for the sales would appear. This is one tradition that does not change.

Below are three newspaper commercials promoting the Stocktake Sales at Grace Bros and David Jones which were published on either December 26 1996 or December 27 1996 in The Daily Telegraph.

Grace Bros

David Jones

 

Below are two additional advertisements for BigW and Toys "R" Us, also published in The Daily Telegraph on December 26, 1996.

BigW

 

Toys "R" Us

1995: David Jones abandons Antiques

Older readers might remember when it was possible to buy antiques at David Jones. In 1995, they made a decision to pull out of the antiques business. The reason was due to customer preferences but also changes to tax laws.

Source: Lamont, M. 1995. "Antiques are now becoming a thing of the past for David Jones". The Sydney Morning Herald, April 7: 5.

The article refers to "target marketing" where department stores focus on providing products that consumers would expect out of a department store. In the 1990's the focus was on fashion, entertainment and homewares. 

In the past decade, the focus has narrowed further with a greater focus on fashion. This has come at the expense of other departments, which have either shrunk or been eliminated altogether. Could this be one factor contributing to their difficulty to compete with other speciality stores and online retailers?

Birth of Thursday Night Shopping III (1971): Newspaper Advertisements

In this third entry on the Birth of Thursday Night shopping in Sydney, I would like to share some of the advertisements that featured in the afternoon dailies - The Daily Mirror & The Sun.

Parts one and two focus on coverage from selected newspapers.

The shopping centre chains ran their own advertisements inviting shoppers to take advantage of the extra trading hours.

Westfield

Lend Lease Shopping Centres

Roselands

I also found advertisements from retailers promoting Thursday Night trading along with their Christmas offerings from 1971.

Grace Bros

David Jones

Gowings

Farmers

Waltons

Woolworths

Coles

Flemings

Horderns

Nock & Kirbys

MILESTONE: Westfield Eastgardens turns 30 (1987)

Above: Two page spread from The Southern Courier in October 1987

Back in 2015, I provided an overview of the opening of Westfield Eastgardens in 1987.

To mark its 30th anniversary, I have managed to scan through copies of the Southern Courier which ran a series of features and advertisements to promote the opening of the centre. The centre was officially opened on October 19, 1987, with 1300 guests invited despite global share markets collapsing around them.

Sydney's "A" list stars were in attendance. NSW Governor Sir James Rowland, John Saunders and Frank Lowy (Westfield) presided over proceedings.  Interest in leasing the space was high with 750 applications made to lease retail space.

Above: Advertisement published in The Southern Courier on October 28, 1987, promoting transport options to the new centre. Some locals were initially unimpressed with transport options.

When the centre opened to the public on October 21, there were protests, but not about the centre itself. Fifty locals protested against changes to bus services in the area. Some services serving the area faced the axe while services to Eastgardens from nearby suburbs were inadequate.

Above: Two advertisements promoting the opening of the Super Kmart Store at Eastgardens as published in The Southern Courier in October 1987.

Super Kmart was unique to Eastgardens. It was a hypermart combining a discount department store and supermarket under one roof, modeled on hypermarts in the United States like Walmart, Target (USA) and Kmart (USA). In 1989, the Super Kmart brand was dropped by parent company Coles Myer. The space was divided into two, forming the current Coles and Kmart stores seen today.

Here were some of the opening specials at Super Kmart:

Below are advertisements for Target and David Jones:

Two years ago I had commented about the impact of the centre on Maroubra Junction retailers. Westfield was confident that normal trading conditions would return to the area, but did not eventuate. Not even the presence of Grace Bros at Marboura Junction helped. Grace Bros fell victim itself!!!

Recently, I went for a drive to Eastgardens. The 1987 signage is still visible today.

And another two advertisements that I found that were published in the lead up to Opening Day.

MILESTONE: Bankstown Square Opens (1966)

Source: Anon. 1966. "New trends set by $17m regional project". The Sydney Morning Herald, September 20:20.

Today, Bankstown Central (formerly known as Bankstown Square) turns fifty. In 1966 there was a much fanfare when its doors opened for the first time to shoppers. Back then, it had the title of the biggest shopping centre in Australia, with more than 100 shops. It had seized the title from nearby Roselands, which itself had opened just 12 months before.

The centre was officially opened by Lady Cutler (wife of NSW Governor Sir Roden Cutler) on September 21, 1966. Lady Cutler Drive was named in her honour.

I'll keep it simple with a random assortment of clippings from The Torch which produced a special edition one day before its opening on September 20, 1966. 

The first clipping is a two-page spread documenting its construction, which occurred over a two year period.

Some photos of the opening on September 21 as published in The Torch on September 28, 1966. 130 000 were reported to have attended the opening.

I have included an editorial from the September 21, 1966, edition of The Torch which was the opening day

The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader published a map in its September 21 edition.

Facts of interest:

• Lend Lease were developers and construction costs were $17 million.
• The original centre had around 130 shops, compared with the 250 today. 
• Parking was available for 2500 cars. 
• Major tenants included David Jones, Nock & Kirby's, Woolworths and BigW. Woolworths and BigW are still based in the centre while David Jones left in 2007 (now occupied by Myer). 

Below are some advertisements for some of the major retailers:

David Jones

Woolworths

Woolworths Variety

Palmers

Nock & Kirbys

BigW

NEVER BUILT SYDNEY: David Jones & Garden City, North Ryde (1969)

David Jones opens at an expanded Macquarie Centre this week. Its opening has been a long time coming, in fact about forty-five years going by this proposal to build their own shopping centre known as Garden City at Epping Road, Macquarie Park (formally part of North Ryde). This is roughly where Optus is based today within the suburb.

The proposal came up in response to Grace Bros plans to build what is now Macquarie Centre (see map below). They had difficulty seeking approval themselves, with the plans rejected by Ryde Council and they were forced to lodge their plans with the State Planning Authority.

Source: Anonymous. 1969. "$18 1/2m. move to suburbs: Two stores plan for North Ryde." The Daily Telegraph, February 25, 3 & 7. 

However, the big challenge for David Jones was getting approval on what was industrial land to build their shopping complex. It had to go to the State Planning Authority for approval to seek rezoning to build the centre.

The centre was designed by Donald Crone, one of the city's leading architects who had recently designed Sydney Tower.

Source: Anonymous. 1969. "$18.6m David Jones Plan for North Ryde." The Sydney Morning Herald, February 25: 1 & 4. 

For David Jones, Garden City was going to have several advantages. Not only would have a presence on Sydney's booming north and north-western suburbs, but it could also allow for its distribution centre to be placed alongside it, centralising operations. This would result in the distribution centre at Alexandria closing down.

And in those days as we might know, Department Store chains were very wise in developing the shopping centres themselves. Adding speciality stores to their shopping centres would allow for some extra income through rents on tenants. Roselands (developed by Grace Bros) was an example. This would be David Jones answer. Eighty speciality shops were planned just like Roselands. However, it went a few steps further. An office tower was planned and as mentioned the distribution centre.

Garden City would have provided up to 3500 jobs.

As the year progressed, Myer Corporation were also interested in operating a store in the centre through Farmers.

In November 1969, the State Government decided only to approve the Grace Bros proposal while rejecting David Jones proposal on zoning grounds. The Macquarie Centre as the centre eventually came to be known would not open until 1981. Grace Bros won the war to establish itself at North Ryde.

Had Garden City gone ahead, the retail scene at North Ryde would be dramatically different in my view. It is so hard to predict where it could have gone but I'm thinking that David Jones' centre would have ultimately prevailed because of its location - Epping Road. It had greater exposure to traffic passing through the area and better transport links.  It would have also been the second shopping centre in Sydney to have two major department stores. Warringah Mall was the only centre to have two department stores; David Jones and Grace Bros.

Myer would have eventually have a presence at North Ryde as the Myer Corporation took over Grace Bros in 1983 and the store itself was rebranded as Myer in 2004.

Related Entry

Added October 2022

SYDNEY RETAILING: The Conception of Macquarie Centre (1968)