1976: Farmers Rebranded as Myer

Source: Anon. 1976. "Farmers moving back to quality". The Sun Herald, May 9: 127. 

1976 saw the end of an era in Sydney retailing when Farmers stores were rebranded as Myer. It was the first of two rebrandings by Myer as they acquired Sydney department stores. The second was in 2004 when Grace Bros stores were rebranded as Myer following their takeover by Myer in 1983 and later incorporation into the Coles-Myer Group.

Below is a 1976 newspaper article from The Sun Herald announcing that by the end of that year, all Farmers stores would be rebranded as Myer, including its flagship city store (Current location of Myer post 2004 rebranding of Grace Bros & Westfield Sydney Central Plaza).

Farmers merged with Myer in 1961, and over the next fifteen years, Myer engaged in Myerisation of its stores, which meant removing the services and products that gave Farmers its unique identity. In effect, Farmers stores had evolved into Myer stores except in name only. 

At the time, Farmers had stores in central Sydney, Miranda, Carlingford, Burwood, Blacktown and Gordon.

Myer would trade under its name on the site until 1983, when it acquired Grace Bros and rebranded the store to Grace Bros, along with any stores branded as Myer in NSW. 

In 2004, all Grace Bros stores in NSW, including the city store, were rebranded as Myer, reintroducing the Myer name to what was once the home of Farmers. 

EVOLUTION OF WESTFIELD MIRANDA: Westfield Miranda Expansion Completed II (1971) - Retail Advertisements

Last week was an overview of the first expansion of Westfield Miranda (Miranda Fair), this week I am sharing some of the advertisements as published from The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader
on September 15 1971.

Grace Bros

Farmers

Woolworths Family Centre

The Whistling Prawn

Mansours

Kenrays

Katies

Soul Pattinson Chemists

Safeways

Bush'a Hygrade Means

Igloo Deli

1962: The Genesis of Westfield Miranda

Westfield Miranda is among Sydney's most famous shopping centres. In 2019 the shopping centre has around 450 stores anchored by: David Jones, Myer, Big W, Target, Coles, Woolworths, ALDI, JB Hifi and Apple.

Source: Anon. 1962. "New Shopping Centre". The Sydney Morning Herald, October 18: .

It also includes a dining precinct and Event Cinema complex.

The centre also has a rich history, which lives on the reference to Sutherland Shire residents by its original name of Miranda Fair.

Did you know that the centre was not originally a Westfield shopping centre?

In 1962, the Myer Corporation (Myer), the parent company of Sydney department store chain Farmers unveiled plans to build a regional shopping centre on nine acres of land near Miranda railway station on the Kingsway.

The centre would include a Farmers department store, Woolworths Supermarket and variety store, 16 speciality stores and a public library.

Estimated cost was 2.5 million pounds ($5 million dollars) with an anticipated completion date in 1964.

Upon completion, it was anticipated to be the second largest regional shopping centre in Sydney after Warringah Mall (under construction) which had fifty stores at its opening in 1963.

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 Burwood opens (1966)

Above: An advertisement by Westfield to promote the opening of their new centre at Burwood. It was published in The Sun  on October 10 1966. 

On the back of Bankstown Square opening in 1966 and Roselands the year before, the emerging Westfield Development Corporation (Westfield Group)  needed to step up in what their centres offered to Sydney shoppers.

Westfield had centres at Hornsby, Blacktown, Eastwood, Baulkham Hills and Dee Why. Except for Hornsby, the other centres are no longer managed by Westfield.

The centre was known as Westfield Burwood Shoppingtown and was the first centre to carry the famous Westfield logo.

Key facts:

• Westfield selected Burwood due to its location between Parramatta & the Sydney CBD and Westfield wanted to revitalise Burwood, even believing it would benefit businesses on Burwood Road. 
• Construction took 12 months and cost $8 million.
• Major tenants included Farmers (Myer), Coles, Winns & Mark Foys. 
• First shopping centre in NSW to have shops sloped on an incline making it possible for a shopper to not use stairs to access the two levels inside the centre. Westfield Hurstville (1978) and Macquarie Centre (1981) have layouts based on the incline. 
• First Westfield Shopping Centre to be branded as a "shoppingtown". The idea of a "shoppingtown" was that the centre would contain just more than shops, but professional services like cinemas, petrol stations, doctors and dentists. There were even commercial offices available, though the redeveloped centre no longer has a office component. 
• The original centre had a Hoyts Cinema and Ampol Petrol station.
• 1000 carpaking spots over three levels.


Below are some assorted advertisements to promote its opening sourced from the major Sydney newspapers at the time of opening.

An advertisement for Farmers:

And one for Coles.

 

None of the original centre remains today. As part of the redevelopment of Westfield Burwood, the entire centre was demolished and rebuilt from scratch during 1999 and was reopened to the public in 2000. It now has 250 shops. Coles remains but Farmers (which became Myer, then Grace Bros and reverted to Myer) left in 2007 and was replaced by David Jones.

Finally, for those of you on Facebook, there is a Facebook Page (Old Westfield Shoppingtown Burwood Mermories) dedicated to the original Westfield complex itself with photos and tales.