Sales of the century: What’s in store for Brisbane’s oldest shopping arcade

The story of Brisbane Arcade is a story of resistance.

How else could you describe the old-world shopping arcade, the oldest in the city, wedged between Queen Street Mall and Adelaide Street in the CBD?

A century on, Brisbane Arcade evokes the prestige of a bygone retail era.Credit: Courtney Kruk

The surrounding retail precincts have endured decades of change, some expanding to luxurious new heights, others losing their lustre.

But how Brisbane Arcade, which celebrates its 100th anniversary on Friday, April 19, has resisted the trends of the 21st century is something of a mystery.

The building, reminiscent of a less-complicated era with its green awnings, stained-glass windows and wooden shopfronts, endears itself to shoppers.

“There’s a lot of nostalgia connected to that little shopping mall,” says QUT professor and retail expert Gary Mortimer.

“If you compare it to other shopping centres, like Uptown when it was the Myer Centre, it had that nostalgia for people who had been to Tops when they were kids and that connection to simpler times.

“I imagine that’s what’s happened with Brisbane Arcade.”

Girls Love Pearls owner Mark Seddon poses in front of his “brag wall”. “I’m having fun and making a nice living, that’s all I want to do.” Credit: Courtney Kruk

Peering down from the Gallery Level, Girls Love Pearls owner Mark Seddon describes it as an “oasis in the city”.

“It’s a nice little getaway. You can sort of just stop and breathe,” he says.

Seddon has worked in the jewellery trade since he left school nearly 40 years ago. He was restringing pearls for the previous owner when they asked if he knew anyone who might want to buy the business. “I said, ‘yeah, me’.”

That was in 2008. With pearls proving as enduringly popular as the mall, Seddon has no plans to leave.

“I’ve thought about franchising and expanding, but I don’t really want to,” he says, widening his grin. “I’m having fun and making a nice living, that’s all I want to do.”

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The arcade’s longevity is as much a testament to its uniqueness as its loyal shoppers.

Irma J. Smith owner Bronwyn Smith (right) has been coming to Brisbane Arcade since she was two-years-old.Credit: Courtney Kruk

“I have my beautiful, regular clientele, but I keep getting new clients all the time,” says Bronwyn Smith. “Once someone becomes a client with me, they’re with me all their life.”

She is impossible to miss. Dressed in a pale pink beret, green silk ensemble and multicoloured patchwork blazer, she’s pressed into an armchair chatting with a friend when I walk into The Irma J. Smith House of Fashion.

“Irma was my mother,” she says, pointing to the shop’s old-school logo. “We’ve been here 30 years in this shop, but I’ve been coming here since I was two years old.”

The large rolls of silk lining the store are analogous to a life spent surrounded by beautiful garments.

“I grew up in that world. I was always sewing. I was always artistic and even as a child, colour was my big thing.”

Smith had been running the store with her sister Marabeth until her passing a few years ago.

Even through her own struggles – she had breast cancer 15 months ago – Smith has remained faithful to the shop and her customers.

“I worked the whole way through [treatment]. I had a hard time but I didn’t let it do it to me, if you know what I mean.

“This is my passion, this is my life. I love what I do.”

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There is something inimitable about the people who work in the arcade; their pride, warmth and dedication. It’s undoubtedly part of the mall’s survival, and one doesn’t have to wander far to find another example.

Stretching the basement level of Brisbane Arcade is Keri Craig Emporium, a bazaar of history fronted by Peter and Dianne Craig.

“We’ve been in the arcade since 1977, 47 years,” Dianne says.

You’ll find Dianne and Peter Craig in Keri Craig Emporium most days. Credit: Courtney Kruk

In a crisp pink shirt and tropical tie, Peter explains their many storefronts over the years – “we’ve had about 10 different situations in the arcade” – before converging to the refurbished lower level.

“The head trustee John Moore rang one night and said that they had redone the basement area and asked if we would take the whole lot over. We decided it was too much, but we did it anyway,” he laughs.

Except for the three months off they take each year, Peter and Dianne, both in their mid-80s, work in the store most days.

“The real jovial reason for being here is if we stayed at home, we’d argue. So we come to work where we have to behave in front of staff and customers,” he says.

Peter admits that “people like us” – owners of smaller stores – are a dying breed. But he’s hopeful the appetite for bespoke retailers that has fed the arcade all these years will continue.

“I think Brisbane Arcade, with all its different offerings, will still attract people.”

Which has proved true even with similar retailers in the mix.

“That’s my brother’s store up there,” says Stones Diamond Ring Specialists owner Paul Stone, gazing up at John Stone Jeweller on the level above.

Stone, who has been making jewellery since he was 19, opened his store 35 years ago. “I know what you’re thinking, I don’t look old enough to have opened a store in 1989.”

We chat about the stores’ complementary nature and the sense of community between retailers: “It’s very friendly, we’re very supportive of one another and help one another out. It’s a friendly little environment,” he says.

There might have been some brotherly competition over the years, but Stone is content to keep things in the family. “My son works here, he’s just off getting a haircut right now. He’s 21 and he’s interested in keeping it going, which is nice.”

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Even the stores without an obvious successor have a lasting legacy to leave.

The Pen Shoppe owner and handwriting expert Barbara Nichol explains how the shop moved from the now-demolished City Plaza to the Myer Centre, before settling into the arcade in the late 1990s.

From Churchill Fellow to arcade stalwart, Barbara Nichol will leave a long mark on Brisbane’s history. Credit: Courtney Kruk

She speaks of the introduction of the ballpoint pen and electronics and how they “ruined handwriting”.

“When the ballpoint pen was issued in the mid-1950s, the rot set in almost immediately,” Nichol says.

In 1980, Nichol was given a Churchill Fellowship to “try and save handwriting”, later publishing a guidebook: Polishing Your Penmanship.

The store ebbs with a constant stream of customers: businessmen in need of an ink refill, people searching for a milestone gift and uni students surveying a rotating case of journals. “Nobody thought it was a good idea to open this shop, except my mother,” Nichol says.

Nichol has watched the world shrink and grow through wars, technology and natural disasters, over many years. She’s the keeper of a dying art, working in an increasingly unstable industry.

Does she think Brisbane Arcade will survive another 100 years?

“Brisbane is changing a lot. In this arcade, you see businesses which are run in the old way. I don’t know how long this will work.”

She lets the thought hang for a moment, before adding: “There’s an old saying: everything’s got to change so that everything can stay the same.

“This place still belongs to the people of Brisbane.”