The Gympie business closures that broke our hearts

Gympie has a 151 year history and The Gympie Times has been here throughout it all. Here are some familiar names from the recent past and the way back when...

Mary St from Cullinane's Arcade down past Monkland St. Picture: Gympie, the real treasure is the

GYMPIE has had some remarkable businesses over its 151 years to date, some more memorable than others.

These are some of the Gympie business closures that broke our hearts.

RESTAURANTS AND CAFES:

Burrito's Mexican Restaurant - Located out at Lake Alford, the restaurant during the 1980s and early '90s was well known not just for their great food but for their cocktails. It later became CJ's before finally closing in the late '90s.

Le Chat Cafe - Located where Charlies Hotel now sits in Nash St, this restaurant had a dapper looking cat with an earring for its logo. It closed in the early 1990s.

The Dorith - This popular restaurant was the height of sophistication during the 1960s and 70s. Located at the end of Condies Arcade, there was many a debutante or 21-year old celebrate their major events at this much missed restaurant. Later on it became the Black Cat Restaurant until the early 90s when it was bought again and turned into the Roaring Bull Steakhouse, before becoming an office for the Weekly Observer free newspaper and then a curtain store and haberdashery. It is currently the home of Doritas Cafe.

The Green Door was the place to be seen for a burger and milkshake in the 60s. Photo courtesy of Gympie- The real treasure is the town Facebook page. Picture: Contributed

Green Door Cafe - The cafe is still vacant on the corner of Station Rd and Tozer St but was the place to be between 1952, when it opened, and the late '80s when it closed.

Cullies Cafe - This unique "hovering” cafe was set halfway between the levels of Cullinane's Plaza, where Best and Less and the Cullinanes Arcade now are. Before it was a plaza it was a well known and loved department store called Cullinanes (more on this later in the list). It was developed into a plaza in the mid 1980s and featured Gympie's very first escalator. The cafe and plaza was closed and redeveloped into the arcade in 2002.

Patrick's Cafe and Patrizi's by Night - Located in Mary St, just a couple of doors down from Best and Less was Patrick's Cafe and Carvery. This mid-town cafe featured a sunlit atrium in one wall, allowing a sliver of natural light into the booths that were always crowded with hungry patrons. During the 1990s the cafe briefly opened in the evenings for dinner, becoming Patrizi's by Night.

Whispers Cafe - Widely recognised as having the best crepes in town, this more recent cafe in the James Nash Arcade was always busy until it closed several years back. It is now home to Talking Heads Hair Design.

Fiveways Cafe and corner store - Located at 1 Mary St, the corner store closed around the turn of the century and for a number of years was used as the offices for GJ Gardner Homes Gympie until they moved further up Mary St in 2016. It is about to become the new rooms for the Gympie and Cooloola Denture Clinic.

Carousel Cafe - On the opposite side of Mary St next to the SGIO (State Government Insurance Office) Building, the Carousel Cafe was nestled between where Law Essentials and the Gympie Post Office are now.

Suns Restaurant - A staple on the Gympie landscape for about 30 years, Suns Restaurant was lin Mary St and the loss of this iconic Chinese Restaurant just a couple of years ago was keenly felt. Cafe Charli later opened up at 29 Mary St but it is now the home to the very popular Mamma Dee's Cafe.

Piccadilly Cafe - This cafe was located in Mary St, but its exact location is a bit of a mystery.

Kenny's Kitchens - This Chinese restaurant and take-away was at 19 Tozer St and it too closed in the past few years.

Tobins Cafe - Is a fond memory for baby boomer locals from when they were children. Located on the same side and just up from the Memorial Park Gates in Mary St, this cafe closed after the 1974 floods. It is now home to Karinya Florist and Delights of India restaurant.

Cafe Mambo - In the same area of Mary St, where Ladybird Lingerie was for the last part of its business life, Cafe Mambo closed right before the 1999 floods. Some polystyrene boxes were in the basement of the property when the flood waters rose. Once the waters receded, however, it was discovered the pressure from the boxes, which could float, had been so extreme, it had cracked the concrete floor of the cafe wide open, demolishing the inside. The cafe never reopened

Octopus's Garden - This seafood, fish and chip shop was a staple on Perseverance St, in the complex on the corner of Excelsior Rd, next to where Indian Brothers Restaurant is now. The complex was also home to a fruit store, a butcher and a bakery.

HOTELS:

The Atlantic Hotel - Located on the corner of Mary and Monkland streets, the Atlantic opened in 1882 and traded for 101 years under this name before it was bought by Selwyn and Maria Davy who changed the name to Charlies Hotel in 1983. Charlies is now located in Nash St but the Atlantic building is now home to Mama & Papa's Pizzeria.

Commercial Hotel - On the corner of Channon and Mary streets, The Commercial was established in 1868 as the Mining Exchange and Commercial Hotel. It was closed as a hotel and opened as a restaurant briefly - The Chambers - until it was sold and renovated in 2007 and became The Decks on Mary Restaurant and Cafe and the offices of Gympie Regional Realty.

Freemason's Hotel - Originally licensed to a George Thrower in the 1870s, The Freemasons Hotel became a popular night spot and bistro for a number of years in its location on the corner of Channon and Duke streets until the most recent owners went into receivership in 2013. The hotel is now being used as private accommodation.

Grand Hotel - This impressive hotel was the first glimpse many people had of Gympie when they disembarked at Old Gympie Station. Situated on the corner of Mellor and Chapple streets it started life as the Otago in 1886 and became Allchin's before finally becoming the Grand Hotel in 1914 and staying that way until in 1951 when a collapsed mine shaft was discovered under its foundations and the building was demolished.

The Northumberland Hotel in Gympie.

Northumberland Hotel - Starting life in the 1868 on the corner of Channon and Nash streets, the Northumberland was the official Cobb and Co booking office and coach terminal. A grand looking building with a three storey turret, it burned to the ground in the early hours of January 21, 1969. It was rebuilt as a modern brick building and re-opened in 1971 as a hotel/motel. It was purchased by the Gympie Regional Council in 2009 and is now their Planning and Development Department.

Tattersalls Hotel - This sorely missed night spot was built in 1868 in Mary St on the location where Kingston's Office National and Rivers now are, opposite the National Australia Bank. It burnt to the ground in 1901 but was rebuilt as a grand two storey building. The end for The Tatts, as it was effectively known, came on August 6, 1989 when the pub again burnt down under mysterious circumstances.

SHOPS AND DEPARTMENT STORES:

Dobson'sNursery - Located on the corner of Oak St and Wickham Tce (Bruce Hwy) is a sorely missed garden centre. It closed soon after the turn of the millennium.

Prongers Hardware on the Corner of Nash and Monkland streets. Goldfields Plaza now occupies this block. Picture: Gympie, the real treasure is the

Prongers Hardware- Situated where the Goldfield's Plaza sits today, Prongers supplied the timber and building supplies for more than half of Gympie. They moved out to Drummond Drive in the industrial estate but closed in the late 1990s.

Wilbraham's Department Store around 1960. Picture: Gympie, the real treasure is the

Wilbraham's Department Store - This Mary St store was a popular spot for clothing, accessories, haberdashery and the like right up until the mid 1990s when it closed. It is now home to Tom Grady Real Estate, Twiga Books and Gympie Toyworld.

Cullinanes gets repairs after it was damaged by fire in December 1937.

Cullinane's Department Store - Located in the centre of Mary St, you could get everything at Cullinanes from grocery to hardware, homewares, furniture and apparel. The beautiful main building exterior remains to this day, but the department store closed in November 1982. There was another building on the opposite side of Mary St and there are rumours there was a tunnel linking the two stores together to move stock from one side of Mary St to the other. Read more on Cullinane's in the above listing for Cullie's Cafe.

Adby's Bros Department Store - Also located in Mary St where Foxy Lady have just moved into, this department store also had groceries, hardware, haberdashery and other items for sale. It closed in the late 1970s.

Lady Bird Lingerie - This intimate apparel store was on Mary St for 27 years, originally up the top end near Bendigo Bank, but later in the former Rockman's Building at 160 Mary St. Owner Judy Ernst closed the doors in 2016.

Mather's Shoes - A specialty shoe store, it was located in Cullinane's Arcade in Mary St.

Pine St Convenience Store - A popular stop it was located on the corner of Pine and Myall Sts.

Nash's Corner Store - This convenience store sat where the new Gympie Police Station now resides on the corner of Henry and Channon Streets.

Webster's Corner Store - This convenience shop was on the corner of Lawrence and Mary Sts.

Tanner'sStore - Situated in Hilton Rd, just down from St Patrick's this store was a well-loved corner store until the early 1980s when it closed. The store front is still there, but is now privately owned.

Crescent Rd Store - For some time this convenience store, just down from Murray Views in Brisbane Rd, was a Four Square but it closed soon after the turn of the century.

Johnson's Store -This was the former occupant of Soma Soma in Mellor St, before it because a youth crisis centre in the 2000s.

Mellor St Store - Just down from Johnsons, on the other side of Mellor St was this popular convenience store long before it became Signarama.

Four Square on Station Rd - The days of popping down to this corner store are long passed.

Golden Sponge Bakery - This bakery used to make the CBD smell amazing at 3am, staggering home from Clix nightclub in the early 1990's. For many years this bakery and cafe supplied many school tuck-shops with the best Boston buns, cream buns and coffee scrolls.

BBC Hardware- This Chapple St store closed in the 1990s.

Woolies Variety - For everything besides groceries, Woolworths Variety was a great place to shop. It later became Big W and after that was the first Silly Solly's shop in the early 1990s. Crazy Clark's went in there later and today it is the Reject Shop.

Choyshow's Fruit Shop - This shop was a popular after school hangout and was located on the corner of Mary St and Glanmire Lane. That corner is still an empty block after the shop is believed to have burnt down.

Comino's Fruit Shop - Situated in Reef St, opposite Memorial Park, Comino's Fruit Shop had the best bananas in town.

Attie Sullivan's butcher shop - Located where James Nash Arcade is now, this shop later became Young's Meat Hall.

Brodies - This fast-food store's loss is a recent blow with their empty premises on the corner of Wickham Terrace (Bruce Hwy) and Channon St still looking for a tenant after lying vacant for nearly four years.

STAY TUNED FOR NEXT WEEKS INSTALLMENT WHEN WE EXPLORE THESE FAMILIAR NAMES:

Greens RV

Great Australian Ice Creamery

Coles Variety

Skateland (Original)

Video Ezy

Blockbuster Video

Liberty Theatre

Olympia Theatre

Gympie Drive-in

Quaties Shoes

Cameron's Shoes

G & K Shoes

Fashion Fair

Jean Scene

Clobber

The Gympie Book Exchange

I Cherry Shoe

Ellie Walton

Ampol Amaroo

Shoenique

Blackwoods

Rankins

Barry & Roberts

Kings Sports

Graydon's Cycle and Sports

Olympia Sports

Dorans Newsagent

Pineapple Service-Station

Shamblers

Murray Studios

Mrs Sutton's Second Hand

Cox's Chemist

Lehmann's Pharmacy

Outridge's Pharmacy

Meldrum's Pharmacy

Balthies Jewellers

Arnold's Radio

Cooloola Electronics

Fittels

Andersons

Angus and Robertsons

Cappelli's

Redhill Shop

Excelsior Bakery

Excelsior Butcher

Murphy's Store

McKenna's Undertakers

Fo's Fine Foods

Bert Spring the Saddler

Penney's

Atherton's Second Hand

The Flower Box - florist and bridal

Kozminsky's Grocery

Kozminsky's Furniture Store

Jack Corn's Funeral Home

Cameron's Furniture