Roger David set to join retail chains to come and go from Melbourne
Who could forget the Ken Bruce TV ads? With clothing chain Roger David just weeks away from closing for good, we reflect on Melbourne’s most famous and infamous retailers.
Leader
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Roger David, the menswear empire of seven decades, has entered voluntary administration, with its permanent closure likely just weeks away.
The chain has sold men’s fashion since 1942, and at its peak had more than 100 stores.
Blaming global competition, flattening sales and rising fixed costs, administrators are now winding up the business.
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On the eve of its demise the Leader reflects on the other major retail franchises to come and go from Melbourne’s suburbs.
KEN BRUCE
Ken Bruce has gone mad, Ken Bruce has gone mad, Ken Bruce has gone completely mad and then he went out of business.
Anybody who had a heartbeat in Melbourne in the 90s would have the electronic retailer’s late night ad catch cry permanently imprinted on their brain.
His ads were like nothing seen before and included Bruce tied up in a straitjacket with a parrot on his shoulder.
He sold out of the business in 2002 following the rise of Harvey Norman.
STAN CASH
Technically there is one Stan Cash store left — a clearance centre in Brooklyn in Melbourne’s west.
But, the fact many people are shocked when you tell them this, means the electronic, bedding and homeware retailer has earned its spot on this list.
Stan Cash was massive in the 70s, 80s and early 90s with ads and shops all over town before it quietly closed most of its doors.
The famous Stan Cash cowboy symbol re-established its presence in Brooklyn in 2012.
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TOYS ‘R’ US
The giant American toy retailer is the fresh face on the list after only closing down its Australian operations in June this year.
Administrators failed to find a buyer for the struggling retailer’s 44 toys and baby goods stores, putting 700 people out of work.
CRAZY JOHN’S
Turkish Australian businessman John Ilhan had the foresight to see how big mobile phones were going to be when he opened his first store in Brunswick in 1991.
His early jump into the emerging mobile market meant he was able to grow his business Australia wide.
His early ads were almost as memorable as Ken Bruce’s ads.
Unfortunately John passed away in 2007 while still on top of his game.
His wife sold the business to Vodafone not long after.
VENTURE
Remember Venture? The department store chain could only be described as a lesser version of what Target, Big W and Kmart are today.
The South Australian company sprouted outlets across the country from 1970 before going kaput in 1994.
FOSSEYS
Once a competitor to Venture, Target, Big W and the like, if you were around in the 1980s and ’90s, you probably “found it at Fosseys”.
Established in Sydney in 1926 by Alfred Fossey, the brand had 148 stores across the country at its peak.
The name Fosseys died in 1998 when Coles Myer merged the stores with Target and rebranded them Target Country.
TUCKERBAG
Tuckerbag was the lesser version of Safeway (Woolworths) and Coles back in the day and there really wasn’t any particular reason to shop at one, which is probably why it was swallowed up and rebranded as FoodWorks in 1999.
Its famous ad featuring a talking tucker bag was popular though and will be forever etched in Melbourne folklore.
Franklins, one of Tuckerbags competitors, survived until 2015.
Its old sites are either occupied by an Aldi or an IGA now.
DAIMARU
The Japanese department store chain opened its one and only Melbourne outlet to much fanfare in 1991 as the first flagship tenant of Melbourne Central.
Shoppers flocked to Daimaru get a taste of Japanese shopping culture in the early years but the fad soon wore off and sales dipped.
The six floors of Melbounre Central which Daimaru occupied felt like a ghost town in the final years.
Also with Myer and David Jones just around corner the market wasn’t big enough to sustain three department stores, so Daimaru closed for good in 2002.
BRASHS
If you bought a cassingle of Roxette’s latest smash hit in the 80s then it's a good bet you got it from Brashs.
The vinyl, cassette and later CD retailer was the go to shop for fresh music.
There wasn’t a shopping centre in Melbourne’s suburbs which didn’t have a Brashs.
The chain hit trouble in 1995 before eventually closing all 105 outlets and putting more than 2000 people out of a job.
Sanity Music rose from the ashes before it took a significant downturn in the mid to late 2000s.
BORDERS
The internet changed a lot of things, but the arrival of online retailers Amazon and the Book Depository smashed the book industry with a sledgehammer.
Borders was all conquering in the 90s up until the mid-2000s when declining profits put a huge dent in the company.
By 2011, Borders had closed all its Australian stores and the large scale book shop, which was a good place to read a magazine for free, has not been seen since.
TANDY, DICK SMITH’S
If you wantedto build a ham radio, computer or even a robot then Tandy was your one-stop-shop back in the day.
Tandy stores — modelled on the American Radio Shack chain — could be found at every Melbourne shopping centre in the 80s and 90s and were an electronics hobbyist’s dream.
Woolworths took ownership of the chain in 2001 before it eventually phased Tandy out in 2011.
Dick Smith’s electronic stores could be found anywhere a Tandy was and the two chains offered similar products and services.
Dick Smith slowly morphed into a more Harvey Norman type electronic business before it closed its doors in 2016, long after Smith sold the company to Woolworths in 1982.
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