Today’s retail stores just don’t have the vibe or cut-through of the cheese that existed in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. There’s stores that can be borderline heritage listed, and others that only survive because their rivals have been bought out or they’ve gone belly-up due to bad management. But there are stores that will last in our memories due to the well-promoted brand, or the store Generation X – Y frequently noticed while shopping, and will never forget.
Norman Ross
This retail store was spawned from the joint friendship of vaccuum salesmen Gerry Harvey and Ian Norman that started the Norman Ross business in 1961. Over time the store developed into the retail chain with the assistance of businessman Keith Lord. The “Ross” in the title is from the first manager of the store Peter Ross. After a successful profit run through the 1970s, big wigs Grace Bros and Alan Bond wanted to buy into the chain in the early 1980s.
Once obtained, Harvey and Norman were given the shaft, so they created Harvey Norman in 1982 and ran rival to Norman Ross. Towards the end of the 80s, Norman Ross ran into some bad management issues and in 1992, it was put under liquidation. However, the brand continued trading in New Zealand until 2013 where it was absorbed into the Harvey Norman name. Harvey Norman exists to this day.
Canberra Times 1992-02-26
Joyce Mayne
This retail store still exists and going strong, but the locations aren’t as sporadic as they were in the 1980s and 1990s. Joyce Mayne herself came over from London in the late 1950s and started her own retail business in the early 1970s in the heart of Sydney, selling appliances and and home furniture.
In the late 1990s, rival retailer Harvey Norman acquired the majority of the stores, converting most of them to the Domayne name brand. The Joyce Mayne brand still runs today and is very independent and successful, but what we all miss the most is the former actress herself (Mayne appears to have passed away in 2006) featuring in most of the company commercials, making sure she was front and centre. Some of the commercials themselves are of an acquired taste.
Chandlers
From “We stand behind the product we sell” to “You’re in good hands” and “Whatever you want”, the electrical goods store Chandlers originally started in the heart of Brisbane in 1913 as a hardware store by future Lord Mayor John Beals Chandler. Over the years, the store evolved into selling electrical appliances, and in 1930, helped establish the Brisbane radio station 4BC due to Chandler’s interest in selling radio units. While Chandler passed away in 1962, Chandlers was a family controlled business until 1977.
In the 1980s, their television commercials featured Queensland newsreader Melody Ilffe promoting their wares.
In the 1990s, their slogans “You’re in good hands” and “Whatever you want” were very catchy (especially since “Whatever you want” took its riff from UK band Status Quo‘s song of the same name), but the Chandlers brand was slowly failing away. In the early 2000s, the stores closed, but the name was taken over by BSL (eventually becoming BSR) and merged with rival retailer Betta. The Betta stores and name still exist to this day.
Brashs
A retail store that launched in Melbourne in 1862 by Marcus Brasch, Brashs started selling pianos, and over the decades evolved into a whitegoods store. In the 1970s, Brashs dipped its toes into the hi-fi business by selling audio equipment, records and cassettes, including opening more stores. The popularity of the brand cemented itself in the 1980s as the ‘go-to’ for all your music and entertainment needs, and by the early 1990s, the television commercials became iconic due to television personality Tony Barber using his Sale Of The Century persona to promote their sales, usually with the slogan “The answer is Brashs!” as the sign-off.
In 1995, the Brashs chain fell into voluntary administration, and eventually fell into receivership in 1998. The tag line in their commercials “The answer is Brashs!” is used as a punchline in modern day slang.
What retail stores did you grow up with, don’t exist anymore, but their commercials are iconic for your generation? Comment below.
