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Waltons (department store)

September 02, 2023

Waltons was an Australian department store chain, founded by John Walton (1904–1998).[1]

Waltons
IndustryRetail
Founded1951; 72 years ago (1951)
FounderJohn Walton
Defunct1987; 36 years ago (1987)
Headquarters
George Street, Sydney
,
Australia
Area served
Australian Capital Territory
New South Wales
Victoria
Queensland
South Australia
ProductsDepartment store

History Edit

 
Walton's slogan
 
Drawing of former Walton's flagship store on the corner of George & Park Streets, Sydney

Walton bought a menswear store in 1951, located on George Street, Sydney, opposite the Queen Victoria Building and Sydney Town Hall and near Town Hall station. Over the years it was expanded along Park Street with adjoining properties purchased.[2]

In 1955, Walton formed an alliance with the American retail giant Sears, Roebuck and Co.[3] In the early 1960s, he started a finance company in partnership with Citibank, and also moved into insurance.[1][4][5] That part of the business was sold to Norwich Union in 1980.[6]

There were changes in the retail scene in Australia in the 1960s and Waltons Limited bought out Marcus Clark & Co in 1966,[7] and then Anthony Hordern & Sons, merging its country store operation into the Walton's store group.[8] That excluded the Brickfield Hill store in the south of the Sydney central business district, which by 1969 had already closed. Waltons then acquired McDowells in 1972.[9] By 1972, the Waltons chain had expanded to 96 department stores before Walton retired as executive chairman. Sir John severed his ties with the company in 1976, and his son John took over.

Alan Bond bought Waltons in 1981, but the purchase became a financial disaster, with Bond losing $199 million in 1983. The Waltons department store name was dropped by new owners in the form of a $75 million clearance sale when Bond sold Waltons in 1987 (and closed its employee superannuation fund), to interests associated with the Cooke family.[10] The Cooke family re-branded the remaining stores as Venture and Norman Ross outlets. In 1994, Venture went bankrupt.[11]

The flagship Waltons department store on George Street, Sydney, was demolished, and employees and the media were informed that Bond Corporation intended to build Australia's tallest building, including a brand new Waltons store, on the same site. Due to the above-mentioned losses, that didn't happen. The piece of prime real estate remained nothing more than a huge hole in the ground for years. It was finally replaced by the Citibank office tower, which includes the Galeries Victoria retail space. The main Melbourne store, on Bourke Street, was remodelled into a Village Cinemas complex, which closed in 2006.

The Waltons store in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, still has a Brunswick Street Mall store-front with "Waltons" signage, but with blacked-out door glass since the store closed around 1987. The street entrances or exits to the bottom level, which were occupied by Asian novelty product stores until the late 2010s, still have the word "Walton" screwed into the wall, with the S possibly having been removed as a souvenir.

 
Former Waltons and former McWhirters department stores in Fortitude Valley, Queensland.

Store locations Edit

Australian Capital Territory Edit

New South Wales

Victoria

Nearly all these stores closed in 1983[12]

Queensland

South Australia

Miller Anderson Limited was acquired by Waltons Limited, as a result over its 1966 takeover of Marcus Clark & Co. Miller Anderson Limited had stores in the following locations:

See also Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ a b Commerce – Sir John Walton
  2. ^ Waltons pays $2.1 million for store The Canberra Times 11 May 1971 page 18
  3. ^ Sears, Roebuck Buys Interest in Waltons The Argus 17 August 1955 page 11
  4. ^ Waltons Ins to expand The Canberra Times 20 February 1969 page 23
  5. ^ Bank to sell 50pc stake' The Canberra Times 10 August 1977 page 26
  6. ^ Sale of Waltons Insurance Co announced The Canberra Times 15 August 1980 page 17
  7. ^ Waltons makes success of Marcus Clark The Canberra Times 21 October 1967 page 16
  8. ^ "Waltons wins contest for Horderns". The Canberra Times. 6 January 1970. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  9. ^ "McDowells takeover". The Canberra Times. 15 February 1972. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  10. ^ Waltons deal gets Bond out of retailing The Canberra Times 19 February 1987 page 21
  11. ^ Bid to sell Venture as a retain chain The Canberra Times 11 March 1994 page 15
  12. ^ Retail tremors hit Bond The Canberra Times 23 February 1983 page 31

September 02, 2023
waltons, department, store, waltons, australian, department, store, chain, founded, john, walton, 1904, 1998, waltonsindustryretailfounded1951, years, 1951, founderjohn, waltondefunct1987, years, 1987, headquartersgeorge, street, sydney, australiaarea, serveda. Waltons was an Australian department store chain founded by John Walton 1904 1998 1 WaltonsIndustryRetailFounded1951 72 years ago 1951 FounderJohn WaltonDefunct1987 36 years ago 1987 HeadquartersGeorge Street Sydney AustraliaArea servedAustralian Capital TerritoryNew South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaProductsDepartment store Contents 1 History 2 Store locations 2 1 Australian Capital Territory 2 2 New South Wales 2 3 Victoria 2 4 Queensland 2 5 South Australia 3 See also 4 ReferencesHistory Edit nbsp Walton s slogan nbsp Drawing of former Walton s flagship store on the corner of George amp Park Streets SydneyWalton bought a menswear store in 1951 located on George Street Sydney opposite the Queen Victoria Building and Sydney Town Hall and near Town Hall station Over the years it was expanded along Park Street with adjoining properties purchased 2 In 1955 Walton formed an alliance with the American retail giant Sears Roebuck and Co 3 In the early 1960s he started a finance company in partnership with Citibank and also moved into insurance 1 4 5 That part of the business was sold to Norwich Union in 1980 6 There were changes in the retail scene in Australia in the 1960s and Waltons Limited bought out Marcus Clark amp Co in 1966 7 and then Anthony Hordern amp Sons merging its country store operation into the Walton s store group 8 That excluded the Brickfield Hill store in the south of the Sydney central business district which by 1969 had already closed Waltons then acquired McDowells in 1972 9 By 1972 the Waltons chain had expanded to 96 department stores before Walton retired as executive chairman Sir John severed his ties with the company in 1976 and his son John took over Alan Bond bought Waltons in 1981 but the purchase became a financial disaster with Bond losing 199 million in 1983 The Waltons department store name was dropped by new owners in the form of a 75 million clearance sale when Bond sold Waltons in 1987 and closed its employee superannuation fund to interests associated with the Cooke family 10 The Cooke family re branded the remaining stores as Venture and Norman Ross outlets In 1994 Venture went bankrupt 11 The flagship Waltons department store on George Street Sydney was demolished and employees and the media were informed that Bond Corporation intended to build Australia s tallest building including a brand new Waltons store on the same site Due to the above mentioned losses that didn t happen The piece of prime real estate remained nothing more than a huge hole in the ground for years It was finally replaced by the Citibank office tower which includes the Galeries Victoria retail space The main Melbourne store on Bourke Street was remodelled into a Village Cinemas complex which closed in 2006 The Waltons store in Fortitude Valley Brisbane still has a Brunswick Street Mall store front with Waltons signage but with blacked out door glass since the store closed around 1987 The street entrances or exits to the bottom level which were occupied by Asian novelty product stores until the late 2010s still have the word Walton screwed into the wall with the S possibly having been removed as a souvenir nbsp Former Waltons and former McWhirters department stores in Fortitude Valley Queensland Store locations EditAustralian Capital Territory Edit Canberra City acquired from Marcus Clark amp Co New South Wales Albury occupied Mates Building Armidale acquired from Marcus Clark amp Co Auburn homewares only Bankstown opened on 21 September 1961 Bathurst Bentinck Street Blacktown opened 1963 Bondi Junction Burwood opened 1978 inside Burwood Plaza Caringbah acquired from McDowells Chatswood opened 1958 homewares only Coffs Harbour Dee Why acquired from McDowells Dubbo opened 1958 Eastwood acquired from McDowells Engadine homewares only Fairfield Apparently this store was burnt down in 1983 then relocated in a temporary location Forbes acquired from Marcus Clark Gosford original store on Mann St Froggy s building then moved to Marketown SC upgraded from a homewares store 1979 Goulburn acquired from Marcus Clark Grafton Gunnedah acquired from Marcus Clark Hornsby acquired from McDowells Hurstville opened in Westfield Hurstville 1978 Inverell acquired from Marcus Clark Lismore acquired from Marcus Clark Lithgow acquired from Marcus Clark Liverpool opened 1972 Maitland opened 1971 acquired from A S Mehan and Co Manly homewares only Muswellbrook 55 57 Bridge Street Closed mid 1980s Newcastle Hunter Street Bank Corner acquired from Marcus Clark Newtown Orange acquired from Marcus Clark Parkes Parramatta opened 1975 Penrith opened 1973 Rockdale Summer Hill closed in the mid 1970s Sydney City corner George amp Park Streets Town Hall Tamworth acquired from Marcus Clarke Taree The Entrance This was a small homewares store opened 1968 closed in the early 1970s was operated from the Gosford Store Tumut acquired from Marcus Clark Wagga Wagga acquired from Marcus Clark West Ryde Wollongong acquired from Marcus Clark Victoria Nearly all these stores closed in 1983 12 Bourke Street Melbourne central business district Chapel Street Prahran Westfield Doncaster Wodonga Lonsdale Street Dandenong Became Venture now Dimmeys Blackburn Warehouse Box Hill Brunswick Coburg Croydon Frankston Geelong Oakleigh Reservoir Ringwood Sunshine Greensborough Plaza Maribyrnong Highpoint West shopping centre GlenroyQueensland Brisbane City Fortitude Valley acquired Overells in 1956 vacant since 1987 Everton Park Nundah Mount Gravatt East closed 1987 Cannon Hill Palm Beach opened 1984 Southport Toowoomba Cairns Redcliffe Indooroopilly Shoppingtown Bundaberg closed 1987 became Norman Ross then Venture Maryborough Rockhampton Townsville Aitkenvale Ipswich Mackay burned down in 1978 South Australia Miller Anderson Limited was acquired by Waltons Limited as a result over its 1966 takeover of Marcus Clark amp Co Miller Anderson Limited had stores in the following locations Adelaide 16 24 Hindley Street closed in 1989 Clare BrightonSee also Edit nbsp Australia portalDepartment stores around the worldReferences Edit a b Commerce Sir John Walton Waltons pays 2 1 million for store The Canberra Times 11 May 1971 page 18 Sears Roebuck Buys Interest in Waltons The Argus 17 August 1955 page 11 Waltons Ins to expand The Canberra Times 20 February 1969 page 23 Bank to sell 50pc stake The Canberra Times 10 August 1977 page 26 Sale of Waltons Insurance Co announced The Canberra Times 15 August 1980 page 17 Waltons makes success of Marcus Clark The Canberra Times 21 October 1967 page 16 Waltons wins contest for Horderns The Canberra Times 6 January 1970 Retrieved 12 August 2020 McDowells takeover The Canberra Times 15 February 1972 Retrieved 12 February 2018 Waltons deal gets Bond out of retailing The Canberra Times 19 February 1987 page 21 Bid to sell Venture as a retain chain The Canberra Times 11 March 1994 page 15 Retail tremors hit Bond The Canberra Times 23 February 1983 page 31 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Waltons department store amp oldid 1170476674, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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