Going Down. The End Of A Bargain Basement
The Age
Sunday June 23, 1996
For many of the past 19 years, Cynthia Hadwick and Dawn Gibbs have trawled the shiny linoleum floors of the Myer bargain basement linked to truck batteries and microphones extolling the value and quality of everything from big cotton undies and sturdy brassieres to gold pumps and white polyester blouses.
Ms Hadwick, who started work at 14 (she said she was 18) and spent her first E4 on a dress at Myer, has a booming spruiker's voice. She trawls with flashing amber light; Ms Gibbs a flashing red light.
Ms Hadwick and the other 86 basement staff are not overly upset by the planned closure on 6 July in the face of stiff competition from the big discount stores, such as Target and K-Mart. They are loyal staff and although they will miss the camaraderie and the regular customers all will move to other areas within the store.
No one could say what the basement's future would be, although it is expected to re-open for business during the Christmas season. For staff, the closure was like ``having an unfaithful husband", said Ms Hadwick. ``You're always the last to know.
" Myer's Bourke Street store opened in 1911; the bargain basement, an innovation of Sidney Myer, followed in 1926. The chief executive of the Retail Traders Association of Victoria, Mr Ray Thomlinson, said the basement provided value-for-money merchandise and served a special market during those difficult economic times between the 1920s and the war years.
But, judging by recent custom, the basement has failed to attract today's young shoppers.
Dorothy Wilson of Middle Park, who has shopped regularly at the basement for 50 years, is sorry it's closing. Discount stores did not sell her preferred brand of underwear, or Bonds singlets, at the price the basement did.
Mr Thomlinson said retail shopping in Melbourne had changed in two significant ways. People looking for bargains now shopped at the discount department stores, most of which were in the regional shopping centres, while the city specialised in boutique shopping.
``Myer would have realised that. They've got lots of floor space there (in the basement) and I guess they want to find something more in keeping with that boutique end of retailing.
They've got a real opportunity to bring in something quite innovative."
He said there had been four significant trends in the Melbourne retailing sphere over the past 15 years: the emergence of direct mail selling; ``category killers" such as World 4 Kids and Officeworks; regional shopping centres; and the re- emergence of the CBD as Melbourne's premium shopping centre.
© 1996 The Age