business

MESSRS. ALEXANDER AND MUNRO. The business establishment par excellence of Toowoomba is that of Messrs. Alexander and Munro, whose large operations are conducted in the most elegant premises on the Darling Downs—in point of fact, the beat appointed and largest soft goods stores in any provincial town in the colony. The building is two stories In height, with a frontage of 114 ft. to Ruthven-street, the central thoroughfare of Toowoomba, and with a depth of 125 ft. The proprietors believe in an abundance of light and air, and they have carried their idea into practical effect, special provision having been made for this in the construction of the premises. Handsome plate-glass fronts run the whole length of the building, and the interior of the store is brilliantly lit. The upstairs portion of establishment 1b is also replete with every convenience for the sections located in this part of the establishment. The departments are many and varied, and each is in charge of an expert. They comprise drapery, millinery. Manchester goods, dressmaking, tailoring, clothing, mantles, boots, glassware, crockery, floorcloths, linoleums, furnishings, fancy goods, hollowware. It is therefore abundantly evident that Messrs. Alexander and Munro are in a position to supply the modest wants of the farmer, or the more pretentious requirements of the householder and to a man of unlimited means. The business conducted by this firm covers a great extent of the country—not only the Darling Downs district, of which Toowoomba is the chief commercial center, but away out among the cattle runs of the distant North and the sheep stations of the remote West; indeed, it Is a well-known fact that no retail house in Southern Queensland can boast of more extensive ramifications. Businessmen from all parts of the world who have visited Toowoomba have found their way into Messrs. Alexander and Munro's extensive repository and expressed their astonishment at seeing everything so complete. The cash railway, for instance, is fitted up all through the establishment, and the comfort of the employees, coupled with the rapid and economical despatch of business,- has received the best consideration. 'As a thoroughly complete -emporium, Messrs. Alexander and Munro's establishment Is certainly on \ par with the best-known houses of the metropolis, while they have the reputation of selling at prices such as many of the leading city houses even can not touch. The business was started in a small way in 1871, and some years after Mr. Alexander retired, and Mr. Munro took the burden of affairs on his own shoulders. He steadily forged ahead and kept pace with all the modern methods that competition had compelled commercial men to adopt. A big staff of assistants is of course employed, and Messrs. Alexander and Munro are now doing one of the largest businesses outside Brisbane. Mr. Munro, the managing partner, is a Scotchman, a shrewd, far-seeing businessman, and a very hard worker. He stands high in the estimation of his fellow townsmen and has on several occasions been asked to allow himself to be nominated for public honors, but his business is too exacting to allow him to do so just yet. Source: "The Queenslander" 20Nov. 1897 trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/24471944

The main competitors in the world record market, The Gramophone Company, and the Columbia Graphophone Company, originally hesitated to enter the Australian market and it took several years before they established record pressing plants in Australia. Whereas the Columbia Graphophone also ran a recording studio from the beginning, the Gramophone Company could not bring itself to operate recording facilities in Australia in order to produce local acts. The Great Depression forced the rivals to amalgamate into EMI also in Australia in 1931. The Gramophone Company The 1898 established British major record company, the Gramophone Company, sent an agent and 25,000 recordings as well as a large number of gramophones to Australia in February 1900 to establish a distribution branch under the direct control of the London parent company. Since the sales figures of the first two years in business did not meet the expectations, the retail business was closed down and sold with the remaining stock to the independent Sydney record retailer Hoffnung & Co. Ltd. in 1905. After World War I, the Australian government enforced a protective economic policy including high tariff barriers and trade restrictions. Thus, when the distribution agreement with Hoffnung & Co. Ltd. expired in 1925, the Gramophone Co. management decided to take the record business again into its own hands and established a gramophone and record plant in Sydney with a capacity of 150,000 records monthly. To cover the whole pacific market two companies were formed. An Australian firm with a production site in Sydney and a distribution branch for New Zealand held by the new Australian company. In mid of 1925, a general manager of the new Australian and New Zealand branches, William Manson, was sent to Sydney and on January 18, 1926, he could ceremonially open the new factory, which immediately started to press the “His Master’s Voice records and the budget ‘Zonophone’ label recordings. The firm’s internal correspondence reveals that the business ran well. The orders could only be met by additional shifts and supplementary shipping from London. Due to a rapidly growing population, the demand for recordings in Australia and New Zealand was far from saturated – in contrast to the stagnating European and U.S. markets. Source: musicbusinessresearch.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/the-early-...

The West End Brewery site now houses the Queensland Theatre Company's Bille Brown Theatre. A section of wall from the original brewery is still present in the current complex.