retail

Along with Watson & Ferguson, and Angus & Robertson, Gordon and Gotch was a publisher for Brisbane where scholarly works would be available to the community. The history of the city has been a struggle to import and print high-quality works of broad and deep learning. However, in recent decades Queensland historians have uncovered a much more significant reading history than what traditionally was presumed. Gordon and Gotch opened its Brisbane branch in 1875. The Company had begun in a partnership of Alexander Gordon and John Gotch and was incorporated in 1895 and listed in 1897. Its standing as a credible publisher was aided by having a branch in London. The six-storey building of Gordon & Gotch was erected in Adelaide Street in 1926-1927. Gordon & Gotch left the building in 1957. Source: mappingbrisbanehistory.com.au/history-location/gordon-got...

Fortitude Valley Developed to the north-east of Brisbane city, the Valley began life as a separate European settlement. Easily accessible by tram by the 1890s, the Valley, which was not flood-prone, had the largest department stores. These did not survive the rise of the car-based shopping centres, whereas the city proper managed to retain some of its department stores. The Valley experienced an urban renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s, when young people flocked to new night clubs, some in place of the brothels and illegal gambling joints of an earlier era. The first known evidence of civic life was the opening of a church house at the corner of Ann and Ballow Streets in 1856-57. By the early 1860s there were a Primitive Methodist church, a primary school (1861), a free reading room and a locally-supported Alderman on the Brisbane town council. Alderman Warren soon organised a petition for municipal separation which, although refused, led to the creation of a separate Valley Ward (1864). The Valley, as it was becoming known, achieved a measure of commercial importance in 1864 when Thomas Finney bought a drapery business in Ann Street, the beginning of the Finney, Isles and Co department store (later in Queen Street, where David Jones took over the firm). Trams offered the main means of access to the Valley. Horse-drawn services from North Quay to the Exhibition grounds and to Breakfast Creek Road were opened in 1885. Fortitude Valley's rising commercial importance was best signified by the Renaissance style post office built in Ann Street in 1887. Thomas Finney's drapery store had grown and several significant retail establishments congregated around Brunswick and Wickham Streets: Overells in Ann Street (1883), which moved to Brunswick Street in 1899; T.C. Beirne in Brunswick Street (1891); and McWhirter's at the corner of Brunswick and Wickham Streets (1898), crowning the site with a new art deco building in 1930. Completing the group was Foy and Gibsons in Wickham Street (1903). All became department stores. The new shopping area was above the 1890 flood level, in contrast to central and South Brisbane. Source: queenslandplaces.com.au/fortitude-valley

T.C. Beirne & Co. has a proud history of contribution both culturally and economically to Brisbane. Beirne’s as it was often referred to, held a position of prominence as a retailer of choice for decades during the early 1900’s to the 1960’s. T.C. Beirne (known as ‘T.C. Beirnes’ or just ‘Beirnes’) was a long-running department store that stablished Fortitude Valley as the place to shop for fashion in Brisbane. They catered to the middle of the market, offering a comprehensive range of women’s, men’s, and children’s clothing and footwear, as well as fabric, haberdashery, and other household goods. The early success and growth of Thomas Beirne’s drapery business demonstrates the opportunities Queensland held for immigrant fashion retailers Beirne’s retained its independence until David Jones bought it out in 1961. The Valley store continued to trade as T. C. Beirne until being rebadged as David Jones in 1966. The Fortitude Valley store was closed in 1973, in a widespread move by David Jones to cut costs. Thomas Charles Beirne (1860–1949), an Irishman, was the founder and director of the T.C. Beirne department stores, remaining active in the business right up until his death. What started as a modest drapery business made him one of Queensland’s most successful businessmen, and among the first Australian millionaires. Source: tcbandco.com.au/history/