12 July 2008
Gowings
Posted by Miroslav under: Attire; Stores .
I was thinking about Gowings the other day…
No doubt one of the most famous of the retail stores in Sydney, Gowings was a Sydney icon until it closed its doors in 2006. The main shop/building built in 1929 was located on the corner of Market Street and George Street in the Sydney CBD and was a real classic…it even had its own barbershop which looked like it hadn’t changed since the 1930’s.
City of Sydney images of the barbershop- 1, 2
Since they started in 1868, Gowings primarily served the clothing needs of men, selling both its own Gowings brand of clothing along with other famous Australian brands like R.M. Williams (wikipedia), Driza-Bone (wikipedia), Bonds (wikipedia) and Akubra (wikipedia), who even made the original Akubra Adventurer specifically for them. Along with the clothing it also had the biggest collection of gadgets and and other miscellaneous stuff of any shop in Sydney.
Gowings was so entrenched in Sydney culture that one of the slogans they used on their early catalogue’s turned into a piece of Australian slang.
“Gone to Gowings”
The advertising slogan of one of Sydney’s oldest general clothing retailers. It is used colloquially as in he’s gone but we’re not telling where.
According to wikipedia, the Australian bankrobber and notorious prison escape artist, Darcy Dugan, also used the term.
After another prison escape, Dugan reportedly left behind a note scrawled on the wall of his cell which read, “Gone to Gowings.”
Well after 138 years of serving the men of Australia, apparently there was better money to be had in property development for the latest generation of owners. The broke of the retail arm of the business and the new owners/managers didn’t do to well with it and the doors closed in early 2006.
It was a real shame to see it go as not only was the heritage of the iconic brand important to Sydney but the clothes they made weren’t bad either. While i was living in Sydney it was my main retail outlet for clothing and i still have a few of their oxford shirts and jeans that are in great condition.
It still a shock to me when i visit Sydney and walk past the building at the corner of George St and Market St and remember that they have long gone.
Anyway…while i was thinking about Gowings, i did a quick search on eBay and ran across the little Matchbox FJ Holden cars that they made for their 130th birthday. I remember looking at them at the time they were released and thinking what a great little piece of memorabilia they would make…and for some strange reason i didn’t buy one.
Well…thank goodness for eBay because i grabbed one and it arrived yesterday :)
For more info, here is an interesting article around the time of Gowings closure by the SMH (Sydney Morning Herald) newspaper.
This is an article by Australia post on Gowings and their catalogue which is also an interesting read.
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