Gowings

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gowings was a small department store chain in Sydney, Australia, established in 1868. It specialised in men's casual clothing, camping gear, and knick-knacks.

The original and head store was located on the corner of Market Street and George Street and the site was redeveloped in 1929 by Preston Lancaster Gowing both as an investment and prime retail location. It became one of the most prominent and famous department stores in Sydney. In recent years Gowings embarked on an ambitious expansion plan, opening four more Gowings stores in other locations in Sydney.

In 2001, Gowings divested the stores to an independent listed company, Gowings Retail (later G Retail), to enable them to concentrate on their investment and property interests.Although successful in the City, their locations in suburbans areas failed to attract customers.

In November 2005, after three years of successive losses, G Retail Ltd entered administration. Attempts to sell the business were unsuccessful and the last remaining Gowings store was the one in George Street Sydney, which closed its doors at 5:23pm on 29 January 2006. The building is now occupied by the shop of Lowes, a former competitor.

[edit] References

• Gone to Gowings - PDF document about the history of Gowings.

[edit] External links

• What's in store for Gowings (Sydney Morning Herald article 19 December 2003)

• Next week Gowings really will be gone (Sydney Morning Herald article)