Walter Cobb (department store)

Walter Cobb was a department store located in Sydenham in South London.

History

Walter Cobb was born in Canterbury in 1835, and learnt his trade as a draper in Dover.^[1] In 1860, Cobb opened his own shop in Lawrie Place, a newly built parade, as a ladies outfitters,^[2] with his wife and their shop assistants living above the store. By 1862 the business was described as General Drapery Establishment, selling shawls, dresses, mantles, family mourning wear and a millinery department.

Cobb was an astute business and marketing man. He advertised his store as having the latest fashions from Paris and London.^[3] Over the next 30 years he purchased shops either side of his own, expanding the business into each unit with new departments. The business by 1898 occupied 297-301 Kirdale, 270-272 Kirkdale, a furniture depository in Silverdale and an estate agents and funeral parlour at 1-3 Railway Approach.^[4]

By 1900, the store ran the length of Lawrie Place except for the store on the corner which was owned by a butchers, and was spoken in the same breath as the Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Marshal & Snelgrove in a Times article of the time.^[5] In 1900, the butcher store finally sold out and Walter Cobb built the grand corner entrance to his store which finally opened in 1902 with its grand dome pediment. Walter was also a costume maker for the 1911 Festival of empire at the Crystal Palace. The business continued to operate, past Walter's death in 1922 up and to the Second World War. During the war three quarters of the building was demolished by bombs; however the business continued to operate in a condensed form.

The store was rebuilt slowly, with the building not being completed until 1960.^[6] During this time the business continued to open new departments including selling hardware.

The 1970s saw the business decline, which went in hand with the economy, and the store eventually closed its doors in 1981.^[7]

References