Until very recently the corner store was a ubiquitous presence in Australia's suburbs, particularly in the more established areas. Many of us can remember a time when we used to buy a small bag of mixed lollies from the corner store on the way home from school. Many years ago, most shopping was done locally, often within walking distance of home. Corner stores were scattered across our inner suburbs, meeting the needs of local residents.
But corner stores have largely been relegated to the past. A number of factors have contributed to this, such as the rise of supermarkets and other convenience stores, and more recently, online shopping. This blog looks at the spatial distribution of what I've termed neighbourhood stores in Brunswick over the last 100 years.
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An old neighbourhood store on Evans Street, Brunswick. This operated as a grocer in both 1920 and 1970 according to Sands and McDougall, but closed circa 2000. Photo by Simone Alexander. |
Brunswick is an older suburb in inner northern Melbourne, located in Moreland City Council. It was settled from the 1840s, but major urban growth did not occur until the later part of the nineteenth century. The major commercial spine is Sydney Road, which is lined by shops, restaurants and small businesses. Lygon Street is another important commercial spine.
Brunswick's long urban history makes it a good case study for looking at corner stores over time. What we consider corner stores were part of a wide range of retail outlets located in our suburbs that pre-date the modern supermarket. A typical weekly shop involved visits to several stores, which were located on commercial strips as well as being scattered throughout residential areas. For this reason, the analysis here refers to neighbourhood stores, and are defined as retail outlets that sell food and drink for consumption in the home eg butchers, grocers, fishmongers. They are the places where people bought their groceries before supermarkets replaced them. They also highlight why inner suburbs are highly walkable, as these neighbourhood stores allowed people to shop close to their homes in an era when many households did not have access to a car.
Three time periods are considered - 1920, 1970 and 2020. The Sands and McDougall directories inform 1920 and 1970, and my personal observations inform 2020. Consequently, the analysis covers 100 years - from a time when people largely shopped in their neighbourhoods (1920), through to the beginnings of the supermarket era (1970) and the present day (2020).
The Sands and McDougall Directories were produced on an annual basis until 1974, and are similar to the White/Yellow pages produced by Telstra. They contain a listing of names and addresses by suburb and street, but with an occupation listed to those addresses which are commercial premises. This makes it easy to identify where neighbourhood stores were located in the past.
A study area was established for the purposes of this blog. It is bounded by Sydney Road in the west, Glenlyon Road in the south, Lygon Street in the east and Hope Street in the north. This area has always been predominantly residential, with small concentrations of commercial and industrial premises. By and large, the street layout has remained unchanged since the late nineteenth century.
Coles and Woolworths are Australia's major supermarket chains. They have operated stores in Brunswick since at least the 1950s. These were located on Sydney Road, but they were variety stores rather than supermarkets. There were also a number of self-serve grocery stores on Sydney Road and Lygon Street from the 1960s. According to Sands and McDougall, a Woolworths "bulk store" operated in Albert Street in 1960, on the same site as the current supermarket.
Location of neighbourhood stores in Brunswick
The maps below show the location of neighbourhood stores in the study area. The purple dots represent stores in 1920, green dots represent 1970, and the orange dots represent 2020. The dots that overlay each other indicate a neighbourhood store in the same location in different time periods.
The map clearly shows that there were a large number of neighbourhood stores across the study area in 1920, and to a lesser extent, 1970. In 1920 and 1970 there were neighbourhood stores in residential areas as well as along the commercial spines of Sydney Road and Lygon Street. By 2020, there were no stores in residential areas. One of the last neighbourhood stores in a residential area was located on Victoria Street and was operating as recently as the mid-2010s.
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Dairies were once common across inner Melbourne, but today only the signage remains of this dairy in Carlton North. Photo by Simone Alexander |
However it's not just the number of stores that have changed - their functions have too. In 1920, around 40% of neighbourhood stores were grocers or greengrocers, and a further 20% were dairies. These were not operating dairies, rather they were retail and delivery outlets for dairy products that were transported from farms and other dairies located beyond the urban fringe. Dairies were common across inner Melbourne (see photo, left), but after the establishment of the Milk Board in 1932, there was greater regulation in the industry. This resulted in a decline in the number of dairies, and by 1963 there were only three operating in all of Brunswick.
Neighbourhood stores tended to specialise in certain produce, meaning that consumers needed to visit a number of stores to complete their grocery shopping. From the 1930s the first versions of what we now might consider supermarkets began to appear in the form of "self-serve" grocery stores, but it would be another 20-30 years before Victoria's first standalone supermarket appeared. This was a Coles supermarket that opened in North Balwyn in 1960. Supermarkets were popular from the beginning as they offered convenience in the form of "one-stop" shopping, but increasing car ownership also played a role by facilitating access in less walkable suburbs.
By 1970, there were 51 neighbourhood stores, and the most common type in the study area was "confectioner", comprising 29% of the total. Many operated in a manner that is commonly understood as a corner store, where not only could you buy a bag of mixed lollies, but you could pick up a bottle of milk or the newspaper. A further 27% of neighbourhood stores were grocers, and 20% were butchers. However by 1970, supermarkets were well entrenched in the urban fabric. Smaller neighbourhood stores were finding it difficult to compete with the buying power of supermarkets, as well as the convenience offered by "one-stop" shopping. A further hit to the local neighbourhood stores appeared in the form of 7-11 and other convenience stores, which appeared in Australia from 1977.
In 2020, there were just nine neighbourhood stores located in the study area, three of which were full-sized supermarkets and a further three were bottle shops (including a supermarket sized Dan Murphy's). Although it seems superfluous to call these neighbourhood stores, it's keeping in line with the definition ie a store where food and drink can be purchased for consumption in the home. The size of today's neighbourhood stores reinforces the "one-stop" shopping attribute that initially made supermarkets so popular. Ironically, one of these stores, the Meditteranean Wholesalers, started as a small delicatessen in 1961 before expanding over the years into the large store it is today. Only one of the 2020 stores is a corner store in the traditional sense. Ironically it closed its doors during the coronavirus lockdown before reemerging as a post office/newsagent later in the year.
Concluding comments and summary
In 2020, there were just nine neighbourhood stores operating in the study area that was used as the basis for analysis in this blog. This compares with 74 in 1920, and 51 in 1970. One hundred years ago, there were neighbourhood stores scattered across residential parts of the study area, particularly grocers, butchers and confectioners. Dairies were common in 1920, but regulatory changes meant they had largely become redundant from the 1930s and their numbers declined. By 1970, supermarkets were changing the way groceries were purchased, and their increasing popularity and buying power has resulted in the decline of neighbourhood stores since this time.
Supermarkets have continued to evolve, and Australia now has one of the most concentrated markets in the world. My blog on the spatial distribution of supermarkets in Melbourne showed that all major supermarket chains had locations in Brunswick, and there were seven stores in total.
What is the future for the humble neighbourhood store? Many of the original structures in the residential parts of the study area no longer exist. Others have been converted into residences and offices. Along Sydney Road and Lygon Street, the former neighbourhood stores have converted to other functions such as chemists, small businesses, clothing stores, and an increasing number of cafes and restaurants. In Brunswick as a whole, there are very few traditional corner stores left operating in early 2021.
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