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DW Until the 1960s, this building at number 70 housed an old-fashioned grocery store. If you stand back a little, you can see both General Store and Railway Store on the parapets. We asked local historian Michael Collins to take us back in time. . .
MC This unpretentious building on the corner of Blake Street was actually the pride of the town when it first opened in 1917. During the First World War, Hall’s Railway Store was indeed a General Store, advertising its goods – drapery, clothing, manchester, shoes, crockery, ironmongery as well as groceries for sale in The Peninsula Post. The store then changed hands twice before W.H. Wilson and Company purchased the business in 1922 with a new partner, Mr. W.H. Livock. Renovations were undertaken and larger glass shopfront windows were added to modernise the building. Under the name of Wilson and Livock they traded for 30 years as Mornington’s largest general store.
In the grocery section, you’d see bags of grain stacked on the floor, timber counters and lines of bis- cuit boxes on the shelves behind. Butter and cheese came in big blocks. Smaller quantities were cut off with a wire cutter. You would then go through the drapery section with its rolls of cloth and other haberdashery items. Cash and receipts were processed in the office at the rear and sent back and forth from the front counter in capsules. These were propelled along a network of wires suspended from the ceiling.
Wilson and Livock (Phone number Mornington 18) advertised a mail order service where people could have supplies delivered to their holiday accommodation, ready for their arrival. Customers simply posted a card to the store with their date of arrival and items required. Deliveries were fre- quently made to the grand Victorian mansions mansions, Manyung and Beleura
The grocery section was enlarged when the drapery and haberdashery department was transferred to the newly-built shop on the opposite corner in the late 1930s.
In the grocery section, you’d see bags of grain stacked on the floor, timber counters and lines of bis- cuit boxes on the shelves behind. Butter and cheese came in big blocks. Smaller quantities were cut off with a wire cutter. You would then go through the drapery section with its rolls of cloth and other haberdashery items. Cash and receipts were processed in the office at the rear and sent back and forth from the front counter in capsules. These were propelled along a network of wires suspended from the ceiling.
Wilson and Livock (Phone number Mornington 18) advertised a mail order service where people could have supplies delivered to their holiday accommodation, ready for their arrival. Customers simply posted a card to the store with their date of arrival and items required. Deliveries were fre- quently made to the grand Victorian mansions mansions, Manyung and Beleura
The grocery section was enlarged when the drapery and haberdashery department was transferred to the newly-built shop on the opposite corner in the late 1930s.
DW And what happened after the Second World War?
MC Crofts retail grocery chain purchased the grocery store after the war.
Since they moved out in the 1960s, a variety of businesses have occupied the building.
Since they moved out in the 1960s, a variety of businesses have occupied the building.
DW Thanks Michael. As you continue up the street towards The Grand Hotel at number 124, you’ll pass places where there was once a butcher, a baker and a shoe repairer and Mornington’s longest established blacksmith at the rear – Mr. Jenkins’ Schnapper Point Shoeing Forge. The business started in 1873 and serviced Mornington for over 70 years.
The ANZ bank building was one of the first built in the new style in the 1970s, heralding a more modern look which gradually spread through much of the town.
The ANZ bank building was one of the first built in the new style in the 1970s, heralding a more modern look which gradually spread through much of the town.