Until the 1960s, Sydney-siders usually 'went to town' to shop for furniture and furnishings for the home. There were dozens of specialist furnishing stores and department stores with furnishing sections in the city centre. Many were concentrated in 'furniture precincts', first along George Street and then from the 1920s around the city circle railway stations and the southern part of Pitt Street.

The decline of home furnishing shopping in central Sydney from the late 1950s was influenced by rising rents, lack of parking and a general population move to the suburbs. Shopping patterns also changed with the development of drive-in suburban shopping centres, the first opening at Top Ryde in November 1957.

A legacy of the city stores is their trade literature such as catalogues and associated ephemera: those used to illustrate this exhibtion are part of the Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection (CSL&RC) at the Historic Houses Trust of NSW.

Written and researched by Michael Lech, Assistant Curator. August 2007.

selected sources

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