My love letter to Johnnies and South Australia
PHOTO GALLERY: Paul Flavel fell in love with John Martin’s during his first encounter with its lift ladies as a boy. Here, he gives InReview a glimpse between the covers of his new hardcover book telling the story of Adelaide’s beloved department store.
People always ask me: What made you write a book about John Martin’s? The reason is that when you mention John Martin’s to anyone of a certain age in Adelaide, there is usually an immediate reaction of nostalgia and the memories of shopping in a bygone era come flooding back.
“To my mind, that is what most people call love,” Geoff Coles, the former managing director, told me when we discussed this continuing affection for Johnnies.
I fell in love when I discovered the lift ladies at the Rundle Mall store as a little boy in the 1990s. Our family lived in the Adelaide Hills, and it was our habit to shop in the city. We would always take my grandma along. It would be on these visits we would go into Johnnies, and I would watch with wonder the ladies driving the seven lifts.
Author Paul Flavel with his book.
Knowing this, my mum wrote a letter to Johnnies. To all our surprise, a letter came back asking to drop me off to spend time operating the lifts with the ladies. This happened twice in 1995 and then a month before the store closed in 1998. I have since been reunited with the group of ladies during this project.
These memories stayed with me later in life and it was a trip to Adelaide to see my grandma that gave me the idea to write a book about the company. Because I have been living in Melbourne for 16 years, I would often come back to spend time with then 96-year-old Grandma. She would tell stories of her long life, and being the last of 10 children, I took it upon myself to record our conversations, hoping to preserve as much as I could of her legacy before she passes away.
This then made me realise with bewilderment that the same preservation had not been done for John Martin’s. Despite having never written a book, I began immediately and later engaged professionals to support with editing the manuscript and bringing to life this “love letter” to South Australia. While I was awarded a small grant by the History Trust of South Australia, this has been a self-funded journey to self-publication.
Employee Margaret Loughand. Photo: BRG121, John Martin’s Collection, State Library of SA
Before I began writing, I set about finding former staff and customers to interview. I put small ads in the Sunday paper and could always tell when it had gone to print because my phone would explode with people calling up tell their story. What an amazing variety of stories I have heard, from executives to butchers and seamstresses – even Father Christmas.
Margaret Loughand worked in the workroom on the fifth foor making dresses, and also sewed uniforms and capes for nurses during the Second World War. She recalled paper confetti was thrown from the windows to celebrate the end of the war.
There were stories from buyers – such as Graeme Andermahr, who was responsible for bringing the mini-skirt to South Australia after he saw one in Vogue magazine and demanded it be reproduced in-store.
Legends of the 1980s such as Barrie Harrop, who spearheaded The Gallerie shopping centre (which linked Gawler Place with Rundle Mall and North Terrance via John Martin’s over several floors), and John Spalvins, who oversaw the Adelaide Steamship Company that owned John Martin’s during much of the ’80s, talk with great fondness of Johnnies’ legacy.
This has been my favourite part of the journey: To be invited into people’s lives and to hear their story of Johnnies has been the greatest privilege of my life. And people continue to come up to me saying they worked at Johnnies or knew someone who did.
I think back to my time as a young boy in the lifts with the ladies. I knew then that this was a special store, which made the mounting speculation of its demise even more devastating when the end finally came in 1998. Ultimately, the idea of a state-based department store like Johnnies was never going to fit in with the plans that David Jones, the parent company, had to nationalise.
The newly renovated cosmetics department in 1950. Photo: BRG121/1/257, John Martin’s Collection, State Library of SA
With great dignity, the last store manager, Kevin May, made a pledge with the remaining staff that John Martin’s would go out gracefully. Once those doors shut forever on March 15, 1998, the public stood outside waving goodbye. In the days that followed, flowers lined the doors on Rundle Mall. It was if a death had occurred.
“I personally believe that the closure of John Martin’s was the biggest blow in the history of retail in South Australia,” Kevin told to me when thinking back to the closure.
From a small haberdashery founded in 1866 by John Martin and Otto Peters, an institution grew under the leadership of the Hayward family. It is the wonderful memories of John Martin’s that we must remember – whether it is the generations that have continued to enjoy the Christmas Pageant and remember the Magic Cave, the wonderland of the toy department and Lego exhibits, lunch in The Buttery or Eliza’s, or having your hair done at the Shergis salons.
Subscribe for updates
This was the store that sponsored The Beatles’ visit to Adelaide in 1964. We must also remember the many contributions to arts and culture, as well as to many charities, that John Martin’s and the Hayward family gave to the state.
Less than a month since the retail launch of John Martin’s, a third print run is being ordered. The response to the book has been incredible, with local bookstores adding their support.
I hope my book, in its own small way, can pay tribute to the legacy of this great retailer and that when you go through the pages, you are taken back to John Martin’s once more.
John Martin’s, by Paul Flavel, is available now.
A selection of images from the book:
The John Martin’s store stands proud on Rundle Street. Photo: BRG 18/54/6/5, State Library of South Australia
Shoppers watching the Miss World Spectacular fashion show in 1968. Photo: BRG 121/1/1204, John Martin’s Collection: State Library of SA
A men’s wear sales assistant in 1938. Photo: BRG121/1/334, John Martin’s Collection: State Library of SA
A winter sale marketing poster. Photo: BRG121, John Martin’s Collection, SLSA
The Magic Cave at John Martin’s. Photo: GRS_11943_1_5_1-5_img001, State Records Office of South Australia
The West Lakes store in the 1980s. Photo: PRG 1820/5/1/13, John Martin’s Collection, State Library of SA
Flowers left at the store entrance following its closure. Photo: B71876/45, Messenger Press Collection, State Library of SA
John Martin’s is Paul Flavel’s first publication. Flavel works in human resources in the retail industry, a sector in which he has worked for most of his life, as well as a stint in the digital mental health sector. He holds a Masters in Human Resources and is also a career mentor for RMIT graduate students. He has called Melbourne home since 2009.