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Private Revenue Perfins of South Australia An Elsmore Coath Howard production The authors would welcome your comments additions or input into this work
Back to SA 'Other' page Back to States Perfin index Back to Commercial Overprint index Section 2 - Commercial Overprints J -------------------------------------------------------- JOHN MARTIN & CO/LIMITED.a
User: John Martin & Co Ltd Department Store Address: 100 Rundle St, Adelaide, SA. Revenue Use: 1920 Series 2d. Rarity Scale:
1920 Series 2d R2. Railway Use: c1940 Issue. 3d, 9d. Rarity Scale:
c1940 Issue 3d R4, 9d R4.
Background: *John Martin's was a respected "middle market" retailer, with a reputation for quality, range and value. Indeed, for many years, their claim was that they were the "Big Store" in Rundle Street- Adelaide's major shopping precinct. They had business links with other major regional department store retailers (Sydney's Grace Brothers and Tasmania's FitzGerald's) with joint ownership of the "Intercontinental Buying Group". This was in an era when Australian department store retailing was largely State based. In the 1970s, John Martin's developed a national discount store chain - Venture. Ultimately, this chain was sold, and it operated under separate ownership until 1994. By the 1980s, department store retailing was becoming increasingly competitive, and regional chains were under pressure to consolidate to increase sales and cut costs. John Martin's department store competitors were expanding nationally - for example, Myer acquired Lindsay's (the basis for their "Target" chain), Boans and Grace Brothers. Then, food and discount retailer Coles took over Myer in 1985. Also, the discount store phenomenon was gaining momentum, with Kmart and Target expanding rapidly, and the establishment of BIG W (Woolworths). John Martins was a publicly listed company and during the 1980’s it was the subject of takeover activity. At one stage the major shareholder was prominent Melbourne retailer Solomon Lew. Ultimately, ownership settled in 1985 when the Adelaide Steamship Company controlled David Jones Limited acquired John Martins. David Jones continued to operate the John Martin's stores as a separate retail chain but during the mid-1990s, in the face of competitive pressure from fellow Adelaide retailer Harris Scarfe and other retailers, John Martins faced difficulties. This lead to the sale of some suburban locations to Harris Scarfe and others rebranded as David Jones. Finally the Rundle Mall flagship store was demolished to allow for the building of a new David Jones store. Device: Hand Applied Related patterns: John Martin .b *Wikipedia -------------------------------------------------------- John Martin ____.b Found with RED
or BLUE thick or thin Line
User: John Martin & Co Ltd Department Store Address: 100 Rundle St, Adelaide, SA. Revenue Use: 1920 Series 2d. Rarity Scale:
1920 Series 2d R2.
Background: See John Martins.a Device: Hand Applied Related patterns: John Martin .a --------------------------------------------------------
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