Waltons was an Australian

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

chain, founded by John Walton (1904–1998).Commerce – Sir John Walton
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History

Walton bought a menswear store in 1951, located on

George Street, Sydney George Street is a street in the central business district of Sydney. It was Sydney's original high street, and remains one of the busiest streets in the city centre. It connects a number of the city's most important buildings and precincts. ...

, opposite the

Queen Victoria Building The Queen Victoria Building (abbreviated as the QVB) is a heritage-listed late-nineteenth-century building designed by the architect George McRae located at 429–481 George Street in the Sydney central business district, in the Australian st ...

and

Sydney Town Hall The Sydney Town Hall is a late 19th-century heritage-listed town hall building in the city of Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, Australia, housing the chambers of the Lord Mayor of Sydney, council offices, and venues for meetings and ...

and near Town Hall station. Over the years it was expanded along Park Street with adjoining properties purchased. In 1955, Walton formed an alliance with the American retail giant

Sears, Roebuck and Co Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began as ...

. In the early 1960s, he started a finance company in partnership with

Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...

, and also moved into insurance. That part of the business was sold to

Norwich Union Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. On 29 April 2008, Aviva ...

in 1980. There were changes in the retail scene in Australia in the 1960s and Waltons Limited bought out

Marcus Clark & Co Marcus Clark & Co was an Australian department store chain, founded by Henry Marcus Clark in 1883. History The store started in the Sydney suburb of Newtown on 1 February 1883 as a two-window draper shop, and soon opened new stores in Marric ...

in 1966, and then

Anthony Hordern & Sons Anthony Hordern & Sons was a major department store in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With 52 acres (21 hectares) of retail space, Anthony Hordern's was once the largest department store in the world. The historic Anthony Hordern building, w ...

, merging its country store operation into the Walton's store group. That excluded the Brickfield Hill store in the south of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or c ...

, which by 1969 had already closed. Waltons then acquired McDowells in 1972. By 1972, the Waltons chain had expanded to 96 department stores before Walton retired as executive chairman. Sir John severed his ties with the company in 1976, and his son John took over.

Alan Bond Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, and what was at the time ...

bought Waltons in 1981, but the purchase became a financial disaster, with Bond losing $199 million in 1983. The Waltons department store name was dropped by new owners in the form of a $75 million clearance sale when Bond sold Waltons in 1987 (and closed its employee superannuation fund), to interests associated with the Cooke family. The Cooke family re-branded the remaining stores as

Venture Venture may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *The Ventures, an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 *"A Venture", 1971 song by the band Yes *''Venture'', a 2010 EP by AJR Games * ''Venture'' (video game), a 1981 arcade gam ...

and

Norman Ross Norman DeMille Ross (May 2, 1895 – June 19, 1953) was an American competition swimmer who won five events at the Inter-Allied Games in June 1919, held at Joinville-Le-Pont near Paris, and three gold medals at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antw ...

outlets. In 1994, Venture went bankrupt.Bid to sell Venture as a retain chain
''The Canberra Times'' 11 March 1994 page 15 The flagship Waltons department store on

, was demolished, and employees and the media were informed that

Bond Corporation Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, and what was at the time ...

intended to build Australia's tallest building, including a brand new Waltons store, on the same site. Due to the above-mentioned losses, that didn't happen. The piece of prime real estate remained nothing more than a huge hole in the ground for years. It was finally replaced by the

office tower, which includes the Galeries Victoria retail space. The main

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

store, on

Bourke Street Bourke Street is one of the main streets in the Melbourne central business district and a core feature of the Hoddle Grid. It was traditionally the entertainment hub of inner-city Melbourne, and is now also a popular tourist destination and tr ...

, was remodelled into a

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complex, which closed in 2006. The Waltons store in

Fortitude Valley Fortitude Valley (often called "The Valley" by local residents) is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the , Fortitude Valley had a population of 9,708 people. The suburb features two pedestr ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, still has a

Brunswick Street Mall Brunswick Street Mall is a Pedestrian zone, pedestrian mall in Fortitude Valley, Queensland, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Australia. The Mall occupies all of Brunswick Street, Brisbane, Brunswick Street between Wickham Street and Ann Street, Bris ...

store-front with "Waltons" signage, but with blacked-out door glass since the store closed around 1987. The street entrances or exits to the bottom level, which are occupied by Asian novelty product stores, still have the word "Walton" screwed into the wall, with the S possibly having been removed as a souvenir.

Store locations

Australian Capital Territory

References

{{reflist Companies based in Sydney Defunct department stores of Australia Sears Holdings Retail companies established in 1951 Australian companies established in 1951 Australian companies disestablished in 1987 Retail companies disestablished in 1987

History

Store locations

Australian Capital Territory

See also

References