Department Stores

Department stores in the 1920s turned shopping into a popular leisure activity for women.

Sign from Melbourne's Buckley and Nunn Department store

Passers-by were enticed by tantalising window displays. Shoppers browsed among arrays of merchandise. Cafeteria dining completed the 'day out'.

Bourke Street was the department store hub. Myer, Buckley and Nunn, Foy & Gibson, Paynes Bon Marche and Hicks, Atkinson and Sons were all within a short distance of each other.