The Hartee’s Saga, Part III – Punchbowl, NSW
Continued from Part II…
1974 saw further expansion by Hartee’s that almost bordered on arrogance. The original Earlwood store was deemed too small to fit into Hartee’s plan for national dominance, and was closed. The new head office at Mascot suddenly wasn’t good enough either, and a new head office was established at Botany. New outlets were still being opened in the suburbs, like this one at Punchbowl in 1975:
Until recently a Bank of Queensland branch, this location has changed hands more than a few times since Hartee’s left. This was the final Hartee’s store to open, and strangely, it isn’t a drive-thru like all other new stores had been. Maybe Hartee’s knew something we didn’t? Press reports at the time had suggested that Hartee’s had incurred an operating loss of $918,000 AUD in 1973, and were continuing to lose money as time went on. Perhaps they were starting to employ cost cutting measures…
Movie Supermarket/For Lease – Hurstville, NSW
Only in that wondrous age that was the 1990s could a store like this flourish. Movie Supermarket at Hurstville was the place to go for obscure VHS tapes. The place was huge, like the Gould’s of videos, and carried things Video Ezy didn’t have. The first time I saw Faces of Death anywhere was in here, and it was unsettling. Even worse were the prices – you may be used to $5 DVDs in the bargain bin at JB Hifi these days, but back then movies on VHS cost upwards of $20 each.
And there were no two-disc special features director’s commentary editions in the VHS era either – those were reserved for the hardcore Laserdisc set. Movie Supermarket’s new videos came in at around $30, sometimes more. Their ex-rentals (mostly from the Video Ezy across the road) were a little cheaper, but for what you got it was criminal. Unfortunately, the only alternative back then was to tape a film off TV, and that required the film to be shown. Faces of Death III fans holding their breath for Channel 9 to screen their favourite film probably held on long enough to wind up in Faces of Death IV. If you weren’t satisfied with renting a film, if you HAD to own Lethal Weapon 2 on tape and you couldn’t wait for it to be shown, you coughed up $40 bucks at Movie Supermarket.
But neither time nor technology were kind to Movie Supermarket. The public’s whole-hearted embrace of DVD by 2001 left the original location here with stockpiles of useless, worthless VHS tapes. By 2007, the rent that the sale of a dozen brand new tapes would have covered could no longer be paid, and the shop moved two streets over to a much smaller location. They tried to get into the DVD market, but selling DVDs for $50 each was more of a 1999 thing to do. The Movie Supermarket website is dated 2009, but as far as I could see the shop no longer exists. I hope someone filmed the closure, Faces of Death VII could use some more material.
Civic Video/For Lease – Menai, NSW
Video shops have been in their death throes for longer than the dinosaurs were. It’s not just that better technology came along – VHS fended off advances from Beta and Laserdisc during its prime. Many video shops made the switch to DVD relatively painlessly, although it usually required a company name change. DVD Ezy just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
The death of this Civic in particular seems like it was protracted and painful – first it had to concede half its space to the Japanese before finally giving up the ghost, kinda like the USA’s auto industry in the 80s. Many video shops downsized as a first defence against the inevitable – DVDs take up less room on the shelves.
There weren’t any overdues lying on the floor inside. I’d say a few lucky individuals just scored themselves free scratched copies of The Real Cancun or Ice Age. The real reason video shops died out is because people suddenly realised they were sick of paying too much for DVDs that barely worked, sick of wasting time looking for titles shops didn’t have, and sick of trying to hide their tears as they glanced at the forlorn $1-each ex-rental VHS section. Yes, that collective realisation was Civic’s ice age.
John B. White Surveyors/For Lease (UNDER OFFER) – Hurstville, NSW
Up at number 67 Kimberley Road is another 1926 monolith. It’s for lease, but it’s UNDER OFFER. Good luck…
…because as we all know, it’s the buildings John B. White & Associates Surveyors reject that make John B. White & Associates Surveyors the best. Once again, Trove appears to save us from apparent boredom:
Image from Sydney Morning Herald 6 Sep 1933/Trove.
LEASED!
Vanessa’s Milk Bar/For Lease – Belfield, NSW
Milk bars have taken on a kind of mythical quality, especially with the late Gen-Y set. In death, they’re trendy and retro in ways they could never have been in life. They’re kind of like Michael Jackson in that way – now that he’s gone, everyone remembers how cool and trendsetting he once was, but they forget (intentionally or not) the creepy stuff. Years of film and TV showing our favourite characters hanging out in cafes and burger joints have inspired many youngsters to want to find their own hangout joints, but as the milk bars die off all that’s left are the pubs.
There’s a fine line too between milk bars and charcoal chicken shops. Most charcoal places you’d find today don’t do milkshakes, or are doing some kind of Portuguese style cooking to set themselves apart from the regular charcoal style. Problem is, the charcoals are now in the minority.
Oh, and for anyone still wondering: Vanessa’s Milk Bar was run by a cranky old Greek guy named George (never call him Vanessa), who would rouse at you if you stared at his exhaustive lolly assortment for too long. C’mon, George, you knew we had to look. I wonder how he reacted during the open inspections?
Past/Lives of the Near Future 