After three years Wombat Creek’s the sole department store has got a competitor. Foys has opened next to Myer. The building is a modified Scalescenes low relief model. It was planned to be erected further up Bridge Street, but the ‘low relief’ wasn’t ‘low’ enough leaving no footpath at the front. Instead the model got an extended roof and right wall and placed near Myer. The original building came with three pairs of entrance doors. Two pairs have been converted to display windows complete with mannequins. At the top floor a couple are waiting at the lift. At the second floor a customer or employee is enjoying the view from one of the corner windows.
Foy & Gibson, commonly known as Foys and later Cox-Foys, was one of Australia’s largest and earliest department store chains. The company manufactured a lot of the goods (e.g. clothing, leather goods and furniture, hardware and food) sold in the stores.
The first store was established in Collingwood, Victoria by Mark Foy. This business prospered during the 1870s. In 1883 Foy’s son took over together with William Gibson, hence the name Foy and Gibson.
When the business expanded in the late 1880s and early 20th century. The company continued to produce and sell a variety of goods and became one of the largest employers in Victoria. The business expanded to Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide in the early 1900s.
In the 1950s and 1960s branches of Foys were sold off and the company doesn’t trade anymore.
