Coming to “the lucky country” he, like many other immigrants who have arrived on our shores, with vision and hard work built his fortune and contributed to the foundations of what now makes up Australia’s colourful retail landscape.
It’s been said that he revolutionised the industry in Australia and many of his ideas for store design were replicated in the United States and Europe. Described by co-director and long time friend Lee Neil as ‘inordinately ambitious’ and ‘a man with vision and high enthusiasm and warm human sympathies’, Myer was not only an influential businessman, but also a generous philanthropist. By the time he passed away in 1934, he had left behind an estate worth over £1 million and a £2.5 million retail empire which had become part of Melbourne’s fabric. Never forgetting his roots, Myer also bestowed Melbourne with a dynasty that is still active in charitable and business ventures today.
A retailer in the making
Sidney Myer, born Simcha Baevski, was raised in Kritchev, a small town in Russia’s Pale of Settlement – an area where Jews were confined under the Tsarist regime. The Baevski family lived under the rule of a government that was hostile towards Jewish people and most people living in the area had little money. Despite their circumstances, Sidney’s mother ran a successful drapery business and Sidney spent much of his time working in the store as he was growing up. Though his mother was known as a powerful matriarch, the harsh conditions took their toll on her over time and she increasingly relied on Sidney and his older brother Elcon to manage the store.
Many Jews fled Russia in the 1890s following increasing persecution including his brother Elcon, who went to Australia to join a relative. Sidney, however, stayed in Kritchev and focused on building the family business so it could be sold, giving the family enough money to leave Russia to seek a better life.
In 1899 he finally left Kritchev and headed to Australia to join Elcon in Melbourne. When he arrived at Station Pier, Sidney had no visa, spoke no English and had only three pence to his name. Fortunately, his uncle owned an underclothing business in Flinders Lane, so Sidney immediately went to work for him and studied English in his spare time.
Within months Myer decided to capitalise on the gold rush and moved with Elcon to Bendigo to open a small drapery business hawking goods to people throughout the countryside. Unlike other hawkers, the brothers couldn’t afford a horse and cart, so Sidney roamed the countryside carrying their wares in a barrow. Despite this obstacle, as well as having limited English and being unfamiliar with the Australian countryside, Sidney was determined to succeed and quickly earned a reputation for selling quality goods.
As the business grew, the brothers decided to open a shop in Bendigo’s Pall Mall in 1900. The common practice at the time was to keep products in boxes behind the counter so customers would have to ask shopkeepers for assistance. Sidney decided it would be more enticing to have his merchandise strewn over the counters for customers to look at and touch. He also advertised his wares persuasively, presented goods attractively and drew crowds into the store with bargains and other novelties. Women were his biggest clientele, so he also appealed to their tastes by grasping their shopping habits, understanding their motivations to buy and staying informed on the latest fashions. Myer eventually bought out his brother who moved back to Melbourne and by 1907 he was employing over sixty staff and his business was known as Bendigo’s biggest store. Soon after, he bought another large drapery firm and in the space of three years, he increased his turnover from £38,000 to £160,000.
Sidney also spent some time overseas in 1909 studying the latest merchandising methods and developing relationships with manufacturers and exporters. This was to prepare him for the next move that would eventually make him a household name.
The Myer Emporium – a new era in retailing
In 1911 a large drapery business next door to Melbourne’s GPO on Bourke Street was put on the market. When Sidney heard the news that the business – Wright & Neil – was available he saw an opportunity and borrowed heavily to acquire it for the sum of £91,450. Sidney had his own ideas on how he wanted to transform the business but decided to keep on all the staff. He also appointed former owner Lee Neil as the store manager which was an unlikely partnership, as Lee was conservative and formal, whereas Sidney was more creative, energetic and a risk taker. Ironically, the pair worked well together and the working relationship developed into a lasting friendship.
Despite his high debt, Sidney raised staff wages, closed down the business for two weeks to conduct stock takes and order new goods, and then ran a number of full page advertisements announcing a massive sale. Sidney applied his unorthodox retailing strategies used in Bendigo, strewing goods that were formerly hidden behind counters across tables and drastically reducing their prices, which in many cases, were below cost. Sidney’s ways were initially met with scepticism among some of the staff including Lee Neil, however Myer’s first sale was immensely successful and from that point the business flourished.
Sidney gradually acquired a number of properties including the freehold of the Bourke Street site and land in Post Office Place where he was to build his eight story Myer Emporium – Melbourne’s first department store.
While the Emporium was being built in 1913, Myer temporarily moved his Bourke Street operation to Flinders Street. Myer feared losing his clientele because of the move, so he continuously shuttled customers to the temporary premises and ran a succession of sales to retain their loyalty.
The Myer Emporium was completed in 1914 and got off to a triumphant start with its gala sale. The Myer Emporium became well-known for its Friday specials and its “Monday Star Bargains”, which reputedly lured women away from their traditional washing day and permanently dissolved this practice. The Myer Emporium also became famous for its Bourke Street window displays, which used theatrical sets and models to display new product lines.
The sophisticated window displays became a major drawcard for curious shoppers, putting the new department store on Melbourne’s map. Sidney frequently travelled overseas, drawing on retail trends in Europe and the United States to come up with new ideas to make the Myer Emporium a world class department store.
Sidney continued to incorporate new businesses into the Emporium and developed a network of suppliers in Australia and overseas, but as the First World War dragged on he began to protect his interests by relying more heavily on domestic suppliers and establishing a number of factories to ensure he wouldn’t have his supplies cut off. By 1920 The Myer Emporium was made up of over 200 departments and Sidney incorporated all of his firms into Myer’s (Australia) Ltd.
Between 1922 and 1925 Myer’s tripled in size despite Sidney losing almost half his fortune after a post-war slump in import prices in 1921. By 1926 the Bourke Street frontage had expanded, the construction of the eleven story Lonsdale Street store had commenced and Myer’s had over 2000 employees.
Myer’s became the fifth largest department store in the world and the largest in the southern hemisphere accommodating customers of wide needs and tastes featuring everything from a luxury furniture store to Melbourne’s first cash and carry grocery. Myer’s Lonsdale Street also had the world’s largest self-serve cafeteria. By 1928 Myer’s was firmly established in Melbourne, so Sidney was ready to expand his operations to Adelaide, taking over Marshall’s Limited.
Not only was the business exploding beyond Victorian borders, but Sidney Myer had developed a strong reputation for taking care of his staff and Myer’s was becoming a highly sought-after employer. Sidney introduced a number of practices unheard of both back then and now, such as a hospital and dental clinic in store, paid holidays at the company holiday homes, and a sick fund for employees who needed it. He offered 73,000 shares to staff at £1 each and rewarded his executives and managers with more than 200,000 shares in total, giving them all a vested interest in the business’s success.
The Depression and beyond
By the 1930s the Depression was setting in and business was in decline. Sidney never forgot the hardship he had experienced and felt an enormous sense of responsibility to the community that had given him the opportunity to achieve his success. To avoid terminating any of his staff he cut all staff wages including his own by 20 percent and reduced shareholder dividends by six percent.
On Christmas Day in 1930, he invited 10,000 impoverished citizens of Melbourne to Christmas dinner at the Royal Exhibition Building. He provided free public transport to the event, a band and every child with a box of toys. 11,500 people attended and every guest was received. Sidney together with other staff waited on them. Sensitive to their circumstances he said in his address to them that he was not offering charity, but rather, they were his honoured guests.
Deeply moved by the situation, he published an open letter in the press on the following New Year’s Day appealing to employers to create job opportunities for those in need regardless of the whether it would increase their profitability. In a bid to generate more employment, he reduced the quantity of goods purchased from overseas and inaugurated ‘Made in Australia Week’, where he displayed Australian-made wares and encouraged people to create more jobs by buying local products. However, purchasing power was at an all time low, so he reduced profit margins to five percent to maintain stock turnover and keep his Australian suppliers in business. He also invested £250,000 into the reconstruction of the Bourke Street store to create more jobs, even though his financial advisers urged him not to go ahead with the project.
Out of his own pocket, Sidney gave the government a total of £22,000 for the Yarra Boulevard scheme which employed hundreds of men. In addition to saving thousands of Melbournians from financial disaster, he also bestowed large sums of money or shares in his business to hospitals, universities, the Victorian Ambulance Service, other charitable projects and even funded Sir Charles Kingsford Smith’s trans-Pacific flight. On many occasions, these acts of generosity were conducted privately and were generally conducted publicly if he wanted to draw attention to a cause.
Sidney Myer’s legacy
Sidney Myer died suddenly in 1934 of cardiac arrest and Lee Neil, who was made a director in 1917, briefly replaced him as chairman. Sidney Myer had created an empire with a paid up capital of almost £2.5 million and 5300 employees. Over 100,000 people lined the streets of Melbourne for his funeral. Sidney had created a business that became part of Melbourne and his generosity had won the hearts of Melbournians.
In his lifetime, he made public gifts of over £100,000 (equivalent to over $5 million today) and many more privately. In his will, he left ten percent of his wealth for charitable, philanthropic and educational needs and the Sidney Myer Charitable Trust (now the Sidney Myer Fund) was formed.
The Sidney Myer Fund operates today along with the Myer Foundation and Sidney’s visionary approach to retail has led to the establishment of 62 stores throughout Australia, employing 25,000 people and generating billions of dollars in sales each year.
Former Myer Foundation Executive Officer Michael Liffman said that Sidney Myer successfully integrated his business, philanthropic and civic commitments shamelessly. In Liffman’s words, “Sidney Myer set a standard for individual and corporate citizenship, which perhaps remains the benchmark for next century”.1
