Bonzle Collections - Fashion

Espie's Drapery Store, Charleville, ca. 1929

contributed by QldPics, taken in 1929
(contact QldPics about this picture)

An active scene outside Espie's drapery store. A bicycle rider, motor cycle rider, goat rider and a motor vehicle are pictured in the street and a group of men are standing on the footpath outside the store. Another small group of women and children are standing under the sign for ladies costumes and fancy drapery. The drapery store sells both men's and women's clothing, according to the advertising signs in front of the shop.
'Beilby' adds:
This is an interesting photo and it would take an old-timer to interpret it properly. It proclaims 'Espie's Stores' but less grandly it describes itself as The Pall Mall. Was it the forerunner of the Pall Mall? The general shape of the building says it could have been. This was no scene of general activity outside the store. The photo contains one motor-bike rider, one goat rider in jockey's outfit, one bike rider and a car of high fashion. This was clearly a 'procession' - though for what purpose is not clear. Those with a knowledge of cars should be able to date the photo from the car and from that the occasion that produced the procession could be divined.

It must have been pre-1940's since the Pall Mall was clearly marked Pall Mall by that time and the Espie name was restricted, as I recall, to the store between Locos's Cafe and the Charleville Hotel.