Farewell to the Myer Food Hall
A Melbourne icon closes its doors.
On Saturday 15 September 2007, a Melbourne icon will trade for the last time.
Myer’s Food Hall, which has been serving fresh fare to Melburnians for decades, will close on Saturday when up to 65 Myer employees will lose their jobs.
The Myer Melbourne food hall.
The closure of the much-loved Melbourne institution has arisen because of Myer Melbourne’s redevelopment programme, instigated by new storeowners Newbridge Capital.
As was reported on the News Desk in April, Myer is moving out of its Londale Street building and shifting most of its Melbourne operations to the Bourke Street portion of the store. The Lonsdale Street store is to be redeveloped. Whilst Myer will retain a small presence in the building, it has no plans of retaining its famous food hall.
Purchasing lollies and sweets at the confectionery counter at the Myer food hall.
Of course Melbourne is not the city that it once was, and times have changed.
When Myer opened its food hall, there were far fewer shops that sold pastries, cakes, biscuits, pies or even from which to buy a hot lunch. But competition has opened up a lot in the last two decades as the city centre has been revitalised. Myer presumably feels that there is no longer a place in the department store for a general food hall.
Nevertheless, I am sorry to see its closure.
I regularly passed through the hall as I shopped in the city, the smell of roasted nuts almost being synonymous with Myer. In particular, I enjoyed buying a coffee and cake and sitting in the window looking across to Little Bourke Street. Sure, the vista was not pretty (patrons had a disused telephone exchange and the other half of Myer to look at) but it allowed a good view of passers-by and the general hustle-bustle of the city. And the price was reasonable too…. coffee and some sort of pastry for about $5 represented good value.
The famous “cake walk” at Myer Melbourne.
But what I most liked about sipping coffee in the Myer Food Hall was that there was no attitude. I was not being trendy or making some sort of statement by being there. I didn’t need to fit some sort of niche clientèle or be in-the-know. It was just Myer, plain and simple.
Of course there was more than just coffee to enjoy. I always liked passing the lolly and chocolate departments, or choosing a fresh drink from the self-serve juice bar or admiring the litany of cakes along the famous “cake walk”. Sometimes they had the most impressive and scrumptious-looking cakes I’d ever seen! And if one desired, there were hot soups, roast meats, pies, pastries, sushi rolls, fruit platters, salads, cheeses, dried fruits and many other delights that could be purchased for lunch or a snack or taken home for dinner later.
Now most of that is set to go.
The Cookie Man biscuit counter at the Myer Food Hall.
To me, it seems a curious decision by Myer to remove the food hall that has always been so busy with customers. Closing this much-loved department must surely be as poor a public relations mistake as a financial one?
Or maybe it is time to concede that Myer has to move on.
A very busy Myer Food Hall in 1983.
Picture © Commonwealth of Australia (View image source)
Regardless, I cannot help but feel disappointment at the loss of a place that I have spent many enjoyable hours in, either taking a morning tea or perusing the selection of gourmet foods.
The closure of the Myer Food Hall is as much a loss for Melbourne as it is for Myer and I am really sad to see it go.
Comments
12 responses to “Farewell to the Myer Food Hall”
Like the writer, I also enjoyed the Myer food hall. At the time I was a student at nearby RMIT in the early 1960’s studying engineering and on more occasions than my lecturers would have prefered I would skip class to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere strolling the enticing food aisles finishing with a cake and coffee whilst gazing into the Lt Bourke Street crowd and day dreaming of a world away. I did graduate as a mechanical engineer and went on into great jobs and eventually senior executive positions with large multi-national companies located in some of the countries of my dreams. Today, all these years later, I can clearly sense that old store atmosphere and the mind calming that let me finish my studies. Thanks Myer.
I used to be the nut cook there for many years in the ’90s. I used to go home smelling like peanuts and people would move seats on the train away from me.
Also I think that’s me in the ’83 pic when I started at Cold Takeaway (sandwiches).
I remember they used to sell these hot savoury patties which were absolutely delicious. They were like crumbed patties, with a delicious filling inside. I’ve never been able to find anything close to these since.
Geez I worked in the food hall back in the 90’s. Thursday/Friday nights and Saturday/Sundays.. yep a Uni student!! It was a great introduction to custom service and the added bonus working with great people.. both Saturday and Sunday mornings were hard the hangover from last nights effort… ah the life of a Uni student. thanks myer!!! I wonders what the others are doing???
Michael.Suares@lendlease.com
I have such wonderful memories of going down to the Bourke St basement from the time as a child with my mum to my twenties, and the incredible aromas of the food hall. I still have them unforgettably in my memories. What a tragedy to lose one of the world’s most brilliant fares. I have lived all over the world now, and I have seen nothing to compare…the bean counters strike again to ruin life. Enough.
I will forever dream about and long for the self serve iced coffee I would get there. Never found anything close to it.
The iced coffee was the best I ever tasted! Such a loss to Melbourne, I remember my dad taking us in to pick up mum who would be sitting with a delicious hot coffee in the window seats. The smell of roasting coffee beans still reminds me of the Myers food hall.
Yes that self serve iced coffee was brilliant. But does anyone remember that its next door neighbour was a self serve iced chocolate? Equally brilliant! Oh, what I would give for some information from the folks who made those… I would love to recreate them!!
I used to work at the food hall. I started at the old cone n cup with Michael Suares from one of the previous comments, then moved to hot take away, the coffee shop, Cold take away and finished at the Cafe. I loved every minute of my time there. I’ve never met a more down to earth bunch of people like I did at the food hall. Such lovely memories. Thanks Myer for a wonderful introduction to the work force.
Hi Everyone, does anyone know who made the famous Myer meat pies in the 1980s, they were fantastic and I would love to know the manufacturer…
In 2017 my late wife and I visited Melbourne for the first time to celebrate my 80th birthday. We stayed in a small hotel in Little Bourke St and as luck would have it found the food hall in Myers almost immediately. We were astonished at the array of scrumptious food and the Champagne and Oyster Bar!!
Had lunch there at the bar to celebrate my 80th. My daughter is about to go to Melbourne to stay with an old school friend from Auckland for a few days and I told her she must go to the food hall. I’m devastated it’s no longer there as I know she would have loved it as much as we did.