'Lot of memories': End of an era as chapter closes on 159 years of business

After almost 50 years working at the business, Geoff Swinton is looking forward to retirement where travelling in the caravan is on the cards.

Swintons first opened as a department store in 1865, and the closure brings to an end almost 160 years of family ties to the business.

Mr Swinton, the great grandson of founder William, was 17 when he started working there but being a family business, it has been a big part of his life for as long as he can remember. "It's nice to look back at those childhood memories growing up in the store," he said.

"When I grew up as a kid it was a full department store - like a mini-Myers. It had a toy department, china and clothing.

"It was a busy place.

"My memories of the toy department are coming down when Dad was doing work after hours and riding the trikes around the shop and all that sort of stuff was always good fun."

Swintons was famous, like Myer, for its Christmas window displays.

When he started working there as a teen he was on the delivery truck and worked in the curtain department and just "doing all sorts of jobs around the place".

In those days the business' home furnishing range had evolved to include drapery, china, manchester, lighting and floor coverings.

Mr Swinton took over management of the business in 1988 and expanded the Timor Street store to make it bigger.

He said the people he'd worked with and the customers were among his favourite memories.

News of the closure has brought many into the store to reminisce. "Talking about things they've bought and lay-buys they had when they were first married. There's a lot of memories there," he said.

Swintons was also the place he met his wife, Dianne, when she came to work in manchester in 1976. They've been married 42 years.

While the closure is tinged with sadness, Mr Swinton said it was the right decision.

"The building will be put to good use with Southern Stay. It will employ a lot of people, so it's good to see it's going to be utilised," he said.

Southern Stay, a disability service provider, in mid-2022 announced it had bought the site and planned to redevelop it.

Over the years, Mr Swinton has has seen many changes in furniture tastes.

"There's been so many different trends - Baltic furniture, colonial furniture, all-white furniture but now it has come back to nice timber furniture again," he said.

"Australian-made was the thing and then that's changed to imports now. Even timber products are imported. But quality furniture has always been the go."

At one time water beds were all the rage, and having to go out and fix those that had sprung a leak was something Mr Swinton said he won't miss.

March 28 has been set as the store's closing date but Mr Swinton said there was not much stock left so it might be sooner.

But while the furniture store will soon be no more, the Swinton name won't disappear from Timor Street altogether with the IGA supermarket still trading under the name - although the Swinton family's interest in the supermarket was sold in the mid-1980s.

The Swinton family has a long history in Warrnambool but the family tree stretches as far back as the Saxons to King Alfred The great in 873 AD.

In 1854, William - a builder by trade - and his new bride Anne arrived ashore in Port Fairy from Scotland.

They settled in Warrnambool - a place that at the time had a population of 900 with just 189 houses to furnish.

William built a number of churches in the area, including the Wangoom Presbyterian Church, and the couple's first son William eventually became Warrnambool's first mayor

The Timor Street store first opened its doors on November 21, 1865, selling groceries, clocks, china, glass and earthenware. Deliveries across the district were done by horse and cart, or bullocks and wagon.

As the business expanded branches were opened in South Warrnambool, Wangoom, Cudgee, Nullawarre and in the city's west selling groceries, hardware, grain, furnishings, tailoring, dressmaking, millinery, drapery, and crockery.

They leased large sheds to store produce from farms at the railway station on Merri Street which were later destroyed by fire.

The arrival of the motor car led to the closure of the different branches, and over the years the business has adapted and evolved with the times.