The Rise and Fall of Australia's Most Arrogant Retail Dynasty: The Myers

The Rise and Fall of Australia's Most Arrogant Retail Dynasty: The Myers On 6 September 1934, 100,000 people lined seven miles of Melbourne road for the funeral of a shopkeeper. The Myer Emporium wasn't just a store: it was a community with a free hospital inside it, the place where staff took holidays in the Dandenongs and shares in the company for doing the job well. One in ten of the city came out. But in 1997 Brian Quinn, the first executive chairman of Coles Myer, was convicted of defrauding the company of $4.46 million. He had billed it for renovating his own house at Templestowe, down to a gilded lavatory. Today, Myer shares trade at 20 cents against the $4.10 the public paid at the 2009 float. This is the story of how a man who gave away one tenth had his name spent by everyone who came after him. This is not just the story of the Myers. It's the story of what a founder's name is worth once he can't defend it. #Myer #MyerEmporium #AbandonedFactories #LostFactories #IndustrialDecline #AustralianManufacturing