I only arrived here in '72, and the Shopping Centre was in full swing, as most of you know I now work in that building, I was looking at the structure inside and noticed the rafters formed a garage/workshop effect...... Now what I wnated to know from you 50's and 60's people... was this building used for something else before it became the shopping centre or was it built from the ground up as a shopping centre?
???
Mike .. from what I understand built for the purpose .. I suppose it was built that way in the style of many departmental stores of the time , maybe had " lofty" ides of going to two floors ... pretty much as the Office section was built in the middle ..
Mike if you can get the Engineering drawing office to pull the drawing for you, you should see the there was the original store and the warehousing was done in the yard and in areas like the section you speak of. Later when the Bulkwarehouse was built, I beleive these areas were opened up or expanded to create a more open plan envirement ( I am subject to correction as I must admit I didnt keep track of the changes - but as I say Have the EDO pull copys of the Drawings)
My recollection was that this was built from scratch. However, it was never called anything as exotic as "a shopping centre" - it was The Store. And anything you needed could be bought there! I always remember with excitement of the new deliveries of singles (vinyl 45's) arriving in the 60's. We used to pour over them. Of course, in those days, they were about 9 months behind the actual music scene though!
Clive is correct, although his spelling is dreadful. :o
The Spar building complex consisted of quite a few different work units.
The original drawings show that clearly.
When the Spar first took over the original shopping centre, we were asked to retrieve all of the original drawings so that Namdeb could work out how much to charge the new owners.
This we did and and the information was handed over to the responsible person.
In those days of course, a "Spar" file containing all the drawings and other relevant information was duly captured on the database and filed. It should be there.........
It's a brown box file with "SPAR" in big, blue letters, written vertically.
;D Kenny ... Spar!
As a kid I remeber the old shopping centre in the 70's, but not where the current SPAR is today.... when CDM bought the Spar franchise, the new sectio appeared, I was too young to remember, was it always there? I fyou look at the structure today, it looks like the inside of a workshop!......
???
Michael, sorry but I'm not allowed to mention "the other store" 'cos I could maybe hold shares. :o
Anyway bullsh*t aside, I remember having a quick look at the drawings of the whole shopping center complex and agree with you that it was more than probably not originally designed as a shopping center - But, so many buildings in Oranjemund came from a similar situation.
Example: The De Beers hangar at the airport was originally from Affruken (go on Clive, hit me with your rhythm stick for my spelling.) It was at that time a helicopter hangar.
It was then moved into town and situated where East Gate now stands and was used by Township as their furniture store. We at Projects in about 1993/1994, then stripped the whole thing down- yet again - and moved the whole bloody thing out to the airport - and turned it back into a helicopter hangar.
Working in the Engineering Drawing office for many years, we used to get lots of requests for drawings of certain buildings. I could never find the bloody things until I asked Clive who would then point me in the right direction - albiet he knew that that the building in question used to be a welding shed. By the way, the G.M.'s house used to be a guest house, and if he removes the false ceiling in his lounge he will find a lovely pine ceiling
Kenny, Dick Man also knows I cant spell, so youve gon & told the hole wirld.
Now tell me where the spell check is on this thing
Just a few names of the old stalwarts that worked in the shopping centre when I worked there in 1975.They were there long before me and remained long after,so they should be recognisable to most of you cheers giverose
Upstairs Office... Ruth Dankworth,Mrs Stenson,Nora ?
Ladies.....Betty Bell, Mrs Manthee
Shoes.......Elsie Boehme
Confectionery.......Ingrid Barnes
Fancy Goods..........Flora Fry, Mrs Buchannan
Stationery.........Mrs Huntley, Suna
Gents........Henry Symington,Mrs Bardenhorst
Hardware.........Corrie van der Nest
Groceries..........Inge Ruf
The Manager at the time was Mr Travaris.
The lady in the cash office upstairs.........??????? Sandy Help
I remember the shopping centre being a hive of activity on the OFF-SATURDAYS. Must have been the great outing of the month.
In the early days you could still get all your Sat shopping delivered if you were done by 10am!
Yes I remember that,sorting the deliveries in the bulk store.
Oops I forgot Dear Rene Esterhuizen (Biccard's) from list giverose
Every Off Saturday, our parents dragged us off to the shop and we got to chose a toy, our Off Saturday toy....
bighug
Dianna one of the names .. Nora ......... (Mrs Annetts sister ) I remember the Heeris sisters alsio worked in the cash ofice at one stage .. also a bit rusty .. I got so many faces in my head as I would regularly see the parade of women leaving work in the evening while I waited for my Mom and she was always among the last few .. .. as they hit the doorway the ciggy would be lit ..and jabber jabber chatting away ... either walking home alone , cadging a lift .. or climbing into the waiting car with Hubby and kids .. I remember long before I got my licence .. my dad would send me down to pick Mom up from work ..
Nora and Danny (still oiling the brain cells to remember)
I remember all the cars parked outside the back, lined up, Saturdays we would go down and listen to Springbok radio there was a funny show (goons etc) while we waited.
Kotie Kruger was in the sweet dept - skatjie, my mother always mispronounced this and said skaatjie which would cause laughter.
I think Nora's husbands name was Dannie (if that helps).
I also remember rushing home to listen to some serial on the radio during our lunch hour.
How technology has developed,Nora used to sit at a hugh typewritter type machine and load all the dockets onto the various accounts.I mean this thing was ginormous,took up the whole room.It clank and clunk away you couldn't hear youself speak.Still raking my brain for the name of the lady that sent the money down those tubes to the different dept.(I'm going way back now.)
Springbok radio, saturday morning was The Pip Freedman show and Kids say The darndest Things...
:emot26:
isn't the internet amazing, thank you for that Michael....just the intro was enough to take we back.
click below for 15 min of what is probably considered not very PC nowadays.
http://www.springbokradio.com/PIPFREEDMAN.html (http://www.springbokradio.com/PIPFREEDMAN.html)
Thanks for that Barbara, just posted the link to the other pc, it has isdn and speakers..
What about Squad Cars on Friday night?
The World of Tracey Dark..
Men from the Ministry....
Check your Mate?
:emot26:
Hey Barbara, really thanks for that link, i'm just going through the rest of their site.... man the memories.... thanks
thnx
Ha, how many of you listned to this on Saturday?
SPRINGBOK TOP TWENTY TIME
"They prowl the empty streets at night in fast cars and on foot these are the men of Squad Cars." The days before T.V. Then there was "Forces Favourites" with Esme Everade.
could take some time there's plenty there = something for everyone
I was just listening to the news and Test the Team, talk about a memory flashback....
:emot111:
The finger of fate, destant hour, dial a tune, Jet jungle, my name is adam kane and more
http://pumamouse.com/radiosoundfiles.html (http://pumamouse.com/radiosoundfiles.html)
Quote from: Michael Alexander on November 26, 2007, 02:24:21 PM
Ha, how many of you listned to this on Saturday?
SPRINGBOK TOP TWENTY TIME
David Gresham did the show in the 70s. They called him "Gruesem Gresh".
Quote from: Diana Rudd (Boehme) on November 25, 2007, 07:14:05 PM
Just a few names of the old stalwarts that worked in the shopping centre when I worked there in 1975.They were there long before me and remained long after,so they should be recognisable to most of you cheers giverose
Upstairs Office... Ruth Dankworth,Mrs Stenson,Nora ?
Ladies.....Betty Bell, Mrs Manthee
Shoes.......Elsie Boehme
Confectionery.......Ingrid Barnes
Fancy Goods..........Flora Fry, Mrs Buchannan
Stationery.........Mrs Huntley, Suna
Gents........Henry Symington,Mrs Bardenhorst
Hardware.........Corrie van der Nest
Groceries..........Inge Ruf
The Manager at the time was Mr Travaris.
The lady in the cash office upstairs.........??????? Sandy Help
I remember the shopping centre being a hive of activity on the OFF-SATURDAYS. Must have been the great outing of the month.
The day before Xmas was the worst. You would think a great famine was coming up the way people would shop ...
Dont know why . but Nora Noble comes to mind .. maybe it was her surname before marriage ... and Gerry Hausen comes into the picture as well unless I really got a spagetti tangle in the head .. .. so strange got all these faces swimming around but names ??? ..
Hi Sandy
Do you have a pic with Gerry ( Jerry) Housen, remember we worked together in 1 and 3 Plant
@ Georg .. cant recall but let me scratch around ...
Sandy
sandy I do believe you are right, Housen - daughter Kathleen
daman
Hi Mike
I used to listen to Springbok hits and went as far as keeping a weekly diary on how the various songs moved in popularity! Talk about having nothing else better to do!!
Shopping centre staff. The only faces I remember are Corrie van der Nest,my mom Elsie and Rina Nel to her right
I recognize 3 faces but now names sorry
Tall Man at the left back... Corrie Van Der Nest... SHop Manager...
Short lady in front left with classes...MAria Kistlings... Still here today, running her own bakery, Bon Appetit
Lady in front row...far right... Nartjie Steyn (Mickey's Mom)
Short black man with glasses, right back row.... Frans Kapofi.... deceased from Africa sickness...
Diana' mom, Elsie with glasses next to Corrie...
This brought back memories: As a scholar I worked in the Gents dept with Mr Symington and Mrs Badenhorst. We were the town's only supplier of condoms (kept in a socks drawer) and during the holidays I was often the only male in the gents dept, so as a 14 year old virgin also acted as a condom advisor. there was another manager before Travaris (lovely gentleman) but unfortunately I cant rememebr his name. He lived in 7th Avenue near where the Ovambos had to queue, before the store and other facilities were deracialised.
Mike Thurtell
Quote from: Diana Rudd (Boehme) on November 25, 2007, 07:14:05 PM
Just a few names of the old stalwarts that worked in the shopping centre when I worked there in 1975.They were there long before me and remained long after,so they should be recognisable to most of you cheers giverose
Upstairs Office... Ruth Dankworth,Mrs Stenson,Nora ?
Ladies.....Betty Bell, Mrs Manthee
Shoes.......Elsie Boehme
Confectionery.......Ingrid Barnes
Fancy Goods..........Flora Fry, Mrs Buchannan
Stationery.........Mrs Huntley, Suna
Gents........Henry Symington,Mrs Bardenhorst
Hardware.........Corrie van der Nest
Groceries..........Inge Ruf
The Manager at the time was Mr Travaris.
The lady in the cash office upstairs.........??????? Sandy Help
I remember the shopping centre being a hive of activity on the OFF-SATURDAYS. Must have been the great outing of the month.
Was'nt there a Mrs Van Tonder in the ladies Dept?
Add to the list in the shop Mrs Pieterse
Quote from: Michael Alexander on November 26, 2007, 12:53:30 PM
Springbok radio, saturday morning was The Pip Freedman show and Kids say The darndest Things...
:emot26:
We had a Pip Freedman record that I loved, especially the song about the provincial traffic cop. Would love to get hold of one to play to my children, if anyone knows where I can, please let me know.
Barbara showed us this cool site a few months back.... Link: http://www.springbokradio.com/PIPFREEDMAN2.html
Quote from: Michael Alexander on February 07, 2008, 10:06:30 AM
Was'nt there a Mrs Van Tonder in the ladies Dept?
Mrs Bell also worked in the ladies dept. She had a daughter called Louise. I'm sure Paula will remember her. She, Louise and Beverly Gray were always together.
Remember Louise very well..... married and divorced Freddie Ahrens...... think she lives in Cape Town Somewhere....
Louise was at the re-union on Saturday. Her mother Betty Bell passed away recently. (Feb)
Allow me to identify the only two faces in the photograph who've not had names put to them yet. Right at the back is Henry Munepapa (spelling?) who was a supervisor in the grocery section. In the front is Joanna Pudar (Milo's wife). They were all on the staff when, as a young man (Mike's age!), I took over the shopping centre in 1988. Many of those staff are still with me today, including Jackie Matthee, Teresa Nikanor, Alberta Kisting, Schalk Hugo, Lameck Hamukoto (Food Market), Fiona Kapolo (spouse of ace runner, Kappies Kapolo), Katrina Muashekele nee Kali (took over from Elsie on the "back door") and, of course, our well known MUN colleague, Eliphas Iita, who was a retail trainee in those days!
Quote from: Diana Rudd (Boehme) on February 06, 2008, 08:22:32 PM
Shopping centre staff. The only faces I remember are Corrie van der Nest,my mom Elsie and Rina Nel to her right
Hi there Diana mom in the prime of her life dosen't she look good
Alfred
Quote from: Pete on March 04, 2008, 05:13:25 PM
Allow me to identify the only two faces in the photograph who've not had names put to them yet. Right at the back is Henry Munepapa (spelling?) who was a supervisor in the grocery section. In the front is Joanna Pudar (Milo's wife). They were all on the staff when, as a young man (Mike's age!), I took over the shopping centre in 1988. Many of those staff are still with me today, including Jackie Matthee, Teresa Nikanor, Alberta Kisting, Schalk Hugo, Lameck Hamukoto (Food Market), Fiona Kapolo (spouse of ace runner, Kappies Kapolo), Katrina Muashekele nee Kali (took over from Elsie on the "back door") and, of course, our well known MUN colleague, Eliphas Iita, who was a retail trainee in those days!
If the staff is still with you Pete, where are you? The store doesn't exist anymore.... idontknow
Found these, the entrance to the shopping centre changed regularly.
Here's a scan of the Shopping Centre hours, who ever heard of a shop closing for lunch? :emot19: Oh! How we laugh now....
He he he that is from long ago.....
Just look at the Rand figures, that shows what it is worth today !!!!!
In my days a packet of cigies was 20 cents LOL see what you get today.
O.M.G!! I remember those hours...only 1/2 Day on a Saturday...and hour and a half for lunch...whooppee!!!!!!
Oh by the way there is a photo of Simon Mason....taken many moons ago...in the MY PHOTOS section
2
at the beginning............ with Paula and Jacky cheers
Happy Anniversary EVERY BODY e154
I remember my mom coming home o cook our lunch.
For those that might not have remembered, my mom Brunhild Wrbka was the lady running the Cash Office from mid 70's to 84.
Remember her always complaining that going to the toilet was such a mission because it was upstairs and as soon as she would try and lock up and go upstairs someone would arrive wanting change. Guess those years of putting off "going to pee" have contributed to her weak bladder today.
remember the shopping centre well - used to (in those days) ask mom for money for sweets and with 5c you could buy a bag full - when I started as an Appie the beer and Cigs were the same price namely 18c - getting back to Springbok radio, who remembers Mark Saxon and Serge' (with his gun that he called Petrushka)?
other programs that come to mind are Staal Burger (wed nights I recall just after Jong klomp versoeke) we used to listen at boarding school. I remember we (o/munders) would buy tons of fillet steak to take to SA when we went on leave for relatives etc.(subsidised prices on all goods in those days). Movies on Saturday - with 10c - movies + cooldrink (my favourite - Mrs Ahrens iron brew) + a huge bag of star sweets (pee pink for days after that)
regards to all
Gus.
My mom spent the day with me today and told me that the lady that was in charge of the cash office upstairs was: Mrs Gregory. She was the lady that my mom eventually took over from in the Cash Office.
The lady who's name was Nora, here surname was Roux.
Quite right Dunja, Nora Le Roux worked in the office with Mrs Dankworth,Mrs Stenson,myself and somebody connected to Betty Bell can't get to her name now.
Photos 1972
Staff in shop(1972)
Nice pics Mavis, but who is who in the last pic?
sorry
Jean,and Jose Dood. Sand B will know
Hi Mavis .. was in process of posting the names yes auntie Jean Laughlin and Josie Dodd .. and you pipped me to it .. Thanks for the other B&W pic .. i will save it to PC print and add names .. How you doing .. ?/ Sandy X
Quote from: Michael Alexander on June 29, 2008, 05:31:45 PM
Nice pics Mavis, but who is who in the last pic?
the pic of the toy shop, the one in the middle looks like sheena's gran, Sheena is that not your gran in that pic???
its Sheenas Nan indeed ..
more off the shop (1972)
Wow, I remember those floors - remember hopping along the blocks like playing hopscotch!
more of the shop (1972)
more 1st pic:is my Mum,mrs Fry,mrs Redgrave.2nd.is mrs Gerard.Pamand Janet
in the shop (1972)
more
Thanks for the pics , Mavis.... The memories came flooding back..... I had actually forgot what the entrance of the shop looked like..... I-T-O
Wonderful Mavis! Really brings back my childhood. Just like I remember the shop. Even the photo with the wool - like I've been there yesterday! My Mom often bought wool there. Really great memories.
Mmm the fancy goods department .. one of Mums responsibilities , plus cosmetics dept and some others .. and the buying thereof for the shop .. her trips to the wholesalers and indent agents in CT I remember so well .. sadly those people dont exist anymore , the face of business has changed ,, she had good relationships with all the wholesalers and indent agents in CT .. I remeber when i got my first car the big old blue Cotroen , she opted to drive down with me as opposed flying .. a business trip combined with bonding with her youngest .. good thing the speedo on the car was still in MPH .. so she thought the 80 MPH I was doing was 80 KPH .. she nearly took my head off when she discovered the otherwise .. We thought our shopping center was so mod when it was revamped by RMS ... in fact it was ..
What's the department called in which you sell buttons wool ec`? Stationary?
Well there was a Mrs. Engels. I think here husband was the chef in he mensa nearv the school. hey visied us somewhere in the early 80's when I was still working as a chef myself. Anybody remember them?
Hello Jnr ... Haberdashery dept .. I remember only a Mrs Derringer .. she was a work of art in her make up .. always impeccably appied .. and her black hair pulled up in a chignon .. Mr Derringer was a tall man with blondish hair was in charge of all the messes ..
Engels is right , his wife Barbara live in Frankfurt, we visited them some years ago
Derringer was from Switzerland
Thanks Georg .. just cant place The Engels .. give a brief description .. ?? maybe it will jar some grey cells ..
To describe her is easyier, good looking medium long hair
He was rather small and underweight thin face, blondish hair, slightly older then me
He came to my hometown and i saw him by chance in Frankfurt in the street.
Mrs. Engels actualy seemed like she'd ge her face painted. Oops! Hope no-one tells.
Okay, that was the 70s...
Georg Is she maybe not in the pic of the shopping center staff ??
Jnr saw your reply .. that was the fashion in the 70's .. hectic make up .. my Mom even overdid it .. and yes kept it up till her dying day ...
Mrs. Engels topped everyone. I remember us kids making fun abou her. Then she didn't deserve that. She was realy nice. In fact, I remember all the staff in the shopping cenre as nice. Yeah! he good old days... Oops. Hope Mike doesn't read his.
Sandy
No i dit not see her on any of the pics
I think its before there time, they used to go to Mc Dugalls a lot
I remember Mrs Engels Jnr is quite right a painted face not just heavy make-up. When Boy Georg said painted I knew exactly who he was talking about.
@ Diana and can you describe him better
I think his name was Hans ! ?
You described him just fine ,,,,,,,a weeny little fellow.
Quote from: Diana Rudd (Boehme) on November 04, 2008, 09:01:57 PM
You described him just fine ,,,,,,,a weeny little fellow.
iknow 202
Wonder how managed her LOL OMG
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