| dbo:abstract |
J.B. Young Ltd (JB Young's) was a chain of retail department stores, founded in the New South Wales country town of Queanbeyan, by businessman and country traveler James Buchanan Young in 1914. Young, originally from Ireland, had immigrated to Australia during 1885, arriving first in Sydney. By the 20th century, James Young had settled in country New South Wales and was working for Dutton Brothers, in Blayney. Moving to Queanbeyan in 1914, James Young quickly established what would be JB Young's first store, in Queanbeyan's main street. Business was hard during these years with World War I underway and harsh economic conditions. After the decision to locate Australia's new capital Canberra in the 1920s, one of the JB Young's managers Mr HG Colman, then crossed the NSW border into the nation's new capital and purchased the first block of commercial property ever being offered. This was over at the Eastlake shopping precinct and was purchased for 2,050 pounds. This occurred early in December, 1924. Building work commenced immediately and initially the original Eastlake store, which would a short time later become known as Kingston, was opened in stages between 1925-27. These were pioneering times for the nation's capital, as not even Canberra's Civic centre precinct had been established at this time. In 1926, the firm saw a staff management buyout, with fellow directors, Mr Webb, Mr Greenwood, together with Mr HG Colman, taking ownership. By 1928, James Young had decided to fully retire and a farewell dinner was held, with Mr and Mrs Young then from that moment on retiring to Manly in Sydney. (en) |
| rdfs:comment |
J.B. Young Ltd (JB Young's) was a chain of retail department stores, founded in the New South Wales country town of Queanbeyan, by businessman and country traveler James Buchanan Young in 1914. Young, originally from Ireland, had immigrated to Australia during 1885, arriving first in Sydney. By the 20th century, James Young had settled in country New South Wales and was working for Dutton Brothers, in Blayney. (en) |
