The shops that are becoming harder to find in our big cities

This got us thinking about other kinds of shops that are disappearing from main streets and malls, because of technology, competition, or changing consumer tastes.

Milk bars

Olympia Milk Bar, in Stanmore. Photo: Facebook

Young people are much more interested in smashed avocado than milkshakes from art deco-style milk bars in this day and age.

Historians Leonard Janiszewski and Effy Alexakis spent nearly 30 years researching milk bars in Australia and published their findings in a book, Greek Cafes & Milk Bars of Australia.

According to the book there were about 4000 milk bars in the country in the 1930s but almost all traditional ones are now gone. Some milk bars still exist but they’re basically convenience stores that bear the name, but they aren’t it.

There are notable exceptions like the well-known Olympia Milk Bar in Stanmore, Sydney, which has been open for 78 years but doesn’t do as brisk a trade as it used to.

Film processing labs

Photo processing shops are more difficult to find, now that most people use cameras on their phones. Photo: Peter Braig

Film photography has become a niche interest, as most of us now store our selfies on our phones, or on digital cameras.

Specific camera stores like Camera House will still develop film, but where there were once hundreds of mini film labs there are now only dozens in Australia.

Chain stores Kmart and Big W also offer photo printing services, snapping up competition from purpose-built photo developers who also face rising production costs.

For those wanting film Super 8 videos reverse processed, there’s only one lab in the entire southern hemisphere that can do it, in Daylesford, Victoria.

Chain music stores

Sanity music stores are one of the few chains left. Photo: Jon Reid

Physical music sales could be going the way of VHS and the DVD.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, revenue from streaming services has for the first time outstripped both digital downloads and physical music sales.

“Whereas a little over $105 million was spent on legal downloading and $87 million on CD albums in 2016, more than $135.5 million was spent on streaming,” the article says.

The last Australian HMV store closed in 2010, as did the last Virgin Megastore, and Brashs fell into receivership and closed all its stores in 1988.

Sanity Music has 147 stores in Australia, the majority of them in regional areas.

At the same time there’s been a vinyl revival with Gen Y and Xers who are happy to pay about $40 for a new LP and much more for limited edition and vintage albums.

But ask most people born this century what a cassette tape is and they’ll look at you blankly.

Tobacconists

As smoking rates decline, so do the number of tobacconists. Photo: Steve Baccon

As more Australians than ever are permanently butting out their cigarettes, tobacconists have also taken a hit.

Tax hikes driving up cigarette prices, health campaigns making smoking taboo and regulations restricting advertising has meant the closure of many tobacconists.

Tobacconists are also losing competition to the black market- nearly 15 per cent of tobacco smoked in Australia is smuggled in illegally.  

Freechoice Tobacconists, the largest franchiser in the country according to its website, has 255 stores, but back when people were allowed to smoke indoors and on planes the stores were much more common.

Fruit shops

Fruit shop in Carnegie, Melbourne. Photo: Rodger Cummins

Fruit shops are few and far between as most people now get their recommended five daily servings of veggies from the supermarkets and others choose to grow their own more organically or head to farmers’ markets.

According to Ibis World research 2718 businesses in Australia are involved with fruit and vegetable retailing.

A Roy Morgan Research report from 2015 found that 72 per cent of grocery buyers get their fruit and vegetables from supermarkets, 11 per cent visit markets and stalls, and 13 per cent don’t buy any fruit or vegetables.