April 2013: A family-owned store in Melbourne that has existed since 1927 is into its last months of operation...
The store sells camping gear, clothes, boots, all kinds of surprising things in its own inimitable style
Stock in the store will be sold, and not replaced. Then the doors on to Russell Street will close for good.
There are bargains to be found; also a sense of the end of something spanning several generations.
The 'Sale' signs attract some customers; others come to scan shelves but also mourn the passing of a Melbourne retail institution.
This is retail the old-fashioned way: what you see is what you get.
Decor and interior design matters much less than the goods on sale...
Slowly, slowly, the store's racks and shelves become increasingly bare.
In the back sections of the store, the change-rooms and office spaces, there is a sense of entering a time-capsule. Nothing has changed in quite a while...
Signs are hand-written; props are from the pages of out-of-print magazines.
Bond. Chesty Bond.
Records are kept of what is sold, and what is left. Less and less as the weeks pass...
Pictures. Posters. Signs. As they were. As they are...
Bear family photographs can be found in the most surprising places.
This is a store where sales posters are positioned like works of art.
Chesty looks on silently as the rummaging continues...
... As the store gradually empties out.
May 2013: bare walls and empty spaces...
June 2013: the Sam Bear store has closed. Before too long, the site is gutted. Two new restaurants are opened.