victoria . australia owner doug zappelli since 1996 number of employees 500 website http www.dimmeys.com.au dimmeys is an australian discount department store chain . founded as a gold rush era drapery dimelow & gaylard s in rural maryborough the business became colloquially known as dimmeys . in the early 1900s the business name was changed . over the last few decades the chain evolved from larger traditional department stores to smaller bargain stores in more locations . as at 2014 the business has more than 40 stores spread across eastern and southern australia . 1 contents 1 history 2 advertising 3 the mural on exterior walls of the swan st store 4 legal troubles and voluntary administration 5 references history edit in 1898 the maryborough business dimelow & gaylard purchased an existing drapery business established in 1853 by joseph britten at a swan street richmond premises built in 1878 . 2 in 1904 the business was acquired in turn by john jeffery . the swan st store was extensively damaged in a fire in 1906 though it continued to trade until it was rebuilt entirely in 1907 . as part of a 1910 extension the building was topped with a distinctive clock tower featuring a globe with red glass panels that were internally illuminated after dark making it visible for several miles . at this time jeffery also changed the business name to dimmeys model stores to reflect its high fashion status . the tower became a landmark in richmond and images of it were incorporated into the company logo and marketing . richmond dimmey s clock in 1939 the second world war blackout restrictions meant that the globe could not be illuminated and as the glass windows had deteriorated they were replaced with copper panels . the store sold a variety of merchandise on the ground floor and on the first floor were workshops and the mail order service for regional customers . during the 1930s depression the store began to focus on quality goods at reduced prices . in the post war period it ceased manufacturing and became a bargain store . the swan street premises is listed as having architectural and historical significance to the state of victoria with heritage victoria . 2 dimmeys bought out competitor forges in 1978 and traded as dimmeys & forges . forge s was a large retail site operating in the melbourne suburb of footscray . the forges location was sold off to developers in 2009 3 and the & forge s was dropped from the business name . the company collapsed in 1996 with a 27million of debts rendering it insolvent and was sold to a consortium headed by doug zapelli . 4 in 1997 the swan street store s clock tower and globe was ranked first in the age newspaper s melbourne icons series . 4 the business was the subject of a 2007 book dimmeys of richmond the rise and fall of a family business by historian dr samuel furphy . 5 advertising edit as noted above the dimmeys tower became an iconic landmark and the company logo and other promotional material incorporated an image of the tower . from the early 1990s dimmeys featured former afl footballer robert dipierdomenico in their television and radio advertising spruiking the slogans be there and 9.99 . the mural on exterior walls of the swan st store edit in 2004 the local artist hayden dewar was commissioned to paint a series of murals representing the history of the store and of victoria since 1853 along the green street facade of the swan street store . 2 the work stretches for some 50 metres . in 2008 the building was sold to developers who later announced plans to build a ten storey residential building on the site preserving the heritage listed clock tower and frontage but including the destruction of several metres of the mural . 6 the original plan was contested by the council on a number of grounds with the outcome that the mural was preserved . 7 legal troubles and voluntary administration edit 1999 fined a 60 000 for selling faulty children s bicycles . 1 2001 fined a 160 000 for selling children s nightwear that did not meet mandatory fire safety standards . 8 2011 fined a 400 000 after the australian competition and consumer commission instigated legal proceedings for selling children s nightwear without correctly attached fire hazard warning labels . 9 2013 fined a 3million for breaching product safety laws . 1 10 the action was brought against dimmeys and their supplier starite distributors which is also owned by zappelli by the state consumer protection authority consumer affairs victoria . 11 relating to the safety of certain children s toys and garments sold . in addition to the fine in the last action dimmeys was also prohibted from selling items that require warnings or high safety standards for the next six years . zapelli was banned from managing corporations for six years and was fined 120 000 . shortly thereafter dimmeys announced that it had entered into voluntary administration appointing sv partners as the voluntary administrators and was attempting to make arrangements that would allow it to continue trading while paying off the fine and was also exploring the option of sale of some or all of its assets . 1 references edit a b c d the age . 17 december 2013 dimmeys to go into administration after 3m product safety fine . retrieved 7 mar 2014 . a b c heritage victoria victorian heritage database . victorian heritage register number h2184 retrieved 7 mar 2014 . wa today . july 14 2009 no discount in sale of forges landmark retrieved 7 mar 2014 . a b fairfax media archives retrieved 7 mar 2014 . australian national university researchers publications . retrieved 7 mar 2014 . the age . may 2009 dim future for dimmeys mural . retrieved 7 mar 2014 . urban melbourne melbourne s history in paint and over 50 incredible metres . retrieved 7 march 2014 australian competition and consumer commission 22 march 2001 media release . retrieved 7 march 2014 australian competition and consumer commission . 11 april 2011 media release . retrieved 7 march 2014 the herald sun 17 december 2013 dimmeys fined 3m boss banned over product safety law breaches . retrieved 7 march 2014 consumer affairs victoria june 2013 media release retrieved 7 mar 2014 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title dimmeys & oldid 740195918 categories department stores of australia1853 establishments in australiacompanies established in 1853discount stores of australia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 19 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