Barry and Roberts Limited

Date: 1898 to 1985
Location: Queensland, Australia
Surname/tag: Queensland

Barry & Roberts was a family-owned Queensland retail icon for many decades. Thomas Barry and Sam Roberts founded the first of the Barry & Roberts department stores in George Street, Brisbane in 1898.

Barry & Roberts original George Street store

At its peak, Barry's, as it became affectionately known, operated sixteen department stores and some 75 grocery stores throughout Queensland. As the two sons of the founder retired, and their sons opted not to continue, the company was taken over on 11th December 1985 by Condraulics Pty Limited (a subsidiary of Industrial Equity Limited).

Barry & Roberts Queen Street store

The Brisbane store soon moved to much larger premises at 55 Queen Street, where the department store was joined by a grocery store and housed the company's head office. This store had frontages on both Queen and Elizabeth Streets (the Elizabeth Street level being one floor lower than the Queen Street level).

Barry & Roberts Queen Street store Elizabeth Street entrance

Today, the Queen Street facade still stands, with the building part of The Myer Centre.

Aged in their early 60s, Thomas and Sam died in 1938 and 1937 respectively. Thomas' two sons, Paul and Kevin, became managing directors of the two divisions, department stores and grocery stores respectively. They built Barry & Roberts into a truly state-wide retail chain, with stores in regional centres including:

• Bundaberg
• Caboolture
• Cairns
• Gladstone
• Gympie
• Ipswich
• Kingaroy
• Mt Isa
• Nambour
• Noosa
• Redcliffe
• Rockhampton
• Stanthorpe
• Toowoomba
• Warwick, and
• Murwillumbah, New South Wales

In addition to a second city store, at Edward Street, Barry & Roberts stores could also be found in many Brisbane suburbs including:

• Albion
• Annerley
• Ascot
• Ashgrove
• Aspley
• Carina
• Clayfield
• Enoggera
• Everton Park
• Fortitude Valley
• Inala
• Indooroopilly
• Lutwyche
• Moorooka
• Morningside
• Mt Gravatt
• Newmarket
• Red Hill
• Sandgate
• Sherwood
• Spring Hill
• Stafford
• Stones Corner
• Sunnybank
• Taringa
• The Gap
• The Grange
• Westfield Shopping Town Toombul, opened on 11th October 1967, anchored by a Barry & Roberts department store. The store closed in the mid-1970s.
• Upper Mt Gravatt
• Whites Hill
• Woodridge
• Wooloongabba
• Wynnum
• Yeronga

Sources

• The Barry Family; accessed 11 Oct 2020.