16 February 2018

The Job Warehouse includes the oldest shops in the city, built 1848 by William Crossley the butcher; thats the two shops on the downhill end, one occupied by the Paperback bookstore since… the 60s ? The other two shops were added in 1855 in matching style.

Having been various shops, in the 1950s the Zeimer brothers Max and Jacob started a fabric business in the eastern part, the name (probably) coming from their practice of buying job lots, or maybe Jobs was a special term for the theatre costumers who relied on their stock. They had arrived in Melbourne in 1948 as Polish refugees, the only survivors of their family. The brothers ran it for many decades, by the 1980s becoming famous for their gruff manner, to the point of throwing people out if they didnt look serious (‘no touching with the hands’), as well as the huge piles of fabrics, odds and ends, much of it moldering away and forgotten. By then they owned the whole building and also one down Crossley Street (named after the butcher). Max died in 1988, and Jacob in 2005, his son David finally closing the store in 2013. Only now have the insides been cleaned out – check out the #pigeonpoo in one of the rooms !

Thanks to @ivy.constructions.australia for the photo of inside, what a job !

2019

After many years, the three empty shops at Job Warehouse are set to be refurbished for a bar/restaurant, but in the process the building will be scrubbed clean, until it looks completely new. The shopfronts will stay, but all the painted signs will go and even the peeling woodwork on the laneway side will be replaced, not to mention all the many layers of wallpapers inside – when the Zeimer family took over in the 1950s, they just painted over it all, preserving everything there before, mainly from the 1900s -1940s. This is partly because the CMP says nothing after 1935 is important (!) which completely ignores the Zeimer’s 55 years running their wonderfully eccentric fabric store. Its an #OBrienGroup development.

2021- Latest is that they’ve also bought the 80s shops down the Liverpool Street, which they want to replace with a walled courtyard bar thing, which local residents are taking to VCAT.

20 May 2022:

So this is what the old Job Warehouse in Bourke Street is going to look like as a hospitality venue. A bit ‘traditional’ style bland, but then it would be pretty hard to have kept any of the interior surfaces intact, completely worn after 55 years or so of housing piled up fabric. The Zeimer family who ran the business still own it, now leased to the O’Brien Group, who also run the Imperial just up the block. The exterior is currently undergoing extensive repairs and wont change much – except for not keeping the Job Warehouse sign, they should not have been allowed to do that, but Heritage Victoria only cared about the 1848/51 fabric, not the late 20thC history. Grrr.

September 2025

The former Job Warehouse at the top of Bourke Street, which is being restored and turned into a big hospo venue – I did like the peeled paint decay of it before, but it looks rather good now, having been stripped right back to maybe the original texture. I’m still mad that they didn’t keep the Job signage. But they have revealed an early sign, though I can’t read it (I’m told it says Harry Davis, a landlord at some point). They’ve also kept the 50s/60s signage on the Paperback bookstore, which hasn’t changed.

The works have also revealed the different stages of construction – the downhill half was built in 1848, and the walls are plainer than the other part, built in 1855 with more elegant details, such as the lines imitating stone blocks. The shop fronts are all 1920s/30s capper framed and tiles, which are being restored.

I think they started work here in 2019, it’s been taking ages, probably because they’re also doing a big courtyard addition down the lane.

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