16 February 2018

JobWarehouse, oldest shops almost oldest building in the city, built 1848 as by Crossley the butcher. In the 50s the Zeimer brothers started the business, the name (probably) coming from their practice of buying job lots, or maybe Jobs was a special term for theatre costumers who relied on their stock. Anyway, they closed in 2013, and 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 ! @ Job Warehouse

Repost from this day in 2019 (update : #heritagevictoria said painting over everything was ok, surprisingly)

After many years, the three empty shops at #JobWarehouse 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 1957, they just painted over it all, preserving everything there before, mainly from the 1900s -1950s). 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 side lane, 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 interior of 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 painting over 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.

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