October 2025
A cute little group in Elizabeth Street just up from Collins, pretty unchanged. The one in the middle was a new home for Alexander’s, rebuilt in 1938, designed by the very busy Harry Norris in a restrained Deco style. Still got the signage ! But needs a clean.
They started out as tobacconists, and the new store had a mezzanine, with an oval opening up to the cigars and gifts section, and a hairdressers at the rear, with a ‘club atmosphere’; all floors were rubber, providing ‘the most hygienic conditions’.
My photos are 2019 when it was still Mag Nation, and still had the oval opening, it’s now a health food shop, think the opening is gone.
Storey of Melbourne 