Christmas Day 2025
Merry Christmas! Back in the 50s and 60s the corner of Bourke & Swanston was dominated by a giant (slightly scary) Santa with a finger beckoning you into the store behind – Foys, a pretty big Art Deco department store, which had a rooftop Christmas carnival for the kiddies too !
It was the city store of the huge Foy & Gibson enterprise on Smith Street, where they had even bigger stores, and workshops manufacturing everything from clothes to furniture. It sort of wound down in the 1960s and the Bourke Street outlet was sold to Woolworths in 1967, but from the photos I think the Santa had been retired some years before. The building is still there but much altered and floors added. All photos via Facebook.
Storey of Melbourne 