James O'Brien

Another day, another post about something in Surry Hills closing down.

I was genuinely sad the other night when, walking along Crown Street, Surry Hills (the end near Cleveland Street), I discovered long-term local menswear store, Argy’s was having a closing down sale.

For as long as I’ve lived in Surry Hills I’ve been a semi-regular customer. Every time I’ve had a bit of a “fashion crisis”, I have reliably headed down to the store, found something suitable, and have been treated very kindly by the store’s owner. He’s the kind of guy you see on the streets of Surry Hills and smile.

In many ways, the idea of an all things to all people “menswear store” is a litte old-fashioned. With so many chain stores, and so much specialisation around these days, and with the shopping centre culture which has emerged, the traditional menswear store on a suburban or country town shopping strip, seems a little old-fashioned, I guess.

In some ways, the idea takes me back to my youth in Lismore, where there was the locally iconic George Gooley’s Menswear. In “The Boy From Oz”. there’s a reference to Peter Allen having briefly worked at a menswear store in Lismore. It could only have been George Gooley, as that was THE place in the 1960s in Lismore men and boys went to for all their clothing needs. :)

But times move on. Surry Hills is going through a series of retail changes, as I’ve noted on this blog. Record stores, video shops, newsagent closures, and now the local menswear store.

I don’t know if it’s the rents, or if it’s just time to move on, but I’ll genuinely miss Argy’s.