Tanduay

2009 - A Different Philippine Tour.

One of the unexpected side effects of regular Philippine trips has been my growing collection of all things related to the country. Besides a photo collection now exceeding 64,000, I have somehow found myself collecting model buses, model planes , number plates, jeepney destination signs and even model trains.

But it is the collection of Tanduay bottles that has formed the biggest part of this rather obsessive collection.
Since 2004, I have endeavoured to collect every type that has become available. Alas, I have not been 100% successful, a few constantly eluding me (probably to my wife's relief :-) ).

Such was my interest in collecting, I decided to try my luck and email the company about a tour.

I didn't honestly think they would permit it, I am used to security there being a little overboard when it comes to visits. I pretty much resigned myself to the fact it will go ignored, like so many other requests.

But, not only did I receive a response, they were genuinely happy to allow me to visit whenever I was in the country.
Thankfully that was to be in only a couple of weeks. 

I was somewhat overwhelmed upon getting to see their collection in the head office.Oh my goodness, it was right then that I realised how many I was missing.
I have since got that lovely barrel at top right ;-)

What I found most fascinating during the tour was the fact they had two bottling areas operating. One was the original, very labour intensive system. While the other was a more recent addition that utilised, if I recall correctly, just two people to run the whole process.
I believe most of these photos show the newer setup.

I placed my Tanduay order :-)

Hahaha I wish.

There is a barrel display at the entrance that makes it impossible not to know when you have arrived.

They even have their own cute little fire truck.

Thankfully it does not see much use.

They wouldn't even let me take that home :-(

This is Edward, my tour guide.
A truly awesome one at that. He knew so much about the company and was one of the funniest guys I have met.
I often wonder if he still works there.

That is pretty much it for his post.
If your looking for a Philippine tour with a difference, and enjoy seeing the behind the scenes workings of famous Philippine companies, then this is well worth the effort to go to Cabuyao (just south of Manila in the province of Laguna).

Until next post - stay safe everyone.

Flemings Food Stores Finale

Given the overwhelming (I was amazed and truly do appreciate it) response to my earlier Fleming blog post, I thought I would motivate myself to head on down to Jannali to be a part of the closing night.
We arrived just after 7pm and soon were able to meet second in charge Seles, who was very accommodating.
While quiet, there was a steady flow of people dropping by for one last time, including one young guy from my part of the world in Hillsdale.
This guy was even too young to remember my old Flemings in Matraville. Man that makes ya feel old.

Below I have put a selection of shots from the final two hours (including behind the scenes), as well as a last minute video of the whole shop, final customers and the final closing.

I would very much like to thank Seles and Rita for allowing us to be part of what would have been a rather emotional event for them.

Please enjoy.

The people of Jannali must be naturally nice.
The bus driver himself was very friendly. Here he has parked his bus back in better light for a final shot.

Less than two hours remaining.

We then invade the shop for some last minute photos.
Despite my earlier thoughts that the floor designs may have been original Flemings, I am told that they are all from a Woolworths makeover of the shop some time back. This makeover saw significant changes to the original store layout.

The inside of the store is typically Woolworths, with not any remaining sign of the Flemings brand, other than the front wall. The building itself, especially the back dock (see below) retained a very Flemings feel.

Part of the earlier mentioned makeover saw this north-east corner changed from a full butchery into this aisle with fridges.

Arguably the highlight of any visit, and the shops biggest attraction, the conveyor belt that brought new stock up from the storeroom, to the shop floor level.
I remember another shop having one, though which that was now escapes me. I was told by my ol boss Julie and Rita that Brighton had one.
There can't be many setups like this in existence now. It is quite possibly that Jannali could be one of the last.

We would be interested in hearing of any others.

Keen viewers will note that rarest of commodities down the stairs, the toilet roll :-)

The upper back dock area certainly brought back many memories. Years of being Woolies didn't strip the Flemings feel from there.

I have spent many an hour in tearooms just like this.

Above photo actually taken by Jason Anthony.

From left to right.
Peter Bartlett - ex Flemings
Rita De Carolis - Flemings Jannali
Brad Peadon - ex Flemings (80s/90s)
Julie Barlett - ex Flemings Manager
Seles - 2IC Flemings Jannali

Thank you everyone from Flemings Jannali.
Wish you all the very best in your new shop.

Jason Anthony becomes the second last customer, splurging out on a Snickers Bar in the final minutes.

This lovely lady, Sharon, has been a customer of the Jannali store for 40 years. She got to be the very last Flemings customer ever (see video below).
Rita, as the longest serving member of the team, is seen serving.

Rita closes the door for the last time, thus ending the final link to 90 years of Fleming family retail history.

Back three decades ago, I would never have guessed that my ol boss Julie would become such a great friend and that we would witness the end of an era all these years later. So glad you could make it.

Video of the store, last 10 minutes and final customers.
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Did you work at Flemings?
Come join our online family.

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Hope this tribute to a 'fabulous' retail chain has been of some interest.
On the way home we stopped at a number of Caltex servos before they all start changing. But that another story for another time.
Thank you to Jason Anthony and David Phillips.
Thank you to also the Facebook forums who allowed me to share my historic retail ramblings. :-)
Lost Sydney - Old Shops Australia

Old Shops & Stores of Australia & New Zealand.

NOTE: All photos are copyright of their respective owners.

Sharing/Publishing is fine, altering and removing watermarks is not.

Don't be like Channel 10 (Sydney)

FLEMINGS FOOD STORES

My working life started at Flemings Matraville way back in the 1980s.
Even then, I remember the name was being replaced, the bigger/busier stores becoming 'Food For Less', with others just closing, often taken on by other retail outlets.
After some years at Matraville, I developed a habit of following favourite managers around from store to store. During these years, I found myself working in quite a number of different stores.
Matraville - Become a bottle shop, later demolished for new Woolworths.
Campsie - Building still there, think as a chemist.
Mosman - Demolished.
Maroubra - Demolished.
Bexley South - Become Jewels, now IGA.
Waterloo - Now an IGA.
Mascot - Become Clancys, now IGA.
Coogee - Became 'Food For Less', now Woolworths Metro.
Kingsford - Nightfill as a Clancy's. Now an IGA.

Flemings Food Stores Facebook Group

During these years, there was always that cloud of closure hanging overhead. Woolworths was hell bent on wiping out a name that had been around since just after World War 2 (the chain originally opened as E.L. Lakin in 1930).

NOTE: All photos are copyright of their respective owners.
Sharing/Publishing is fine, altering and removing watermarks is not.
Don't be like Channel 10 (Sydney)

My time at Bexley South was limited to a very short loan during a staff shortage. It may well have been only one or two days.
Following closure of this store, the Jewels store to the left (ironically owned by the Fleming family) extended into it. Today it is an IGA.

Being someone who always seeks to photograph stuff that is about to change, I started push biking to numerous stores, visiting manager friends of the time, and taking photos of each (the stores, not the managers).

Never worked in Flemings at Pendle Hill. This day I was visiting a manager friend who had been transferred there. Today it is a 'Woolworths Metro'.
My biggest regret is that I never took many internal shots. However, I did take this video around the 
Ettalong Flemings store. 
I also saved a few souveniers that I am still in the process of trying to locate.

Clancy's (Saves The Day) - Belfield
One of a few Clancy's that were born from old Flemings stores.

Flemings Ettalong (Central Coast)
While not in Sydney, this was a regular shopping location for us on school holidays up at Umina. We would regularly catch the 'Peninsula Buslines' service to Ettalong and stock up on items for the next few days.
Flemings Ettalong Video HERE.
This is now an IGA.
Umina also had a Flemings, it being the third last to close (2010). It was replaced by a Woolworths across the road.

Despite all the expectations that the Flemings name would be gone well before we reached the year 2000, it defied all odds and remained in existence.
Pendle Hill was the fourth last store, rebranded as Woolworths Metro in 2009, Umina following soon after in 2010.
This would leave just two more, Bexley North, which finally succumbed to the 'Woolworths Metro' name in 2017, and Jannali in Sydney's 'Sutherland Shire'.

 Flemings Maroubra was to be my final Flemings store. After many years, and many stores, my journey ended here. However, the interest in the brand was to continue.
Thankfully I have retained a couple of truly awesome friends from this store, manager Julie and storeman John.

Flemings Matraville, the place where it all began for me. I still remember wandering in there for an interview with manager Evelyn Dunn, thinking that I would, 

almost certainly, not be lucky enough.

I was, and thus I set off on many years with the company, made many friends and, too this day, still regularly remember some of the fun moments (and some of the bad).
That bottle shop sold more than a couple UDL cans to me on a Saturday arvos.

The 'Flemings Distribution Centre' was not located far away from many of the stores in which I worked, it being located here in Gardeners Road, Mascot.
That Telecom phone booth is of equal interest. The Telecom name  disappeared from 1995, when they rebranded as Telstra. While, the local phone booth itself is fast in decline.

Clancy's Mascot, formerly a Flemings 'Fabulous' Food Store, is today an IGA.
Despite this being my closest Flemings, it was one I rarely shopped in and only worked in as a nightfiller following the change to Clancy's.

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The End Of An Era

For many years (actually decades) I held a bitterness towards Woolworths for it's treatment of the Flemings branding.
It was a supermarket chain that, for the most part, I greatly enjoyed working for. But gradually you saw stores close, people you knew either out of work or forced to move elsewhere. To this day, I find myself gravitating more towards Coles (who I guess are no better) and Aldi.
This dislike rose forth again two weeks ago, when I was sent an article about Woolworth's plan to crush the last link to 90 years of history, with the closure of the final store, at Jannali, on May 19th.

 For old times sake, last Friday I traveled on down to Jannali for one last Flemings visit. Well, to be honest, other than the signage out front, and the feeling of the building, everything else inside reeks of a Woolworths.
Even my much looked forward to souvenier receipt read 'Woolworths Metro' :-(

 On May 19th, at 9pm, these doors are expected to close for the last time, thus ending 90 years of retail history started by Jim Fleming Snr and George Fleming.
The signage will enter the 'Woolworths Heritage Centre' as a lasting reminder to a grocery chain that once numbered 100 stores (Wikipedia).
However, I can't help feeling a little annoyed that it could not have lasted the final decade needed to reach the full century.

Smiling customers in Flemings stores.
That's how I remember my time in Flemings.
There was something different about Flemings, the staff had more fun and the customers were like family. It was a world away from what you find in the average large Woolworths store in 2020.

The shop was showing some signs of neglect, with Woolies unlikely wanting to invest to much in a store that was likely to be replaced.

Ripped off - I want a Flemings receipt.

There we have it people, the end of another era in Sydney. It seems the Caltex name will be next.

If you worked for Flemings (or Food For Less) you are invited to join our Facebook group.
Flemings Food Stores

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The Fleming family home (since sold) at Blakehurst in Sydney.
Photo: RP Data

TEAM MAROUBRA

Still occasionally catch up for a chat, shared memories and many laughs.

Was so proud to receive this.
But not one mention of our singing with the customers at the checkouts. :-(

All photos are copyright of their respective owners.
Sharing is fine, altering and removing watermarks is not.

Thanks to Jason Anthony and Greg Davis..