Avondale Primary School

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Avondale Shops

History of Avondale Shops

Our questions about the Avondale Shops in the past:-

What shops were first built in Avondale?

There was a store on the corner of Elm Street and Rosebank Road in 1865. The Morris brothers operated a Store and Post Office in 1875.

In 1875, we found that that there were three stores, a carpenter, and two Smiths shops.

Henry Peck had a Bakery and a General Store near the Hotel.

When were the first shops built in Avondale?

Around the 1860s.

Where were the first shops built?

We are unsure of this answer.

Who made the shops?

We didn't find out the answer to this question.

Who owned the first shop in Avondale?

We are unsure of this.

Why did they build shops in Avondale?

So they didn't have to go all the way to town to do their shopping. There is also a train station in Avondale.

Which shops today have been around for a long time?

The Avondale Spiders has been around for a long time. Also the Hall next door to The Hollywood Theatre has been around for a very long time.

We spoke to some historians to find out some of the history of the Avondale Shops.

We found out these things:-

The Avondale Fish and Chip shop was around in the 1930s as a Fish and Chip shop. Nowadays they still sell fish but not chips too.

The Ray White Reality is where Wasim's mother works. This shop used to be a small grocery shop.

Shaina always goes to The Taro Plantation to shop.

King's Foodmart is opposite our school.

There was a law made about the building materials of shops. The shops weren't allowed to be built with wood anymore because they were burning down. They had to be made out of bricks.

There were lots of wooden shops in the olden days. The shop with the spider on top, which used to be called Avondale Spiders, is old. It is made out of wood. It is the oldest shop made out of wood in Avondale. That means it is older than the shops made out of brick.

The little house that used to be beside Ray White, had a fire in it. The dresses that were by the fire place drying, caught fire and the house burnt down.

We learnt that many shops got burnt down. The Pub got burnt down.

The Post Office used to be where the Thai Restaurant is now. It has moved around a few times.

The old Police Station is now a house. It is near the Post Shop.

We thought of some questions to ask the current shop keepers.

Here are our questions:-

The fruit and vegetable shop

Where does all the fruit come from? By Royce

We go to the Wholesalers called Turners and Growers and we buy our fruit there and bring it back to our shop and sell it here.

The Optometrist shop

Who makes the glasses? By Haamiora

They send them to a laboratory to get the lenses made.

We buy the frames from a wholesaler.

The toy shop

Where are most of the toys made? By Billy

China.

The fish shop

How do you make the chips? By Atonia

We don't sell chips anymore. When we used to sell them we put the chips into a deep fryer.

If we look at some of the shops in Avondale today, we can tell you what kind of a shop they were in the 1930s.