...When dressed by Whytes!

The building dates from 1882, though when I wrote the original caption, I had no idea whether Whytes itself did. My original caption noted that they did not appear to have a web site which suggested that they very well may have, and had not caught up with the 21st century.

As I mentioned in my PAD for today the motto "You Can Face The World... etc" does seem like a throwback to the early 60's or late 50's, but being of "an earlier era" is where the charm of Mittagong and the other Southern Highlands townships lies.

It was not until the last day of December 2023 that I got to fill in some additional information. On that day, we visited a small town called Moss Vale which is about 14 km south-west of Mittagong. I noticed a building which had "Established 1895" on it, which set me wondering about its history. As it turned out, that building had been occupied by, you guessed it, Whytes Clothing. And it was on a corner, making it known as "Whytes Corner". (And yes, the absence of an apostrophe is their idea, not mine.) It seems that the business was partial to corner locations.

According to the business's website (for 11 years after this shot was taken, they do actually have one) the business itself was established in 1895. (Thus, the 1892 date only relates to the building, not the business.) It was not established in Moss Vale, either. It was established in a little town called Burrawang, about 15 km east south-east of Moss Vale. It moved from there to the Moss Vale site (at 426 Argyle Street) in 1922.

The thing is, though, the corner store no longer seemed to be occupied by Whytes. The business signs, which Google Street View showed on the building as recently as October 2022 were no longer there. However the company's website shows the address now as 3/458 Argyle Street, so it appears to have moved about 130 m to the south-west. (Interestingly the "About Us" page still refers to, and features pictures of, the old Whytes Corner building.) Whether that was a result of financial pressures (for the new address is in a much quieter part of town despite the distance being only small), or whether it was just a better business opportunity, I have no idea. However, I DO know that somewhere between November 2016 and June 2017, the Mittagong branch closed up shop and was eventually absorbed by the Superb Design homewares store that we see on the right in this shot.

Regardless of how old fashioned the stores (now "store" singular) may be... the clothes that feature on their web site look pretty stylish. I may yet pay a visit to Moss Vale for some tailored clothing...