Geelong retail stalwart Hayden Spurling retiring after 50 years

Veteran Geelong retail trader Hayden Spurling has started a closing down sale at The Squire Shoppe, cutting prices across the menswear store by 50 per cent.

Retail stalwart Hayden Spurling is preparing to hang his measuring tape after more than 50 years selling menswear in central Geelong.

Mr Spurling has started a closing down sale, marking 50 per cent off all stock, with some items selling below cost, as he prepares close The Squire Shoppe and retire.

The move began earlier this year when the freehold building at 170-172 Ryrie St sold to a private investor for $1.125m and seems to be coming fast.

“The big day was going to be late November, early December. It may well be much quicker than that because stock is going out the door,” he said.

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The Squire Shoppe has outfitted men in Geelong in suits, hats and shoes since 1971, with all but two years from the present address.

He said when the business first moved in, Barwon Heads golf professional Bud Russell operated a driving range upstairs.

“He was up there belting golf balls the length of the building, but they had a net.”

The Squire Shoppe dressed past generations of Geelong Football Club players, some whose pictured grace the walls, and singer, TV and radio host Denis Walter, going back to the days where he was reading the TV news in regional Victoria and calling the nightly Keno draw on Channel 9.

And though fashions continue to change, Mr Spurling said demand for suits and formal attire has remained.

Hayden Spurling pictured in Bride magazine in 2008.

The Squire Shoppe has been an “old school” menswear retailer for more than 50 years.

“There is always demand. There is always demand for weddings and things like that, but there’s also suit hire, which is always last minute.

“Generally people from interstate flying in come in and get dressed.”

Mr Spurling said he was initially apprehensive at retiring after 53 years.

“I just love being here and I love meeting our customers and the generations that come through,” he said.

“I’ve had more people coming in with the sign on the window saying ‘You’re not closing? You know, my parents got their wedding gear here, we got our gear here, and our generation is getting it here’.

170-172 Ryrie St, Geelong, sold this year after being offered for sale for the first time in more than 50 years.

Suit hire was displayed upstairs in the building where a golf driving range once operated.

“I’ve loved just to dress people and make them feel different. I’ve got one guy that comes in here all the time. He says, you know what I like, put it together for me.”

Mr Spurling, who also served as a councillor for 14 years and was mayor of the City of Geelong when Market Square officially opened, has always had plenty to say about the state of affairs in central Geelong.

“I have been, over a period of 50 years, so positive that the CBD will kick on, particularly the likes of Ryrie St, Moorabool St and Malop St,” he said.

“And every time I become positive about it, the council or state government buggers it up.

“For instance with parking – we are attached to a parking fee, unlike if you want to go to any of the shopping centres around the region. It’s a tax on operators within the CBD.”

And don’t get him started on trucks on Ryrie St.

Trucks are a constant feature in busy traffic on Ryrie St in Geelong. Picture: Alan Barber

“The road has deteriorated because we now have B-triples travelling through with 36 wheels. All those wheels with the weight, firstly, of what’s on board, and secondly, the noise,” he said.

“I’ve gone deaf in my 50 years here because of the road noise.

“No other city in the world has B-doubles or B-triples going through it.”

Mr Spurling said the Westfield footbridge across Yarra St had “buggered up” the view of the water and once proposed a multistorey bus and taxi station with retail at street level to take the city’s bus interchange off Moorabool St, where it continues to hurt traders to this day.

But Mr Spurling said new businesses coming in to Geelong’s main shopping strips were positive signs for the CBD.

“It brings life, all sorts of life – the restaurants are good. Providers that create footpath traffic is good.”

Private investors have splashed millions over several years buying up a dozen retail buildings along the main Ryrie St strip between Yarra and Gheringhap streets as new businesses take up leases.

Work is nearing completion on the facade to the Regent theatre building in Lt Malop St, Geelong.

Belcher’s Corner at the intersection of Ryrie and Moorabool Streets has been listed for sale, with agents saying a hotel or apartments are a likely outcome above ground floor retail spaces.

Geelong’s Hamilton Group is having an impact on the appearance in the CBD, with workers close to finishing the external remake of the old Regent theatre building in Lt Malop St, while beginning early works at its Brights holding that sits empty on most of the Moorabool St block between the mall and the T&G building.

The landmark Belcher’s Corner, another city eyesore, has also been listed for sale with agents revealing that a hotel or apartments above retail would be the most likely outcome of a development.

Mr Spurling said people are they key to the future growth of the CBD.

“Obviously more people, more opportunities, more business. It’s starting to happen and that’s great.”