13/12/2022
Throwback Thursday to Myers history where Santa would have stopped by to pick up Christmas gifts and prezzies over the last 100 years making so many kids happy 🎄🛷🎁❤️
Sidney Myer - born 1878
The first Myer store, then known as "Myers", was opened in Bendigo Victoria, by Russian born Jewish immigrants Sidney Myer and his brother Elcon in 1900. In the photograph below of the storefront, Sidney Myer is standing in the middle of the men.
Sidney, his real name Simcha Myer Baevski, emigrated to Melbourne in August 1899, to join his elder brother, who had left Russia two years earlier.
During the depression era of the early 1930's, rather than terminate staff, Sidney and all staff elected to take pay cuts. He also personally financed relief employment, creating hundreds of jobs. He held a Christmas Dinner for 10,000 unemployed at Melbourne's Royal Exhibition building, ensuring every child received a gift.
When he died aged 56 in 1934, 10% of his estate went to the establishment of the Sidney Myer Charitable Trust. The Music Bowl in Melbourne's Domain, which opened in 1959 carrying his name, is the most obvious example of the trust's work.
Photos: State Library of Victoria
#СимхаМайерБаевский
