Page 73 - KBHA BULLETIN 3

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SHOPS AND SHOP-KEEPERS OF KALK BAY AND ST. JAMES

Barrie Gasson

Introduction

This paper provides firstly, a perspective on the rise and fall and revival of retailing along
Kalk Bay Main Road over the past 100 years and, secondly, more depth on parts of the

shopping area as seen from perspectives of three families directly involved in local

businesses.

The rise and fall and revival of retailing in Kalk Bay - St James

Today’s string of shops along Kalk Bay Main Road took root in the middle of the last

century. An advertisement in the Cape Town Mail of 27 November 1841, quoted in the Cape

of Good Hope Almanac 1846, noted:

“Kalk Bay is becoming a very populous neighbourhood, and is now full of
visitors, all the houses being occupied, requires a butcher and baker to supply
the enormous appetites people get by residing there. To the invalid, therefore,
this ought to be a temptation; that such is the fact, and that the most miraculous
recoveries are constantly taking place at this wonderful part of the country, may
be proved on inquiry of anyone who is acquainted with it. Those who keep pace
with the times, instead of taking physic for ailings, take themselves off to Kalk
Bay, with a sure prospect of more speedy and pleasant recovery.”

The advent of regular horse omnibus services in 1847 and then the railway in 1883 led to a

quickening in the tempo of life and to a steady general growth. The butcher and baker, so

necessary in 1841, were by 1902 two of 27 businesses located discontinuously along Main
Road and up some side streets. The steady growth peaked in the mid-1930s at 48 businesses,

slumped to 31 during the war, revived to 45 in 1955, but declined into the 1960s. Figs. 5.1 to

5.9 chart this history, Figs. 5.10 to 5.18 show some Main Road shops and related
advertisements, and Figs. 5.19 to 5.22 recall some of the leading local businessmen of the

times.