Garlicks was a department store chain in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. John Garlick started his first store on May 3, 1875, on the corner Bree and Strand Streets, in the central business district of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. In the 1880s, Garlick expanded with branches in the Transvaal, in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

and

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, and in

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

in the northern

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

. In 1892 the Cape Town store was replaced with a far grander store in

Adderley Street Adderley Street is a street in the Cape Town CBD, central business district (CBD) of Cape Town, South Africa. It is considered the main street of the area. The street bisects the CBD. It runs from the Parliament of South Africa at the north, pa ...

at Exchange Place, across from

Cape Town railway station Cape Town railway station is the main railway station of the city of Cape Town, South Africa. It is located along Adderley Street, Adderley and Strand Street (Cape Town), Strand Streets, in the city's Cape Town CBD, central business district ...

. It had lifts (elevators), electric lights throughout, and automatic fire sprinklers. A few years later, Garlicks built South Africa's first steel-framed skyscraper, one of nine stories and the tallest building in Cape Colony at the time, and which had the first escalators in what is now South Africa. The company would come to have branches in

Cavendish Square Cavendish Square is a public square, public garden square in Marylebone in the West End of London. It has a double-helix underground commercial car park. Its northern road forms ends of four streets: of Wigmore Street that runs to Portman Square ...

, Cape Town's first large suburban shopping centre, a branch in Johannesburg's

Carlton Centre The Carlton Centre is a 50-storey skyscraper and shopping centre located on Commissioner Street in central Johannesburg, South Africa. At , it was the tallest building in Africa for 46 years from its completion in 1973 until 2019. It is today ...

, Africa's tallest building, opened in the early 1970s as well as branches in other major cities of South Africa. The last Garlicks department store closed in Cape Town in late February 1993.

References

{{Cape Town, economy Department stores of South Africa Defunct companies of South Africa Demolished buildings and structures in South Africa Buildings and structures in Cape Town 1993 disestablishments in South Africa