DURBAN’S BYGONE STREETS: A TAPESTRY OF CRAFT AND CONNECTION

OUR cities are in chains today.

Walk through Durban and you’ll see supermarkets chains, fashion chains, fast-food chains, pharmacy chains, electronics chains, bookstore chains, home improvement chains, furniture chains, sporting goods chains, coffee shop chains….the list is long.

But if you could step back a few decades, Durban’s streets - as well as streets in many other cities in South Africa and the world - would tell a very different story.

There were tailor shops, shoemakers and cobblers, the dry cleaner and laundry, bakeries, watchmakers, book shops and stationers, butcheries, record stores, toy shops and haberdasheries selling sewing and craft supplies.

It was when milkmen delivered bottles to doorsteps, often knowing every family on their route.

Durban’s streets back then were alive with the hum of local craftsmanship and everyday community life that was far more personal and tactile than today’s malls and chain stores.

Shopping was personal then, with shopkeepers knowing customers by name. Goods were often locally sourced, handmade, or prepared fresh daily.

Popular shoe repair outlets in Durban and surrounding areas included Kalidas Shoe Repairs, Makan’s Shoes Repairs, Lalla’s Shoe Repairs, Madhow Shoe Repairs, Gopals Shoe Repairs (established in 1901), and Giddiah’s Shoe Repairs in Clairwood.

Who repairs their shoes today?

Yesteryear’s leather shoes could be resoled or stitched.

Today, shoes that mostly come from China, are cast aside once worn out. In days gone by, if your clothes required washing and pressing, there were scores of dry-cleaners for suits and formal outfits that could not be washed with water and detergents.

Thus cleaning spirits were used. Launderers washed garments from families, hospitals, hotels, and restaurants. Names that stand out are Natal Dry Cleaners, Durban Laundry, Hygienic Steam Laundry,Eastern Dry Cleaners, Sunshine Dry Cleaners, Spotless Dry Cleaners, Rocket Dry Cleaners, Snow White Laundry, Stamford Hill Steam Laundry, Crown Steam Laundry, Everest DryCleaners, Victoria Steam Laundry, Francis Freres Dry Cleaners, Favourite Steam Laundry,Springbok Steam Laundry, Londsdale Dry Cleaners, White Rose Dry Cleaners, National DryCleaners, Kismet Dry Cleaners, Mansfield Steam Laundry, Central Steam Laundry and Modern Dry Cleaners.

The extended Maistry family dominated the laundry business.Until about 50 years ago, tailor shops in Durban were central to the city’s cultural and economic life. They provided made-to-measure suits, trousers and jackets and also did alterations, serving as trusted community hubs where craftsmanship and personal service defined fashion.

However, over the past few decades, these shops which were dominated by the darji caste within the Gujarati community in Durban, have steadily declined, with many closing their doors.

Earlier this year, a dear friend Dickey Pillay who was a master tailor passed away after a short illness. He learnt the trade at the family business Readville Tailors in Goodhope Centre in Queen Street, Durban, and after 20 years opened his own shop, New Creation Tailors, in Grey Street’s Ajmeri Arcade in 1991.

He was joined by his wife, Mennie. Dickey handled the cutting of cloth for the suits, while Mennie took care of the stitching. When the business scenario in the city began changing, Dickie moved his business to a basement room in his house a few years ago and his services continued to be in demand.

Some of the popular tailor shops in Durban over the years were G Parbhoo, K Magan,Ramson, Wakefield, Daya and Sons, Nirmal, Bhoola, Narainsamy, Bhagwandas, New York,

Omars, Omarjees and American Tailors. Pickles was the place to go to if you needed to buy a suit length of the finest Italian cloth.

Clothes were made to measure, and the tailor ensured they fit perfectly. These artisans were not just service providers; they were custodians of durability, individuality, and pride.

Their shops smelled of leather, fabric, and polish, and they were places where neighbours met, chatted, and exchanged news.

For those who preferred a high fashion outfitter who sold readymade suits in Durban, Bachelors was the shop where to get suited.

It was a cut above (pun unintended) the men’s departments of Greenacres, Payne Brothers, John Orr’s, The Hub, and Stuttafords. Bachelors also appealed to the closet gay community of the sixties.

Skipper Bar was also a high-fashion outfitter in one of the arcades near Payne Brothers. Woolfsons was a well-known, high-end men's outfitting store in old Durban’s West Street.

Somalian shops dominate the area now. Western and Indian music could be purchased, first on vinyl records and later cassette tapes, from Raj Music, Taj Records, Padmini Music Salon, M Subramoney Bookshop and D Roopanands, founded in 1932 by Dhonday and Sewbaran Roopanand.

The vast majority of music consumed today is through internet-based platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, due to convenience and accessibility. Whysalls, Modisons, Spectrum, Etkinds, Hollywood Photo, Foto Discount World, and TurboLite were among yesteryear’s famous photo printing shops in Durban.

Crown Studios, run by the well-known photographer Denis Bhagwan, was by far the most popular photo studio inDurban. Many older people will have sepia-toned or black-and-white family or individual photos taken at Crown Studios.

Other noteworthy studios were MK Bobby Naidoo Studio, Dot Studios, Gabriel Studio, Jay Maharaj Photographic and Hollywood Photos - both especially for school photos, and Studio Sydney. When sarees were the de rigueur garment for most Indian women in Durban for many decades, saree shops thrived.

Then there were more than two dozen stores such as Peekays, Tivolis, Harilals, Popatlall Kara, Choonilal Brothers, Jayshrees, Shrimatis, Enens, Narans, Sunitas, GH Fashion and SK Naidoo - all enjoying a fair slice of the sari business.

Today only Jayshrees-Rivaz is still doing business. Its owner Himat Jeevan clearly remembers when hundreds of bales of sarees would be taken off ships each month at Durban harbour. Western dress has replaced the saree that was once a staple garment.

TW Griggs and Adams were famous bookstores and stationers. That is when people read words printed on paper and wrote with pens.

Long before Tik-Tok, WhatsApp and Google News.Then slowly, the once famous stores, all once essential threads in the fabric of daily life, began disappearing. Their absence is more than economic; it is cultural, social, and deeply human.

Supermarkets began to replace corner stores, offering everything under one roof.

Chain stores introduced standardised products and pricing. Shopping centres started to appear, drawing foot traffic away from small streets.

Large malls like Gateway Theatre of Shopping and Pavilion in Durban became destinations in themselves. More feet walk through the Pavilion on a Sunday than on Durban’s beaches.

International brands entered Durban, changing consumer expectations, and closing long-established tailors and outfitters. Independent shops struggled to compete with scale,marketing, and pricing power. The advent of online shopping and delivery apps, hastened by Covid, further reduced reliance on local shops.

The personal touch of knowing your tailor or butcher faded.

Some family-run shops have survived by specialising, for example, artisanal bakeries, boutique tailors such as Daya and Sons, Dickson Tailors, Dinesh’s Tailors and Lucky Tailors, and butcheries.

But most have gone forever because of industrialisation, globalisation, andtechnological innovation.

Factories produce shoes and clothes faster and cheaper than any artisan can. Supermarkets and long-life packaging have made milkmen redundant.

The logic is simple: efficiency, affordability, and convenience. But the trade-off is subtle. We gained speed and scale, but lost the human touch, the artistry of repair, and the rituals that bound communities together.

The revival of artisanal crafts, the rise of local delivery, and the rediscovery of hand made goods suggest that while progress may have sidelined these roles, it hasn’t erased the longing for them.

In the end, the shoe repairer’s hammer and the tailor’s tape-measure and needle remind us of something deeper: that work was once not just about efficiency, but about community, ritual, and care.

And maybe, in their modern revivals, we can stitch some of that spirit backinto our lives.

Yogin Devan is a media consultant and social commentator. Reach him on:[email protected]

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