Many a promise and claim has been made over the course of advertising history.
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But one that has been made as many times as any is the old line that the shop "has everything".
Today's business landscape is cluttered with dollar bargain and discount shops, and all play an important part in providing shopping options to lower income households.
And while these shops have made a big impact since they started in the late 1970s, the saying "there is nothing new under the sun" applies here, like it always does.
Because in Warrnambool, we were lucky enough to have the original, the Holy Grail of these stores, long before they became commonplace.
We are of course talking about the legendary Coles Variety Store in Liebig Street.
Wall-to-wall goods
The store opened its doors way back in the early 1930s.
It was a shop that truly had everything.
But it wasn't just that it had everything, it was the quality and price of the everything in it that set it apart from what had come before and what was to come after.
The goods in the Coles Variety Store were that nice mix of good quality, while also being an affordable price.
As a child of the 1970s and 80s, memories are strong of the variety store.
![Inside Warrnambool's Coles Variety Store in the early 1950s. File picture Inside Warrnambool's Coles Variety Store in the early 1950s. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/150021823/35f143ff-a766-4762-8eae-485d237e078c.jpg/r0_118_2414_1475_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The vision that has stayed planted was just how full the store was.
It was wall-to-wall goods, and the aisles were always teaming with customers.
Old advertisements from the store are a great window into just how many items it stocked.
A full-page ad from 1979 shows a diverse range of products on sale including flannelette shirts, Burl Ives' Greatest Hits album, light bulbs, beer glasses and four-packs of Juicy Fruit chewing gum.
Other ads into the 1980s included flasks, laundry trolleys, women's fashions, Tonka trucks, Quality Street chocolates and soup mugs.
Connoisseurs of the plastic football
As a young boy my passion in life was as simple as the game of football.
So it was no surprise my most cherished possession was a football, and the Coles Variety Store was the go-to place for cheap footballs.
The football for kids of the day was the plastic variety.
They were brown, light as a balloon, with a rock hard point at each end. But they were great.
I had a few over the years, they didn't last too long, we kicked them a lot and they were good chewing for the dogs.
![The last advertisement Coles Variety Store had in The Standard before closing in 1985. File picture The last advertisement Coles Variety Store had in The Standard before closing in 1985. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/150021823/8ef2f6fa-b851-4e41-939e-769153911da4.jpg/r0_0_1429_2856_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
But there was one very special football, and for that I will be eternally thankful to Coles Variety Store for.
It was the mid to late 1970s and was at the peak of the Life Be In It craze.
While looking for the newest plastic footy, I found a yellow one, it was a bit heavier and had the Life Be In It logo stamped into it.
This football was to remain my go-to ball until my adulthood, and I still have it safely tucked away at home.
That footy was an example of being able to find that 'something special' out of the blue at the variety store.
It's a tale many would no doubt be able to tell about an item they cherished that they purchased from the store.
End of an era
The store closed down in May 1985, after Coles failed to successfully negotiate a new lease agreement with the building's landowner.
At that time, the store employed 24 staff, many who it was hoped would be re-employed at the Coles New World supermarket in Lava Street.
At the time of the variety store's closure, business competition in Warrnambool was white-hot.
![A packed Liebig Street in the early 1960s with the Coles sign in the middle of the picture. File picture A packed Liebig Street in the early 1960s with the Coles sign in the middle of the picture. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/150021823/231a336c-461b-4c72-854e-3a1026767e12.jpg/r0_36_1024_612_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The new Kmart shopping complex in Warrnambool's east was under construction, while in the CBD Target and the Warrnambool Co-Op were in their prime, regularly running full-page advertisements.
While the variety store is now long closed, the building it once occupied in Liebig Street still holds its legacy.
Half the store is now home to Bed Bath N' Table, while OPSM takes up the other half.
In the Bed Bath N' Table half at 153 Liebig Street, the original - very ornate ceiling from Coles is still in place.
The front of both stores has the original windows on the upper level that once shone light into the variety store.
An interesting historical note about the store is that while its home was Liebig Street, it did have a brief spell away from that address.
In 1939, the store temporarily moved to the congregational hall in Lava Street, while extensions were being made at the Liebig Street store.