 Bruce Small’s
early days
By 1920 Tom Finnigan was ready to retire and wanted to move to the country,
he put the business up for sale. On 1 June 1920 Bruce Small finalised his purchase of
Malvern Star business
now centered at 185 Glenferrie Rd Malvern.
The new owner had been a young and enthusiastic sales representative for
Finlay Bros. and he was now ready for a new challenge. And a challenge it was.
Small, slowly established his own credibility in the business and then
started expanding to meet growing demand. In 1921 the shop was enlarged and
Bruce’s brothers Ralph and Frank joined him. A new shop opened in Gardenvale
in 1923. By 1925 the business had grown sufficiently for it to establish a
headquarters at Prahran.
Small was now sufficiently confident and financially secure to offer finance
for the purchase of bikes. This was a revolutionary move in the Australian
industry and the first of many challenges that he laid down to his competitors.
The transformation of the Australian bicycle industry from a "cottage"
industry to large scale manufacturing, franchising and national retailing had
begun.
Ó
Rolf Lunsmann, 2000
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