Mrs Harding's Premier Tea Rooms, Mt Alexander Rd, Essendon

This shop was a little hard to identify, but with what appeared to be a saddle in the window of the shop to the right, and the beginning of a word 'SAD' at the bottom of the next door window, I went looking for a saddler's shop next door to a confectionery shop. On the left side of the confectionery shop is a shop advertising Medicated Soap, Weights (possibly scales), and cigarettes. This combination of shops appeared in Mt Alexander Rd, in the 1925 Sands & McDougall Directory:

In the window of the confectionery shop is an indistinct painted sign, saying "The Premier Tea Rooms". The store stocked Wrigley's Spearmint Chewing Sweet, Pascall Sweets, Fry's Chocolate and Cadbury's Chocolate. It must have been a great relief to Wrigleys when someone came up with the idea of replacing "Chewing Sweet" with "Gum". You can learn more about Mrs Harding and her Tea Rooms at the Time Travellers website.

Miss Stife's Pharmacy, Rose Street, Essendon, circa 1930

Miss Sylvia Margaret Stife's pharmacy in Rose St, Essendon. She seems to have been at this address from 1925, when she was first registered as a chemist, until at least 1931 when she appeared there in a Sands and McDougall Directory. Learn a little more about Miss Stife at the Time Travellers website.