Auction set for JJ’s building

The building that used to house much-loved fabric store JJ’s Bargain Centre will soon be auctioned.

Raine and Horne Commercial’s Trent Bruce is handling the auction on October 2.

Trent says the two-level, 12,000sqm building on a 607sqm block, has a huge showroom on the ground level with office space and three-bedroom residence, including full kitchen, upstairs.

JJ’s, which sold a wide range of fabrics and haberdashery at discount prices, closed after 47 years in December when owners Ken and June Jarvis decided it to was time for them to start a new chapter in their lives.

Trent says the couple has been approached directly by people interested in the property but have taken their time preparing it for sale before listing it.

He says buildings of this size and in the heart of Redcliffe are not available often and the sale presents a golden opportunity.

While the future of the former JJ’s site may be unclear for some time yet, Redcliffe’s Joan Kelly has plans to open a fabric shop somewhere on the Peninsula after buying up most of the remaining JJ’s stock.

“Seeing the local response to JJs closing, I am keen to open a bricks and mortar shop in the Redcliffe area and am currently looking for the right building,” Joan says.

“The idea of opening a shop of my own – particularly to work at the ‘end of life/rescue from landfill’ stage - has been on my backburner for many years.

“After buying the JJ’s stock, I immediately got in touch with key east coast dealers in ‘dead stock’…

“This corner of the industry is quite a close community, and I received a warm welcome – and some relief… that this end of ends opportunity that (former JJ’s owner) Ken has supplied for almost 50 years is not going to completely disappear – although I do have a slightly different model.”

Joan hopes to support local sewing communities and provide textiles for dance and theatre costumes.

“There is a huge supply of surplus stock out there. I’m keen to work with local sewing communities to focus on the types of textiles that will help support them on their own sewing journeys – to maintain my textile circular economy model,” she says.

June is pleased Joan is poised to start her own venture that contributes to Jarvis family history.

“We chose to sell the remaining stock to Joan as she was so passionate about textiles and carrying on a similar tradition of JJ’s to bring affordable fabric and haberdashery supplies to the local community,” June says.

“It has been wonderful for my family to see the stock go to a good home and for it to be brought into the modern world, but with respect to the history.

“As you can appreciate, this is a significant part of our family's history and is wonderful to see it live on.”