Historical information

Archibald Crofts (1875-1942) was born in India and came to Australia in the mid 1890's. He married Mary Keene i 1899 and in 1905 opened his first grocery store in Sth Melbourne. Eventually there were 137 Crofts stores including one in Bendigo. In many cases these were the first self-serve grocery stores.
Crofts was also heavily involved in the South Melbourne Football Club and was its president 1933-37. He was a councillor for South Melbourne in 1931 before entering state politics in 1935 until his death.

Physical description

Bendigo Advertiser ''The way we were'' from 2002. Service with a smile: staff of Croft's Store, taken at least 50 years ago. David Davidson, Bert Gray, Lindsay Braddy, Len Bennetts, Perc Daws, Elsie Shipp, Violet Parker, Eunice Nicholas and Mary Fletcher. The shop was situated on the corner of Hargreaves and Williamson streets, which is now Gillies. The clip is in a folder.