The history of Broadway Dry Cleaners is closely entwined with the history of Mount Hawthorn.
The Hawthorn Estate, from which Mount Hawthorn eventually took its name, was opened in 1903 by a syndicate headed by one J.A. Hicks. He originally named it Hawthorn after a visit to Victoria because he considered that “what Hawthorn was to Melbourne our estate was to Perth”. The “Mount” was added to the suburb name to avoid confusion with Hawthorn in Victoria and also because the term was fashionable at the time.
The first business recorded on Scarborough Beach Road, in 1907, was a general store owned by P Gleeson between Flinders and Coogee Streets. By 1919 there were a variety of businesses along Scarborough Beach Road, including a baker, newsagent, butcher and several grocers.
Broadway Dry Cleaners opened for business in 1926, and can truly lay claim to be one of the oldest continually operating businesses in the suburb. With expansion, our head office and main plant is now based in Balcatta. However, our retail drop off and collection shop is still in Mount Hawthorn, the location which conjures up the history of Broadway Dry Cleaners in popular imagination.
