For a very long time, Port-of-Spain has been the shopping capital of the Eastern Caribbean. Its constant throng of imports and exports combined with a healthy private sector interest, contributed to the expansion of a city that by the end of the 19th century, was hailed as the New York of the Caribbean.
Then came 1895, when a fire levelled the entire business quarter of Frederick Street, compelling reconstruction. In stepped a young architect named George Brown who remodelled the area using signature elements of wrought iron, Scottish firebrick and plate glass which gave a renewed magnificence to the shops.
What succeeded the old cocoa and coffee mercantiles of the pre-fire era was a plethora of fine department stores modelled on the business type made popular by Macy’s in New York City, and Harrod’s in London, where everything of the best kind could be acquired under the lantern roofs of George Brown, that allowed a soft sunlight to filter into the shopping floors.
In 1918, a visitor to Port-of-Spain described the place thus: “The shopping district fairly teems with pedestrians and vehicles throughout the business hours, and Frederick Street, which is perhaps the busiest in the city, is a gay and interesting sight, kaleidoscopic in colour, crowded with life, and a very beehive of activity.
“Here are stores, after stores of every kind, many modelled on the plan of our own department stores, and here one may find anything and everything the markets of the world afford. Clerks crowd the shop entrances. Goods heap the sidewalks as at a Paris bazaar. A few blocks farther the crowd has thinned, and the shops are smaller and less pretentious.”
One of the largest emporiums was the Miller’s Public Supply Stores which began life around 1835, when Irishman John Miller broke with his employers at Wilsons (a large cocoa and sugar agent) and went into business on his own. Although he died in 1843, his store survived and was administered from Gatechurch Street in London, by a relative, James Miller Esq.
The firm had a main building on Frederick Street, which was rebuilt after the fire, and another on Henry Street, which was primarily a hardware dealer, selling estate supplies and saddlery for the thousands of horses and mules in use in the city.
Miller’s, like other merchants of the period, had a room behind the premises on Frederick Street where cocoa planters could bring in their beans and receive a store credit instead of cash.
During the period 1870-1920, there was a cocoa boom in the island and this was a good way of transacting commerce. In order to capitalise on the cocoa wealth, Miller’s had branches at Princes Town and Arima. Cocoa taken in trade could be forwarded by railway to Port-of-Spain.
The main building was quite spectacular and its showcases were packed with toys, ready-made clothes, boots, shoes, hardware, and such niceties. A separate section was dedicated to fine furniture crafted in Barbados as well as crockery and other housewares. In yet another department was a grocery that sold fine wines and spirits.
Miller’s was a fixture right up until the 1930s when it closed for good. The building still survives as the Golden Doors Plaza on Frederick Street.
Another emporium just up the road was C Vincent and Co Housed in a smaller but equally elegant George Brown building. This store did business on a less grand scale than Miller’s but was quite outstanding all the same. It was established in the 1880s by a man who had formerly been a draper, tailor and haberdasher, since in the 19th century these were not as yet specialty professions. Popularly known as the Red Boot Store, Vincent and Co was primarily a gentleman’s outfitter although they did carry wardrobes for ladies as well.
This was a time when dapper meant a finely tailored suit with a black waistcoat, Wilson hat, and a solid watch chain looped across one’s front.
Travelling meant moving around with enough clothes to outfit an army, so for overseas voyages, the company stocked heavy trunks bound in brass as well as fine leather portmanteaus. Perfumes, colognes and toilet water were also sold and a tailor on the premises could outfit to custom specifications those who could not find what they liked among the ready-made items.
A unique establishment, Vincent and Co lasted a relatively short time, being gone by the 1920s and closing a ritzy chapter in local commercial history.