To describe Miss Gladys Sym Choon a ‘Rundle St institution’ would be to severely understate the case. The store was originally opened in 1923 by the eponymous Miss Sym Choon, at a time when Chinese immigrants were not exactly the most beloved citizens in town. “Gladys and her family had to cut it in Adelaide society when being Asian was poison,” current owner Joff Chappel explains.

“The store under our care [today] is a monument to the creativeness and ingenuity of families like hers living in communities and carving out a life against the odds.”

Joff’s own experience with Miss Gladys goes back to his childhood. “At 12 or 13 I smoked my first cigarette on the balcony next door”. At that time it had already been in business for half a century. “Back then the store had stock imported from China predating the Communist revolution. They also sold happy shoes,” Joff says.

A few years down the track when Joff and his partner Razak Mohammed were looking for a place to sell Razak’s frocks, Rundle St seemed like the only place to be. “The East End was über cool. Like a tropical island on a desert plain.” As for Razak himself, his involvement in Gladys brings a down-to-earth sense of style to the store, says Joff.

While the eclectic range of style sold at today’s Gladys is a far cry from the “ornamental china and cloisonné” of 1923, the spirit remains the same. Joff is proud of his store’s staff, its products, and its sense of place. Miss Gladys transcends just being an ‘institution’; it’s part of the rosy red heart of Adelaide itself.