Grace Removals, the iconic Australian mover, is 100 years old this year. To mark the occasion Steve Jordan spoke to Steven Brown, the company’s CEO, to find out a little more about the company and its plans for a year of celebration.
It was a very different world in 100 years ago. It was a time of air pioneers, suffragettes, Einstein and, in the moving industry, horses and carts. That was when Grace Bros Removals formed, like many other moving companies, as a natural diversification from a retail department store. Today, Grace Removals has branches in over 40 locations in Australia and New Zealand and operates a 500-strong fleet of vehicles.
There were many milestone events in the company’s history but perhaps among the most significant was the change of ownership in 1983 when the company was sold to Myer and the transport side to Bramles Industries, followed by the subsequent sale of the removals side of the business to Jim Thompson.
Jim Thompson bought Grace Removals as an individual not through his global company Crown Relocations. So despite his ownership Grace remains an independent company and competes hard with Crown. “We don’t deal with Crown anywhere in the world,” said Steven. “We have always made independent agency arrangements.”
Just like most Australian moving companies Grace Removals’ history owes much to the migration industry and, although that side of the business still represents around half of the company’s business, it is the corporate side that supplies the growth. “I think this is a result of Australia maturing. As business has developed here and in Asia the initial dependence on the migration traffic moved away.” Of course corporate relocation is a growing business segment for the company too with Grace employing a small but dedicated team to manage this side of the business.
Grace Removals will be holding a number of centenary events throughout the year. These will include the publishing of a centenary book about the company’s history, a social event for suppliers and staff and a Grace Removals reunion in Sydney in June to which all staff, past and present, will be invited. “We are expecting around 600 people at the reunion,” said Steven. “It should be quite a party."
Scenes from a century of moving.
A liveried van from sometime in the sixties.
(Left to right): J N Grace, A E Grace and Steven Brown