With its welcoming atmosphere, exemplary service and a wealth of fashion expertise behind the counter, Mitchell McCabe has built a solid reputation as the place to go for high-quality men’s apparel, accessories and gifts to suit all occasions. The store’s eclectic mix of styling cleverly marries its heritage setting with fresh products and marketing techniques. The Mitchell McCabe customer is confident, well-travelled, brand-aware, body-conscious and well-groomed.
In 1901 Mr. Henry Mitchell and Mr. Stewart McCabe arrived from Scotland and opened a menswear store in the buildings initially inhabited by the Glasgow Bakery Company in the historic Emerald Hill Estate in South Melbourne. In the halcyon days of the 1920s, up to 16 full-time staff occupied the bustling premises. Bespoke tailoring saw suits and shirts being made for the store’s customers in the busy workrooms upstairs.
In 1945, Mr. Stan Hiatt, a young manager at the store, took ownership of the business and operated it for 52 years until his retirement in 1997. Still housed in the same heritage buildings in Clarendon Street, the latest incarnation came about in 1998 when Mr. Andrew Scawen took on the business and built it into the highly regarded contemporary men’s fashion store today.
Like the store environment itself, the brand selection by Mitchell McCabe is intentionally eclectic and focused on quality and style.
An excellent array of national and internationally renowned brands is presented in a warm and friendly atmosphere, offering a customer experience that is vastly superior to that of a department store. Indeed, many brands stocked by Mitchell McCabe are not available in department stores.
With clever styling and period fixtures, Mitchell McCabe has an atmosphere of an old-world store. Its window displays are renowned for their innovation and flair. However, part of its appeal is to blend its heritage with a modern and informed approach to fashion retailing.
The store is not a place merely to sell clothing but to showcase various brands to customers in a fun and unique way. The result is that Mitchell McCabe has become a place to see or be seen in, a haven to relax, browse and discuss the latest and best from the world of men’s fashion.
Essential to the Mitchell McCabe experience is the personality and fashion expertise of the owner-operator, Andrew Scawen.
Andrew has been in the fashion industry all his life.
Born in Bristol in the UK in 1961, his earliest memories of fashion and culture were the Beatles and the Psychedelic movements of the late 1960s. After working in the knitwear industry and studying for five years to gain an honours degree in Fashion and Textile Design, Andrew took a trip that would shape his career and change his life; a year off in Australia turned into 26 years and counting. Andrew has worked in the Australian Menswear industry with national brands such as Sportscraft, Pelaco, Gloweave, Blazer and Cutler.
