Charles Thrupp arrived in South Africa from the United Kingdom in 1882 and made his way to King Williams Town to take up a job with a local wholesaler. As the gold fields of the Rand began to boom, the firm called on Thrupp to open and manage a store in Johannesburg. After a few years of solid trade, the branch hit hard times and had to close its doors in 1892. For most employees this would have meant looking for another job but Thrupp saw Johannesburg's potential and acquired the grocery side of the ailing business. He opened his first store on the corner of President and Eloff Streets later that year.
Thrupps Store on the corner of President and Eloff Streets (Seventy Golden Years)
Thrupp was forced to leave Johannesburg when the Anglo-Boer War (South African War) broke out in 1899. He returned when hostilities ended in 1902 and re-established the business at a prime Pritchard Street address. The site was only one erf down from the prized corner of Eloff and Pritchard Streets which went on to become the peak land value intersection in South Africa for over seventy years.
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