Propchoice

In those early days there was a lot of hard ground work to be done. Les and his friend Heck Adams shared the responsibility, with Les scouting for business (much as our salespeople do when they focus market in their area today) while Heck attended to dressing the windows, preparing circulars and marketing.

Things went well for a few years then the Great Depression hit. With money at a minimum Les Hooker set about developing a ‘state of the art’ promotional system to maximize the impact of signboards, giving birth for the now famous Red and Yellow colours.

By the mid 1930’s business was improving and many of Les and Heck’s friends had joined the business; people like Peter Lightfoot and Nelson Henwood – two early ‘Hooker Heroes’. With success came growth and in 1935 the first city office of LJ Hooker opened at 12 O’Connell Street, Sydney. Not only did LJ Hooker move in as tenants but also managing agents!

The first of many buyouts came in 1938 when LJ Hooker purchased HL Cross and Co. This brought with it a relocation to the prestigious ES&A Bank building on the corner of Martin Place and Pitt Street Sydney – albeit in the basement.

Breaking into Sydney

The time in the basement was a key period in LJ Hooker’s history as it was a period when the dedicated staff often worked through the night to ensure the company broke into the Sydney market. Indeed, their little office become known as ‘the lighthouse’. No matter what time of the day or night there were people working. This time also saw the Company working with a skeleton staff as men headed off to war.

Just like today, auctions were key to the growing Company’s success. The first LJ Hooker auction rooms were opened in the late 1930’s; ten years late the Company began to challenge the established auctioneers in the city. It was time to float!