For the latter half of the 19th century and all through the 20th, Brashs remained a leading music house although Victorian-wide expansion did not begin until the mid-1950s and interstate 30 years later, through a combination of acquisitions and new store openings.

Alfred traded the business through the Great Depression, with an astute idea allowing his customers to repay the debts owed on the pianos over a longer period (20 years rather than five), as it realised that the pianos would be kept in a better condition in the customers' homes than repossessed in his warehouse.

[citation needed] Post-World War II, Brash boomed, as it sold refrigerators and took trade-ins on old ice chests.

Part of the expansion also included taking over major book chain Angus & Robertson for $20 million.

[2] By the 1990s, its product base expanded to selling hi-fi stereos, video cassette recorders, microwaves and televisions.

[3] On 6 December 1986, Brashs opened Australia's first major megastore at 244 Pitt Street, Sydney.

According to Geoff Brash, the last family executive, the problems that caused the collapse were authoritarian leadership, cheapening of values, advertising that did not deliver, over-expansion, faulty management information systems, increased competition and internal conflict.