[5] The staff consisted of one man and a girl, and newspaper advertising state the store was "noted for good butter and eggs.

[7] The store catered to the affluent suburbs of Malvern, Toorak and Armadale and carried imported gourmet foods not widely available elsewhere.

Some commodities - such as coffee, dried fruit, butter and bacon - was bought in bulk and repackaged under the Crittenden brand.

The company came to do a considerable amount of bottling, buying hogsheads of wine direct from wineries in Victoria and South Australia, and retailing it under its own label.

The wealthy and well connected ordered groceries and liquor on the telephone for home delivery and relied on the firm to cater parties and other special events.

Customers included former Prime Minister Robert Menzies, businessman Sidney Myer and opera singer Dame Joan Hammond.

American actor Gregory Peck lived in Toorak while filming the movie On the Beach (1959) and would place his order by phone.

Crittendens was sold to department store chain Myer, in 1982, as part of the latter's plan to increase its core business.

[16] "Shopping at Crittendens" is the title, and subject, of a poem by Evan Jones that appeared in the Australian literary and cultural journal Quadrant in 1982.