Connell and Clowes’ Store, designed by Oamaru’s leading architectural partnership Forrester and Lemon in 1881, sits on a prominent corner site on the north side of Harbour Street, marking the entrance to the outstanding industrial Victorian streetscape of Oamaru’s Harbour/Tyne Street historic area (Register No. 7064).

The store was built for Oamaru businessmen Henry Connell and Thomas (Arthur) Clowes (d.1885). Henry Connell appears to have been a surveyor and commission agent (selling real estate), and was involved with the early capital works of the Oamaru Borough Council, with offices on Tyne Street from 1866. Thomas Clowes made his living as a commission agent. They entered into a formal partnership as ‘Connell and Clowes’ - ‘Auctioneers, Stock and General Commission Agents’ in April 1875.

Connell and Clowes’ first store and offices were built in 1877 at about the same time as the Criterion Hotel (Register No. 4689) with the design forming part of the Criterion’s façade, although the businesses and the buildings were separate, as made clear by the entrance which has ‘Connell and Clowes’ on the pediment on the first floor. Forrester and Lemon’s elevation drawings dated October 1877 show the elaborately detailed two storey building with a large central doorway and ornate decorative detailing around the windows, with balustrades and a central pediment.

Connell and Clowes expanded their storage with the construction of a large new store positioned on the corner of Harbour and Tyne Streets, just north of their existing premises, some four years later. Connell and Clowes’ Store was finished in 1881-1882. An article from October 1882 describes the large ‘somewhat irregularly shaped’ building. The Store was 120 ft by 72 ft (36.5 by 22m) in size and 42 ft (13m) high. It contained a large weighbridge which allowed truckloads of grain to be weighed. The building cost £4,000. It sits on a pair of irregularly shaped sections with the building footprint matching the shape of the land parcels.

The partnership was dissolved on 1 January 1884, with Henry Connell continuing the business on his own. Clowes died in 1885 after a long period of ill health. In 1893 the National Mortgage and Agency Company took over the Store, and continued to occupy it into the 1970s. Additions were made to the east elevation in the 1930s. In the late 1970s Wrightson NMA Limited took over the lease.

Connell and Clowes’ Store (Former) is a landmark building marking the western edge of Harbour Street, the narrow thoroughfare notable for its outstanding Victorian architecture, particularly the grain stores. Connell and Clowes’ Store has decorative facades to both Harbour and Tyne Streets, with the north and east facades of a utilitarian design. In style the façade makes a visual link to the Criterion Hotel across Harbour Street, although it is plainer in style. The facade is divided into even bays, each with paired round-headed windows. The original drawings indicate that the pediment had the names of Connell and Clowes in raised lettering, with their function as grain and seed merchants also noted on the pediment. The balustrading and pediment details have been removed from the building.

The landmark store has architectural and historic significance, recalling the prosperity of the 1870s and early 1880s in Oamaru which resulted in the magnificent stone architecture associated with the Harbour/Tyne Street area.

In 2013 the former Connell and Clowes’ Store is home to a range of retail businesses, including a café, gift shop, automotive collection and a weekend market.