This modest Oamaru stone shop built in 1871 for bookseller James Grinton (JG) Flett (1841-c.1902?) was designed by well-known Oamaru architectural partnership Forrester and Lemon.

The 1870s saw Oamaru’s retail premises expand. Larger two-storey premises were built on Thames, Itchen and Tyne Streets. Scottish-born J.G. Flett’s two storey shop was among the earliest of the larger buildings which replaced the first small shops. In September 1871 the North Otago Times reported that Flett would ‘open those new and central premises in Itchen Street’ the following week. He advertised as a ‘Bookseller and Stationer’ and also stocked ‘fancy goods’ and ‘Berlin Wool.’

In 1877 Flett returned to England, and moved to Edinburgh, where he died around 1902. Flett sold his business to W.H. Ronayne (‘formerly of the North Otago Times’) and W.H. Cotterell in July 1877. With the economic slump of the 1880s William Ronayne shifted to Auckland and then to San Francisco.

Flett seems to have leased the land/and or the premises to a number of tenants. The land was leased on a 99 year term to George Snadden in July 1880. George Snadden was a tailor and clothing retailer.

In the 1930s the building was owned by a firm of Oamaru land, grain and stock agents, Stringer and Co. Ltd. The Royal Alfred Lodge of the Independent Order of Oddfellows acquired the property in 1958 and owned it until 1991. The upper floor provided residential accommodation, and the Lodge met on the ground floor. The Independent Order of Oddfellows was a Friendly Society started during the Californian gold rush and which came to New Zealand during the goldrushes of the 1860s, and existed to provide insurance related benefits to members and their families. The Oamaru lodge held its first meeting on 1 July 1868 at the Royal Hotel in Tees Street. It recently celebrated its 140th anniversary of signing its charter.

Architectural historian Conal McCarthy describes Flett’s bookstore as a having a ‘narrow, plain façade’ which ‘presented groups of three windows repeated through two storeys which were flanked by pilasters and capped by a cornice.’ Plans show that the original ground floor layout included a kitchen, parlour, hallway, and shop.

In 2013 this modest building remains a significant element in Oamaru’s Harbour/Tyne Historic Area (Register No. 7064).