How it all started

Yellowoods came into existence because Pam and John Duncan were keen to open a bookshop in Plett in 1974 but could not find suitable space. Plett was still a village! By chance they met with the Phitidis family of Dorothea, Plato and Solon who owned a stand on Main Street. Together as partners they decided to put up a building on this site which would house the bookshop apart from 12 other shops and 6 flats on the third floor.

Murray and Roberts laid the first brick overseen by their local director Bo Price and the Architect Richard Johnson. The impossible goal was to complete the work within 6 months and be open for business on the 1st December 1974. They did it with a day to spare! The design emphasizes Spanish arched walkways with a plum brick facade. The bricks, from the Grahamstown brickworks, are unusually heavy and strong giving the building a sense of enduring solidity. No structural repairs have ever been needed.

The two families are proud of their endeavour and the resulting relationship that continues with the children and grandchildren of the founding members.

The diversity and individuality of the Yellowoods’ enterprises and the building’s central location have created a Plett Icon.