Moran & Cato

Moran & Cato was the largest chain of grocery stores in Australia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.^[1]

Moran & Cato

Former Moran & Cato store (1940)
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Retail
Founded	1881; 144 years ago (1881)
Founder	Thomas Edwin Moran Frederick John Cato
Defunct	1969; 56 years ago (1969)
Fate	Acquired by Permewan Wright Limited
Headquarters	Melbourne , Australia
Number of locations	164 stores (1969)
Area served	New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria
Products	Groceries
Number of employees	1,000 (1935)
Parent	Permewan Wright Limited

History

The business began in Melbourne on 24 July 1882 when Frederick John Cato joined his cousin Thomas Edwin Moran, who at the time operated two grocery stores in Fitzroy and Carlton.^[2] Moran had invited Cato to invest in and manage the expanding business, pooling their combined capital of £411. The partnership flourished, but Moran’s sudden death in 1890 at the age of 39 saw his widow step in as partner alongside Cato, who assumed a greater leadership role.^[2] The following decades brought rapid expansion, with the company establishing branches across Victoria, moving into Tasmania, and launching operations in New South Wales. In 1909, a Sydney-based subsidiary was formed to aid interstate growth, and by 1912 the firm had incorporated as a proprietary company, with Cato as governing director.^[2]

By 1935, Moran & Cato employed nearly one thousand people and operated around 120 branches in Victoria and Tasmania, plus about 40 in New South Wales. It remained Australia’s largest independent retail grocery chain and wholesaler well into the mid-twentieth century, competing directly with Coles and Woolworths.^[3][2] Between 1957 and 1961, the company modernised most of its stores to the new self-service model that was transforming grocery retail.

Acquisition

In 1969, Moran & Cato was taken over by rival Permewan Wright Limited for A$11.6 million (equivalent to about A$170.2 million in 2024), marking the end of the brand’s presence in the Australian retail landscape.