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A mural being created to celebrate the history of an iconic Christchurch grocery store has been changed after it initially featured a Melbourne shop with the same name.
The artwork is on a building under construction at the former Johnson’s Grocers site on the corner of Kilmore and Colombo Sts.
Johnson’s Grocers stood on the site from 1922 until the February 22, 2011, earthquake.
On Monday the artwork showed former Johnson’s Grocers owner, Colin Johnson, in front of a one-storey building with a sign which read “A.C Johnson cash grocer”.
But the shop and sign bore a striking resemblance to the historic “A.E. Johnson cash grocer” on the corner of Charles and Greig Sts in Seddon, Melbourne.
The Johnson’s Grocers building on Colombo St, which Colin’s father Stan Johnson bought in 1949, had two storeys and a sign on the verandah.
Artist Guy Ellis, known as Dcypher, has now changed the mural.
“It’s just like a general depiction of his shop, not necessarily his shop,” Ellis said.
“And the background stuff is not anywhere specific in Christchurch, just like a general sort of look and feel of old Christchurch.
“It’s in the eye of the beholder.
"If someone thinks I’ve made a mistake, that’s fine. They can believe that I made a mistake. It doesn’t bother me.”
The Star understands the mural cost $25,000. Ellis started painting it two weeks ago and expects to finish in about a week.
He said Johnson’s Grocer was “one of those sort of important pieces of Christchurch history that I’d like to keep alive in some way, shape, or form”.
Ellis’ other murals include city scenes on the wall of Clip ‘n Climb and The Adventure Centre on the corner of Byron St and Waltham Rd.
His artwork also features on a wall facing Madras St at the Ara Institute of Canterbury.
Ellis is part of street artists’ collective DTR Crew, and also helped paint a 3D mural on the outside of Riverside Market.
He said he drafted the Johnson’s Grocers mural in Photoshop.
He contacted former business owner Colin Johnson for permission to use his likeness on the wall.
Ellis said Johnson was “fine with it” but “not terribly excited”.
“I’ll send it to him once I’ve finished it, and maybe we’ll get a different response,” Ellis said.
Ellis showed a draft of the mural to the property owner before he started painting.
Simon Beirne is managing director of the business now located at the site.
He said he gave the mural the green light when he saw the draft.
Beirne said he did not realise the draft mural featured a building which differed in appearance to the former Johnson’s Grocers.
“Because he (Stan) started it (the business) in the 1920s or something, I just thought that’s just what things looked like,” Beirne said.
“We just saw the draft and went, ‘Oh, that looks amazing’. And naturally, because we talked about the building being there, we didn’t think it would be something from Egypt, let alone Melbourne.
“We looked at it and went, ‘well, back in the day, Christchurch and Colombo St, Kilmore St would’ve looked like that, right?’
“So we didn’t go into detail and go what’s that? Because that’s not our game.”
Johnson’s Grocers started under the trading name Cameron and McMillan.
The business was bought by Henry Leigh in 1914. It was known as Leigh and Co, Leigh’s, or Leigh’s G.U.S. Store.
Stan Johnson then took over the property on January 29, 1949.
His son Colin started working at the shop in 1957.
Stan continued trading as Leigh and Co until the business was eventually renamed Johnson’s Grocers.
Stan retired in 1995. Colin then ran the store with his son.
Colin was in the shop on February 22, 2011, when the magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch.
The business was forced to close. Colin opened a new shop at the Re:Start container mall in 2011 but retired in 2016.