The Lilo Emporium, Glover Street (1989–2026): Sold Inflatables to a City With No Agreed Pool
Specialist in airbeds, rubber rings and inflatable crocodiles closes after decades of waiting for the pool debate to end.
Inflatables of the kind the Lilo Emporium sold, mostly to people going to Spain. Photo: PattayaPatrol, “DFC 1862 Two colorful inflatable pool floats - a pink flamingo and a green turtle - resting on the sandy shore as gentle waves lap nearby”, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Lilo Emporium, a family-run shop specialising in inflatables, has closed after 37 years of trading near Glover Street.
It sold lilos, rubber rings, armbands, inflatable crocodiles and, briefly in the early 2000s, a full-size inflatable sofa that one customer described as “a mistake from every angle”.
The shop’s owners had long hoped that a settled future for Perth’s pool would bring a boom in sales. “Every few years, there’s a plan,” the owner said. “Then there’s another plan. Then there’s a debate about the first plan. I’ve had a pump ready since 1996.”
In the end, the Lilo Emporium sold mainly to holidaymakers heading to Spain. Its best-selling item last year was an inflatable flamingo, sold to a man from Scone who later admitted he “just liked it”.
The Lilo Emporium is survived by a pump, a puncture repair kit and a very deflated crocodile.
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