Page 58 - HW June NEW 2022

then as now
Then as Now – June 1992 & 2012
THIRTY YEARS AGO, Value Rite having reinvented itself as True Value Hardware, Eddy’s True Value Hardware in Temuka was the first to be fitted out and Dennis Eddy was found in our pages back in mid-1992 extolling the virtues of the store’s new suit of clothes.
Also featured around the rebranding story was Neno’s
True Value Hardware in Mount Maunganui; owner Roger Seabourne had been working at the store almost since the store was founded by Hugh Neno in late 1940s.
A fresh-faced Jerry Hirst could also be found tucked away in the mid-year 1992 magazine being recorded as the new Sales Manager at Plyco Door, along with new Marketing Services Manager, David Garmonsway.
Subject of our Retailer Review was Jack Oates Hardware in Balmoral, Auckland, whose new owners were Chris Bennett, Susan Bulmer and Terry O’Meara, former marketing manager, archaeologist and psychiatrist respectively.
The trio were keen as mustard to serve the local market with as little as two nails if needs be. We also noted the shop looked like “a step back in time to a quieter and gentler time”.
30 years ago, we also saluted Winston Lacey, who was retiring after 45 years working at Palmerston North’s Hopwood Hardware and subsequently Hopwood Mitre 10 (the genesis
of Palmy North’s Mitre 10 MEGA) and was renowned for his in-depth knowledge in all aspects of hardware, from import licensing to buying.
2012’S TOP OF THE SOUTH
Ten years ago, in our mid-year 2012 magazine, we traced the development of Building ConneXion, from its origins as Golden Bay Joinery in Takaka in the mid-1980s to 2012 and its five ITM Building Centres, $30+ million turnover and 100 staff.
Around the time of the 1992 stock market crash, building supplies were added to the joinery business and Building ConneXion would go on become a major merchant to Golden Bay, after initially struggling with supply.
Part of this development was the Takaka store becoming just the second South Island site to be considered for the then still young Independent Timber Merchants group (ITM) in 1993.
But back to 2012 and the most recent addition to Building ConneXion’s portfolio was its Greymouth ITM Building Centre. With the town still shocked by the Pike River Mine tragedy
barely more than a year before, Philip Woolf, Building ConneXion Managing Director then as now, said at the time the company had been hanging tough, but “wanted to show some resilience for the community. Having come from Takaka, we understand what community involvement is all about.”
Today, the company still has ITM Building Centres located in Takaka, Motueka, Nelson and Havelock, but in 2019, the Greymouth ITM store was sold to locally-owned Westimber Ltd, with a team led by experienced Retail Manager Mike Coll.
ITM Greymouth back in 2012, wearing ITM’s old green and gold colours (left), and the team today.
56 NZHJ | JUNE 2022
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