Page 50 - HW June 2019

then as now
Then as now? June 2009
GOING FOR IT in high times and in low – With the GFC still hanging over the industry, 10 years ago this month Geoff Hardy, our legal eagle for many years (and now to be found in ITM’s excellent communications), was talking about receiverships and liquidations and what to do when building projects turn to custard.
But not everyone in the industry was rocking a conservative outlook. Indeed, led by GM, Rod Caust, Bunnings NZ was all go with plans for new stores.
Already with 16 Bunnings Warehouses and 25 smaller format stores, the NZ operation was in expansion mode and, armed with a $150 million budget, new stores in train included Glenfield (the one right opposite Mitre 10 MEGA), as well as others in Hastings, Gisborne, Wellington and Dunedin.
“The current economic conditions have not altered our plans,” said Rod at the time.
“In fact the downturn seems to have sparked a renewed interest in DIY... Customers are staying put and working on projects to improve their current homes.”
Of birthdays and anniversaries – Sika was celebrating a big anniversary back in mid-2009: no less than 50 years of operation and production in New Zealand (1).
Another anniversary 10 years ago saw tapware specialists Foreno tracing its history back 40 years.
A mere stripling in comparison, Mitre 10 was celebrating its 35th birthday in 2009 with CEO, Craig Wilson, in the June issue promising to reveal more soon about a special event in Wellington to mark the co-op’s inauguration which took place on 20 June 1974.
In another significant 2009 anniversary, Makita was acknowledging its 10th year of operation in New Zealand.
Everyone wants an exclusive – 10 years ago this month, feathers in the tool category were being ruffled as Bunnings New Zealand and Ryobi distributor TTI followed Australia in making Ryobi exclusive to the big sheds (an agreement that lasts to this day).
The pair saw exclusivity as good for both retailer and supplier, bringing with it better product knowledge and product development more closely aligned to the market.
Peter Darbyshire, Bunning’s NZ’s Merchandise Manager at the time, did take pains to say that Bunnings would continue to sell other brands but other local retailers and merchants would go on to seek more and more exclusives over the following years.
At the same time as Bunnings and TTI signed up their exclusive, Cemix had been busy doing the same with Carters for the brand’s ready mixed concrete and mortars and Cemix’s Bhav Dillon was fulsome in praising the level and quality of feedback already received from Carters personnel, including Jarrod Langstone, John Newall and Murray Durbin.
These days it appears that Mitre 10 is the only retailer not stocking Cemix products.
Making every day count – Our “Hardware Heroes” slot 10 years ago paid tribute to the late Warwick Barraclough, OBE and JP (2).
Warwick’s association with tools began soon after leaving school with the company that would become Repco, later becoming a mover and a shaker as part of local hacksaw blade maker Neil Tools and as agent for James Neill in the UK.
Described by his family as someone who didn’t waste a moment of his life and made every day count, Warwick Barraclough was
as active outside of work as within, having played an instrumental role in the community, local and national politics, not to mention trade and business associations (“Warwick did like a good meeting,” quipped one observer).
12
48 NZHJ | JUNE 2019 MORE AT www.hardwarejournal.co.nz