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then as now
Then as now August 1991 & 2011
30 YEARS AGO, at the tail end of a global recession, New Zealand unemployment was around 10% (and set to increase), consents were down, consumer spending had fallen and was forecast to shrink further in the coming year.
The reality however was that economic recovery would kick in towards the end of 1991.
Looking to be well placed to make the most of a post- recession economic uptick, our August 1991 front cover saw an upbeat Mitre 10 starting to get its ducks in a row with a big dealer retrofit programme.
Back in 1991, the Mitre 10 co-op was led by the late Ted Bold as Chairman with Murray McLean as Chief Executive.
Designed offshore, the “Mainstream” programme was aimed at dragging more lower tier stores towards “flagship” standards, not only with standard corporate colours,
but also, whisper it, a common approach to signage and merchandising...
Designed to be accessible without mandating the level of corporate ID and departmental focus embraced by Mitre 10’s 30-odd flagship stores, the “Mainstream” retrofit programme was due to be completed by the end of 1992.
By way of encouragement, Mitre 10 revealed that the flagship stores already equipped with the new look and branding were exceeding the previous year’s results, and in a depressed market, while the stores that hadn’t reported slower sales and lower customer counts...
On a less positive note, it was also in mid-1991 that the Resource Management Act passed into law.
30 years later, it’s being repealed, rethought and will be replaced, albeit with three separate pieces of legislation, the aim being to simplify how we treat the land we live on...
There have been a few changes since this photo from Mitre 10’s 2011 awards (L-R): Gary Woodhouse (Mitre 10 GM of Retail Operations); Liz Patterson (Mitre 10 Motueka); Felicity Thompson, Michael Hill, David Richards and Scott Field (all MEGA Nelson); and John Hartmann (Mitre 10 CEO).
STAYING PUT AND THE “NEW CONSUMER”
Fast forward a couple of decades now to August 2011, to a remarkably similar economic situation.
Although mid-1991’s building consents were down on the previous year, Stats NZ indicated we might have reached a turning point and we were also talking (again) about a recovery in spending in the hardware channel.
With homeowners staying put, renovations were top of mind, then as now.
In the magazine, we’d been looking at the “New Consumer”, their outlooks and their hang-ups.
They were thinking: “If we are going to stay in this house – along with our kid(s) who just won’t leave home – we might as well make it a home that suits us”.
Why were they staying put? Housing affordability...
The affordability of housing in New Zealand had become such a hot topic that the Government asked the New Zealand Productivity Commission to look into it.
Initial findings indicated that our house prices had outstripped our incomes, having increased by more than most countries in the OECD, mostly due to land value rather than construction costs, said the Productivity Commission.
Kiwis wanting to buy their own home were also competing with investors looking to put their money into rental accommodation.
All of which sounds all too familiar...
CREAM RISES TO THE TOP...
10 years ago, then as now, we were on a roll with the 2011 Hardware Awards programme, which would culminate in October at the Langham Hotel (now Cordis) in Auckland.
And, then as now, we were aiming to celebrate the best of the best, no barriers or preferences as to the colour of their shirt...
So how about this list of names as the 2011 Retailer of
the Year Semi-Finalists: Patrick Britton (Mitre 10 MEGA Glenfield); Matt Cleaver (PlaceMakers Queenstown.); Grant Close (PlaceMakers Riccarton); Chris Fairbairn (PlaceMakers Mt Wellington); Alasdair Hunt, (Mitre 10 MEGA Henderson); Greg Kusabs (PlaceMakers Hawera); Colene Nicholson (Bunnings Mt Maunganui); and Derek Powell (Bunnings North Shore).
In something of a trifecta, Grant Close would take the Retailer of the Year honours, with Riccarton also being 2011’s Trade Store of the Year and Riccarton team member Fraser Costley taking out Young Retailer of the Year!
Mitre 10 MEGA Petone and Tumu ITM Havelock North would be our two 2011 Retail Stores of the Year, both stores and team members having made their mark in the Hardware Awards, both before and since!
48 NZHJ | AUGUST 2021
MORE AT www.hardwarejournal.co.nz