Hall of Fame Recipients 2009

In this inaugural year, there were five inductees into the Retail Hall of Fame.

The people that have been honoured this year inevitably include some of the pioneers of the retail industry and would have succeeded no matter what the circumstances of the economy.

These awards include just five of the iconic retail brands commenced in NZ over a 110 year period in our brief retail history.

Bendix Hallenstein

German born Bendix Hallenstein moved to New Zealand in 1863, where he opened a store in Queenstown that sold groceries, wines and spirits, drapery and ironmongery. He soon expanded opening stores in Cromwell, Arrowtown and Lawrence and also acted as agent for woolgrowers, selling wool in Dunedin, Melbourne and London.

Difficulty in obtaining men's clothing for his stores persuaded Hallenstein to enter the garment industry. In 1873 he established the New Zealand Clothing Factory in Dunedin, the country's first such venture. He then opened a retail store in Dunedin's Octagon 'to sell a single garment at wholesale price‘. By the turn of the century there were 34 Hallensteins shops throughout the country.

Bendix Hallenstein moved to Dunedin and founded the Drapery and General Importing Company (DIC) retail chain in 1884, initially as a co-operative store. He became a director of Kempthorne, Prosser and Company's New Zealand Drug Company, the National Fire and Marine Insurance Company and the Westport Coal Company.

Robert Laidlaw

Scottish born Christian fundamentalist Robert Laidlaw emigrated to New Zealand with his family in 1886, where his father Robert Laidlaw Senior, established both a hosiery factory and hardware business in Dunedin.

Robert Junior joined the family firm at 16 holding a number of positions including clerk and wholesale traveller for the Southern region for both businesses.

After relocating to Auckland in 1909 he opened Laidlaw Leeds, a mail order business similar to those operating in the US at the time.

In 1918, Laidlaw Leeds merged with its main rival the Farmers Union Trading Company, thus leading to the creation of New Zealand’s largest department store company – from 1926 known as the Farmers Trading Company.

Laidlaw remained with the company as its General Manager until his retirement in 1945.

Tom Ah Chee

Tom Ah Chee was a natural greengrocer and shopkeeper, following a tradition established by his grandfather who arrived in New Zealand in the late 1860s.

His university education was cut short by his father's death, when he took over the family fruit shop. It was there he foresaw that large supermarkets would determine the future of food distribution in New Zealand. In the 1940s the family began to move away from straight retailing into mass produce retailing.

In 1958, he opened the first supermarket in New Zealand or Australia, Foodtown, on a site in Otahuhu, causing a permanent revolution in the way we do our shopping.

Tom remained involved with Foodtown until 1982 when he resigned as Chief Executive.

Michael Hill

Michael Hill’s retail career began in his Uncle’s watchmaking and jewellery store, Fishers. 

When fire claimed his family home in 1979, under-insured and with few material possessions, he decided that he wanted to own his Uncle’s business. 

His uncle wouldn’t sell, so Hill left. Within two weeks of leaving he opened ‘Michael Hill Jeweller’ and this was the first in the chain of stores as they are today.  Soon Hill decided to expand, opening his next stores in Hastings, Lower Hutt and Palmerston North. 

Michael Hill started manufacturing jewellery in 1981 to cut out the middlemen in the jewellery industry. Manufacturing has since been a major factor in the continuing success of the business, with manufacturing operations in Australia and New Zealand.  

When his company listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 1987, it had 10 stores, including one in Brisbane. Currently Michael Hill Jeweller chain has 243 stores in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada.

Stephen Tindall

Stephen Tindall has retailing in the blood. He worked 12 years with retailer George Court & Sons, a company founded by his great-grandfather, as Merchandise Director before opening his first discount store, The Warehouse, in 1982.

His timing was perfect, as within two years the Government had removed tariffs that restricted many imported goods.

The Warehouse Group was floated on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 1994 and became the country's most successful retailer. Tindall was managing director until 2001 and again from 2003 to 2004.

The Warehouse Group now has 86 retail and 46 Warehouse Stationery stores in New Zealand.

In 1995 he and his wife Margaret set up the Tindall Foundation, ‘to assist communities to help themselves and heal problems rather than manage them”. It is currently the largest independent private foundation in Australasia.