Shopkeeper Capitalism - National Party Campaign Poster 1949

 National Party Election Campaign Poster 1949

 

They won the election, thanks perhaps to the friendly shopkeeper vote. The same rhetoric was abroad in the UK, a young Margaret Thatcher earning her stripes in her father's corner shop so that later in her career she could barrack the British public in the 1980s with her vision of shopkeeper capitalism and misguidedly apply her corner shop principles to government.

 

Others were more ambivalent about the shopkeeper's role in the community as this postcard from the early 1900s suggests:

 

 

The Grocer

 

You pose for a grocer so swell,

But we're on to you full well;

Your sugar's sand, and second-hand

Is all the stuff you sell.

 

Beyond The Counter - The Grocery Store

 

Burridge's Grocery Store, Miramar, Wellington 1948

One of the reasons that grocers and greengrocers (see previous posts) were able to maintain such an orderly arrangement of their wares was to bar the customers from hands-on contact with the merchandise. There was to be no squeezing of the plums and tapping or sounding of the watermelon, not even a caressing of a jar of raspberry jam or even a can of baked beans, thank you very much! 

Hard to imagine that today's customers would tolerate for a minute being separated from their prospective purchases. Counters would be stormed, food riots would ensue if the punters couldn't read the nutrition labels, fondle the packages etc.

I vaguely recall memories as a young child of being in the premises of a store like Burridge's grocery pictured above. Smith's grocery store, I believe it was called - after Mr Smith, of course. It was a Four Square store, I think, a grocery cooperative chain but with individual stores owned by proprietors.

I recall a long counter, not so much light as in Burridge's, the smell of flour and other food items, hardwood floors, and a wooden chair or two next to the counter on the customer's side, presumably for housewives to rest their shopping bag upon or to pop a small child on for a moment or two while groceries were ordered and placed on the counter and the total tabulated. Men in white full length aprons waited upon the customers, mainly housewives. I must have been small because the memory of the counter is that it was high! 

Soon the first supermarket opened down the street and Smith's in a very short time was no more. Fickle customers. The corner dairy across the street, however, survived for decades afterwards because the supermarket didn't keep the "open all hours" schedule of a corner store. Not until a change in the shop trading hours laws occurred in the 1980s, anyway.

 Four Square Jigsaw Puzzle Cover circa 1950s

 

Some of the groceries offered for sale by Four Square grocery stores in the 1950s. Brands such as Weet Bix, Milo, and Pam's survive down to the present, but the packages are brighter, more alluring, and on-so modern... 

J A Hazelwood Grocery Store #4 - 1940s - Upper Hutt, Wellington

Main Street, Upper Hutt, 1940s, showing J A Hazelwood's store on left past Provincial Hotel (click image for larger view). Post Office is in right foreground while the Bank of Australasia is on the opposite corner. Alexander Turnbull Library.

 

Hazelwood's store frontage can be seen in right foreground in a circa 1940s photo of Main Street, Upper Hutt. The store continued to operate at least into the 1950s based on photos of the period. Alexander Turnbull Library.

J A Hazelwood Grocery Store #3 - 1904c to 1922 - Upper Hutt, Wellington

 J A Hazelwood Drapery & Hardware Store, circa 1900s. People identified as,from left to right: L Greenwood, H Hazelwood (brother of J A), J Gillies, P Hazelwood, J A Hazelwood, W N Pepperill, Fred Hill (baker), F L Brace (accountant), George Morgan (Akatarawa farmer). Photo: C Davies. Alexander Turnbull Library. (click on image for larger view)

Finally back to continue the series of Upper Hutt posts...

Around 1904, J A Hazelwood moved into his third store, this time a two storey brick building built for the purpose. It was eventually to be destroyed by fire on 1 February, 1922.

 

Group, including members of the Hazelwood family, standing outside J A Hazelwood's general store, Upper Hutt, circa 1906. Photographer unidentified. Left to right: W N Pepperell; F C Brace; (back) J Gillies; (kerb) Charlie Morris; Herbert Hawks; Percy Hazelwood; May Hazelwood; J T Hazelwood and J A Hazelwood. Left of centre - right of way. Far left - Brace & Pratt. Alexander Turnbull Library. (click on image for larger view)

W Strange & Co, Department Store, Christchurch - Part I

 W Strange & Co's Store on High Street, Christchurch, just short of the High & Lichfield Streets corner circa 1863 (?) looking towards the South-East. From The Weekly Press, 15 Dec. 1900, p. 86. Christchurch City Libraries Image Collection.

 

The Old and the New: A northwesterly aspect of the original weatherboard Strange's store in November 1863 contrasted with the 4 storey building erected just a few doors down on the corner of High & Lichfield Streets in 1900. The bottom view taken in 1910 with store sign on the roof line. This was a business postcard mailed to Strange's customers to notify them their orders had arrived. Christchurch City Libraries Image Collection.

Where Did You Get That Hat? Part III - Charles Hill & Sons, Wellington

 Charles Hill & Sons, Catalogue, 1897

Alexander Turnbull Library

 

Charles Hill & Sons, Catalogue, 1897

 Alexander Turnbull Library

Where Did You Get That Hat? Part II - Charles Hill & Sons, Wellington

 Hill & Sons Catalogue, showing Stetson Co hats. 

Alexander Turnbull Library

 

Hill & Sons Catalogue - showing navalofficer and seamen's caps, mortar board, and others.

Alexander Turnbull Library

Where Did You Get That Hat? Part I - Charles Hill & Sons, Wellington

Charles Hill & Sons Catalogue Title Page

Alexander Turnbull Library

Charles Hill & Sons, Hatters, Hosiers, and Gentlemen's Mercers, were located at 61 Lambton Quay, Wellington.

Charles Hill learned his trade with Dundo and Sons, of Castle Green, Bristol, England before emigrating to Melbourne, Australia where he set up business. After some years, Hill established the business of Hill, Fenton, and Hulbert in Auckland in 1871.

The Wellington firm, Charles Hill & Sons, was opened in 1877 with both manufacturing and retail facilities. By the early 1900s, the firm was acting as agents for hat firms such as Henry Heath, Woodrow and Sons, James E. Mills, I. and R. Morley, Tress and Co., Fownes Bros. and Co., Christie and Co., Ld., Dent Allcroft, and Welch Margetson and Co.

The firm's trade extended throughout New Zealand, with sales agents in various centres including Wanganui, Napier, and Nelson.

Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District], 1897, p. 638.

Charles Hll & Sons Catalogue, List of Agents.

 Alexander Turnbull Library

Zealandia Cycle Works - Oates & Lowry Co, Christchurch - Cycling Craze #20

Zealandia Cycle, Hawke's Bay Hearld ad, 2 January 1895.

Oates, Lowry and Co's Zealandia Cycle Works, 82 Manchester Street, Christchurch, circa 1900.

Cyclopedia of New Zealand - Canterbury, 1903, p. 315.

Nicholas Oates, senior partner of the firm of Oate, Lowry, and Co., established the business in 1880 with the firm's Zealandia Cycle Works becoming one of the first cycle manufacturers in New Zealand. Alexander Lowry joined the partnership in 1897.

 

Cyclopedia of New Zealand - Canterbury

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand reported in 1903 that the business located at 82 Manchester Street in Christchurch was housed in a large two storey building. The retail store, the Cyclopedia stated, consists of a "large double-fronted shop, with handsome plate-glass windows, displaying a varied stock of bicycles. Behind are the offices, and at the back is the factory, which is thoroughly equipped with all necessary plant and machinery, and is claimed to be the largest in the Colony."

The firm produced its own Zealandia and Atalanta brand bicycles. "[E]verything connected with cycles, except chains, hubs, saddles, pedals, and rims, is made on the premises; the tubing, rough castings, and wrought iron-work are imported, and turned, finished, and plated on the premises."

Between 30 and 40 workers were employed in cycle manufacturing in Christchurch, while repair facilities were operated out of premises in Timaru, Ashburton and Napier. In 1901, a retail store run by Oates, Lowry was operating in Cuba Street, Wellington and other sales outlets were run on an agency basis throughout the country. For example, F W Ansley's Zealandia Cycle Deport sold Zealandia and Atalanta cycles from his premises in Ridgway Street in Wanganui in 1900.

Oates, Lowry and Co was also the first to import a petrol-driven motor car into the Australasian colonies. No date is given for this event.

Ellesmere Guardian ad, 15 December 1897.

Speedy Cycle Works, Retail Store, Christchurch, early 1900s - Cycling Craze #19

Jack Suckling's Speed Cycle Works located at 114 Manchester Street, Christchurch, circa 1912-14. Jack is the moustached man wearing a cap and watch chain at centre right just a fraction behind the row of cyclists. A number of the "scorchers" (cyclists) are in their racing gear, perhaps for a day's track racing at Lancaster Park or for road racing. Photo: Adam McLay. Alexander Turnbull Library. Click on image for larger view.

Jack Suckling was an integral part of the Christchurch "cycling craze" in the late nineteenth, early twentieth century. He ran a retail store at several different locations around the central city in the early 1900s, operating at the corner of Kilmore  and Barbadoes Streets in 1906 but by 1909 had relocated to 256 Oxford Terrace east. By the time the above photo was taken his business had moved to 114 Manchester Street, a street along with High Street, that had become popular among cycle businesses as a retail location.

Jack promoted his Speedy cycles to the young men known as "scorchers", the competitive racing cyclists who lived for either the track races at Lancaster Park and out in the small towns around Canterbury or for the road races across the province. Good money was to be made from winning racing prizes to pay back the price of a cycle, so Jack suggested in his advertising, and he'd make a few bob in the process.

Christchurch Star ad, 27 January, 1906

 

Christchurch Star ad, 6 October 1906

Christchurch Star ad, 26 December, 1908.

So why don't you give Jack a call at Christchurch 2574? Don't be surprised if you get a busy signal.

Cycle Store Interior, Christchurch 1910 - Cycling Craze #18

Unidentified Cycle Store Interior, Christchurch, 1910, photo Steffano Webb.

Alexander Turnbull Library

During the cycling craze of the late 1890s and early 1900s, cycle works and retail stores mushroomed in Christchurch as the public embraced the idea of personal transport that did not require catching, harnessing, grooming, feeding and cleaning-up after the "beast". While the horse-drawn tram was giving way to the electric tram, the car was only beginning to make an appearance from around 1900 and was financially out of the reach of the average household. The bicycle could improve one's health and provided greater convenience and flexibility in terms of getting where the rider wanted to go directly rather than be limited by the tram tracks. Of course, in inclement weather, the bicycle presented its own challenges.

The store pictured above is not identified and could be one of several selling the popular BSA brand cycles displayed. Advertising on the walls include items such as Taylor Tyres, Palmer Tyres for Motor Cars, and one for National Cash Register behind the sales counter.

Nairn & Sons, Florists & Nurserymen, Christchurch, circa 1900s

 Nairn & Sons, Plant Catalogue cover, 1901-02.

Alexander Turnbull Library

The firm of Nairn & Sons, located in Lincoln Road, Christchurch provided nursey plants and seeds not only to the Christchurch area but also nationally through its plant catalogue advertising in the early 1900s.

As early as the 1870s Mr D Nairn was an active member of the Christchurch Horticultural Society and a competitor in the Societ's floral competitions in which he and his teenage son, Robert were frequent prize winners. 

During the Jubilee Exhibition of 1900  Nairn and Sons provided large exhibition displays, a practice they continued at Horticultural Society shows during the subsequent decade.

 

Nairn & Sons, Plant Catalogue cover, 1904-05. 

Alexander Turnbull Library

 

Nairn & Sons, Plant Catalogue, page advertising Clematis varieties, 1906 Catalogue

Alexander Turnbull Library

 

Nairn & Sons, Plant Catalogue, page advertising Lilium odorum Japonicum. Syn. Browni, 1906 Catalogue

Alexander Turnbull Library

 

Nairn & Sons, Plant Catalogue, page advertising Romneyia tricocalyx, 1906 Catalogue

Alexander Turnbull Library

The City Boot Palace, Shoe Store, Christchurch, circa 1900

The City Boot Palace, 1910. Photo Steffano Webb. Alexander Turnbull Library

You can almost smell the leather in this store interior of the City Boot Palace located at 111 Colombo Street at the corner of Lichfield St.

A cut-price seller of boots and shoes, the City Boot Palace pitched its sales to the buyer of Half Guinea boots during the first decade of the twentieth century.

Christchurch Star ad, 11 September 1907.

An identically named City Boot Palace was trading in Dunedin at 75 George Street - at the corner of George & St Andrew Streets - from 1883. In the early 1900s, that store was owned by Joseph McKay while the City Palace in Christchurch was operated by a Mr Stock as seen in the above ad. Whether the stores operated as part of a chain under common ownership or were independently owned is yet to be established.

Somewhat disturbingly, Kuaka recalls an uncle working in the mid 1960s at a similar-looking shoe store located, from memory, in Cashel Street that had similar furnishings down to the detail of the footstools. The merchandise, however, had turned over thanks to demand and the dictates of fashion.

The Universal Boot Depot, High Street, Christchurch Store, circa 1900s

The Universal Boot Depot, 221 High Street, Christchurch, circa 1900.

(click images for larger view) 

D. Smith & Sons' Universal Boot Depot  was located opposite Strange's Department store on the corner of High and Lichfield Streets in Christchurch. The company offered cut-rate prices on its footwear, frequently advertising sales liquidating large shipments of inventory from the United Kingdom and from business liquidations around New Zealand.

In the street frontage view above, pairs of boots and shoes can be seen hanging in strings along the store front.

Announcement of the Universal's Opening, 1891.

An 1887 sale

E Reece & Sons, Hardware Store, Colombo St, Christchurch early 1900s

Ground floor Retail Showroom of E Reece & Sons, circa 1900.
click images for larger image view.

Established in 1856 by Edward Reece, who had arrived in Christchurch the previous year, the firm of E Reece & Sons as it became served the residents of the city for many decades. Edward sent his son William to England for his education and upon his return in 1879, William was given management of the firm by his father. Upon Edward's death in 1887, ownership was shared by William and his brother C S Reece. William took sole ownership of the firm in 1892 upon his brother's retirement. He served as the Mayor of Christchurch in 1900, the city's Jubilee year.

The original premises, an old wooden building with three foot gables was demolished in 1870 to be replaced on the same site on Colombo Street by a three storey brick building designed to house both the wholesale and retail operations of the business.

Reece & Sons frontage on Colombo St, Christchurch in the 1890s
Cyclopedia of New Zealand

In the early 1900s, the ground floor was occupied by the retail showroom, extending some 150 feet back from the entrance, where a wide range of items were on display, including sterling silver and electro plated ware, fancy goods, cutlery, toilet and general brushware, lamps, filters, general furnishing ironmongery of all descriptions, cricket, tennis, and croquet tools, Milner's safes, brass foundry, bicycles and bicycle sundries, all kinds of fencing material, lawnmowers, farm and garden tools.

Reece's also took pride in offering a comprehensive line of guns and ammunition:

Reece & Sons ad
The Star, 10 June 1905

On the second floor, a further showroom held register fire-grates, hearths, mantels, and overmantels for all price ranges, while the third floor held reserve stocks of lamps and tinware. In the basement, Reece's stock of lubricating oils was stored.

Wholesale operations were housed in an adjoining three storey building located on Lichfield Street.

Minson & Co. Hardware Store, Christchurch, early 1900s

Minson's Hardware & China store at 220 Colombo Street, February 1911. Stephano Webb, photo. Alexander Turnbull Library.

Interior of Minson's store in 1898 showing the vast array of household wares on sale - dinner sets, bedroom washing sets, lamps, trunks and much more. Christchurch City Libraries image.

This blogger remembers Minson's as the terror of a small boy confronted with a sea of fine china displays that he was told not to touch for fear of dropping & breaking something. Small bull in a china shop, indeed.

For a bit more background on the history of Minson's pop over to the Canterbury Heritage blog's entry on the store.

The Train Into Town - The Christchurch - Lyttelton Railway Line, early 1900s

Train About to Depart Lyttelton Railway Station for Christchurch, circa 1916.

Before Annie could do any shopping (see previous post), she had to catch a train to Christchurch. In the early 1900s, the quickest, most direct means available was the railway.

The early founders had realised that development of Christchurch and the Canterbury Plains required fast, easy, and economic transport between Christchurch and the Port of Lyttelton. Unfortunately, volcanic activity millions of years before had imposed the Port Hills in between. In a feat of geologic survey and engineering success, the Lyttelton railway tunnel was opened to passenger traffic on 9 December 1867, just some 17 or so years since first European settlement.

Steam locomotive at entrance to Lyttelton tunnel running under the Port Hills, connecting the port with Christchurch. Photo : Albert Percy Godber. Alexander Turnbull Library

In the early 1900s, the alternative to rail was a long, uncomfortable journey over the Port Hills by horse & wagon by the Sumner Road thence in to Christchurch, subject to the elements - dusty & windy in the summer; cold, wet and muddy in the winter.

The car had barely made an entry in the early 1900s, was temperamental, exacerbated by hill work, and still exposed one to the elements. The Lyttelton road tunnel would not open until 27 February 1964 at which time it superceded the rail journey as fastest & most comfortable route.

In the age of steam, however, the rail trip through the tunnel brought with it the "delights" of coal smoke from the smoke stack if unwary passengers had failed to close windows before the train entered the tunnel. Electrification of the line in 1929 eliminated this unpleasant and hazardous experience.

Arrival at Christchurch Railway Station, circa 1910. Alexander Turnbull Library

The Christchurch Railway Station, seen from Moorhouse Ave, early 1900s.

From the Christchurch Railway Station, Annie and her fellow passengers could set out on foot via Manchester or Colombo Street towards Cashel & High Streets, the shopping precinct of Christchurch in the early 1900s. For now, they could also get there by horse-drawn tram, soon to be replaced by electric ones. For the well-heeled or those in a hurry, a Hansom cab (as pictured above) could get them there at a trot.

The city's streets were not yet paved so dust in a Canterbury nor'wester or mud and puddles on a wet day were part of the challenge in navigating the city streets.

Approaching Lyttelton tunnel at Heathcote on the homeward journey, circa 1910.

Home on the afternoon train, Annie's mind no doubt turned to preparing tea and putting her feet up later in the evening, as brown paper parcels tied with string sat in the overhead rack and a tired child or two fidgeted or grizzled beside her.

Where Would Annie Shop?

A few years ago I acquired a collection of vintage New Zealand postcards, some 250 in number. While I had bought them for the views shown, sorting through them it dawned upon me that the vast majority of them were written by a woman named Annie to her younger brother Henry in the United States.

Written between 1901 and 1927, they record some of the life and times of Annie, an American woman, who married a New Zealand ship's engineer in 1901 and settled in New Zealand until his death in 1926. Widowed and without means of support she returned to her hometown of Akron, Ohio where she lived out the rest of her life until she died in 1969.

Tracing Annie's story behind the cards has led me subsequently down many paths, filling in details here and there as to the larger picture of Annie's life & times, something more than the equivalent of a text message or telegraph-length missive contained on small rectangular piece of cardboard could reveal.

One of those paths has involved asking "where would Annie shop?" when she refers in her postcard messages to having gone into Christchurch on the train from Lyttelton where she lived on various errands to shop.

Trying to answer that question has prompted the following series of posts on shopping in Christchurch at the turn of the twentieth century.

Wilkins and Field, Ironmongers, Manners St, Wellington, circa 1895

Wilkins & Field, Manners Street, Wellington.
litho by F W Niven & Co., Ballarat, Victoria, circa 1895

The ironmongers of Wilkins & Field located their New Zealand headquarters in Manners Street, Wellington in 1889. The business had started out in the early 1860s in Westport on the West Coast during the gold rush era under the ownership of Thomas Field. Around 1880 Field entered a partnership with W C Wilkins relocating the business to Nelson. Although Wilkins left the business because of ill health after just a few years, the firm continued to trade under the Wilkins & Field name.

The Wilkins & Field premises on Manners Street actually occupied the whole block bounded by the then named Manners, Farish, St Hill, and Customhouse streets, with a retail shop on the Manners street frontage with wholesale and manufacturing premises behind it. Some 50-60 employees were on the payroll in the mid 1890s.

The retail showroom premises were originally built to serve as an arcade but were modified by Wilkins & Field to provide some 20,000 square feet of retail space. The layout of the interior is shown below.

Interior of Wilkins & Field's retail showroom.
Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 1, 1897, p. 720.

The business manufactured spouting, ridging, wire mattresses, and prams, among other items, where it could compete with imported iron goods, acting as importer for many other items that it could then retail such as kitchenware, stoves, toys, firearms, and the like.

A representative range of items to be found at Wilkins & Field can be found in their classified ads run in the Evening Post during the 1890s:

Classified advertising in the Evening Post, 1895.
Source: Papers Past, Alexander Turnbull Library.

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, 1897, reports that Wilkins & Field's business ranged throughout much of the country, although it appears much of the trade was concentrated in the lower North Island - as far as Taranaki, throughout Wellington province, and Hawkes Bay - and the upper South Island including Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland.

In April 1901 Wilkins & Field relinquished their business in Manners Street pending the retirement of Thomas Field. The premises were taken over by Craig & Co. importers by 1902.

Evening Post, 5 March, 1901.



Evening Post, 16 April, 1901.

Thus, as with so many owner-operated, family businesses lacking a line of succession or interest within the next generation, Wilkins & Field, despite a business history dating back as far as 1807 (see Evening Post business closure report above), disappeared from the Wellington landscape.

But do not despair, fair reader, for a remnant of Wilkins & Field lives on: a quick search online finds Wilkins & Field Ltd Mitre 10 at 232 Hardy Street in Nelson (though it may have been replaced by a MEGA Mitre 10 on Quarantine St). There is also a Wilkins & Field Mitre 10 in Motueka at 235 High Street.

The name lingers on in the hardware industry after more than a century since the Wellington closure.

Gone, but not quite forgotten.