Big Suburban Store Opens Tomorrow

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31502, 17 October 1967, Page 16

Big Suburban Store Opens Tomorrow

The largest suburban department store in New Zealand will be officially opened at 9 a.m. tomorrow at the Northlands Shopping Centre, Papanui.

The chairman of the board of Hay’s Ltd (Sir James Hay) will cut the ribbon outside the company’s new store. Sir James Hay will retire as chairman on November 2, and it will be his last such function as chairman of the board.

The new department store is the company’s ninth store, and its fourth in Christchurch. The company • was started by Sir James Hay in small premises in Gloucester Street, in 1929 as a subsidiary of Macky Logan, Caldwell, Ltd, a company which went into liquidation during the depression. It became a public company In 1933. The new department store was one of the largest to be built in New Zealand for some time, the deputy managing director of Hay’s, Ltd (Mr H. G. Hay), said yesterday. It provided about an acre and a quarter of selling space—about 51,000 sq. ft—and was bigger than any other suburban department store in the country by about 12,000 sq. ft. The store includes 8000 sq. ft of food supermarket, the remainder of the space being used for the sale of all types of goods, including furniture, clothing, and home appliances.

The company’s Sydenham and Riccarton stores are each about 30,000 sq. ft in area, and the main city store has an area of about 140,000 sq. ft.

Much of the land on which the new store and the shopping centre stands was bought by Hay’s, Ltd, several years ago, and was later sold to the Fletcher Trust and Investment Company, Ltd, which also acquired adjoining land, and erected the buildings.

Hays still owns some land behind the shopping centre, on which stands its furniture factory and appliance servicing facilities.

The furniture factory was bought from Mr R. Pugh in 1950.

Originally Hay’s, Ltd, had intended to erect only its own store on the site, and the design was produced by the company’s architects, Messrs Warren and Mahoney. After the site was sold, the Fletcher company used the same design and continued it in the rest of the shopping centre. Equipping and furnishing the new store has cost about $500,000, Mr Hay said. The store was the first department store in New Zealand to be fully air-conditioned, and this equipment alone had cost about $150,000. Flooring—vinyl tile? and carpets—had cost about $25,000, and the fire protection system had also cost about $25,000. Being so close to the company’s furniture factory, the store has a very complete furniture department, and an unusual development in the food department is a fresh fish shop. There is also a bake shop which can produce up to 3600 cakes a day. There is a large delicatessen area which features prepared foods and speciality foods.

Many features of the store had been influenced by observations made in Australia, Mr Hay said. The emphasis on decor and display was unusual, and there were many animated displays. It was hoped the store would cater not only for the needs of persons living in the north-west of the city, but also for residents of North Canterbury and also shoppers from other parts of Christchurch. The shopping centre itself had considerable car-parking space, and was intended to be complementary to existing Papanui shops. It was expected to attract much new business to the area.

The department store will employ about 120 staff, mostly drawn from the surrounding area. The manager is Mr K. O. Putze, who was previously manager of the company’s store at Sydenham, a post now filled by Mr A. J. Alexander. The manager of the store’s supermarket is Mr G. C. Parsons.

The annual meeting of Hay’s, Ltd, will be held at the new store on November 2, so that shareholders will have an opportunity to see it The shopping centre is to be officially opened on October 31.