If you can’t find it at the corner dairy, try Johnson’s

Press, 19 August 1982, Page 22

If you can’t find it at the corner dairy, try Johnson’s

Shoppers with a taste for the unusual and ex-patriot Britons looking for a favourite food from “Home” are among the regular customers at a Colombo Street grocery shop with a difference. Since 1915 the shop, Johnson’s (Leigh and Company) has been providing customers with a selection of goods that other stores do not stock.

“We try to have what other shops haven’t got. The customers give us a clue by asking for things that they can’t find anywhere else," said the proprietor, Mr Stan Johnson.

The range of imported goods that the shop has to meet customers’ requests is almost endless. French truffles, snails, angelica, and walnut oil line the shelves next to Hawaiian maca-

damia nuts-and iiquer chocolates from Yugoslavia, Denmark. and Switzerland.

Goods from England im eluded shredded wheat, crackerbread, selections of Jacksons and Twinings tea, a variety of cheeses, jams, jellies, and biscuits. From Canada there is maple syrup and pickles, from Mexico tortillas, enchillados and several hot sauces. Coffee from six different countries is on sale, with vine leaves stuffed with rice, Bombay duck, bamboo shoots, poppodoms, and cranberry sauce. The store had gained a reputation throughout Canterbury for its range of imported foodstuffs. Customers return rgularly; curiosity brings others. “We' have had people come in for a packet of cigarettes who end up

spending $4O or $50," said Mr Johnson.

The emphasis at the shop, which opened at the Colombo Street site 69 years ago under the name Leigh and Company, is on "oldfashioned service.” “If a customer asked. for something we would never say ‘Over there, lady’," said Mr Johnson. The five staff are not afraid to recommend goods in the shop, "we know they are quality,” he said. They are eager to retain the atmosphere of an oldfashioned grocery store. Posters and an old clock dating to the store’s early years are on the walls and deliveries are made on the store's old, black bicycle, complete with basket.

The store does not have its own import licence, although it has applied for one. It relies on bringing goods into the country through importers throughout New Zealand. “We order goods through importers when they have'a balance on their licence that they don’t want to use,” said Mr Johnson. The system seems to be working well.