H. & J. SMITH’S

Southland Times, Issue 22201, 19 December 1933, Page 11

H. & J. SMITH’S

MAGNIFICENT NEW STORE. GALAXY OF TASTEFUL COLOUR. Standing upon the steps leading to the upstairs offices at H. and J. Smiths, the temptation is irresistible to dwell long upon the panorama of colour and life stretching below one. Spread out in orderly array, the various departments on the ground floor present a sight indeed pleasing to the eye. This then is the new Progressive Stores. If the former arrangement of departments represented something far in advance of anything then existing in the province, the new store may now be fairly claimed as superlative. When all is said it is extremely doubtful if anywhere in New Zealand could there be found a department store to surpass it. No effort has been spared that the store may represent the new spirit of the age and be synonymous with the reputation of the firm itself for progress and service. But though everything that art and skill can supply to make the store beautiful has been employed, that does not mean that it is gaudy or übiquitous. On the contrary the colours reflecting on the mirrors, the rich signs, and the fine appointments are all in perfect taste and in exquisite harmony. There is an air of essential fineness about this establishment which it is surprising to find to such a marked degree in an institution the primary purpose of which is to dispense wares to the public. As the year 1933 draws to a close, it is fitting that the store should be at the peak of its efficiency on this, its thirty-third, anniversary. A few months ago the occasion was fittingly celebrated when about 500 guests sat down to a complimentary dinner in the splendidly-appointed tea-rooms above the store. At that dinner speakers enunciated most effectively the reason for the remarkable period of success experienced by the store in both good times and bad,’ and there were many tributes paid to the managing director, Mr J. W. Smith. It was left to Mr W. Macalister, in proposing the principal toast of the evening—“ Our Host”—to summarize the reasons for this success. Mr Macalister said: “Referring to the great business which, in the course of a generation, with the initial assistance of his late sister Helen, Mr Smith has built up, if I were now asked to attempt a