Bon Marche – Richard Jones

Joyce Barry: Welcome. All of you would’ve known Bon Marche if you lived here. I’m not a Hawke’s Bay girl but I loved that shop, and I know women loved it. Those great rolls of material, the sales table, the school uniforms; it was just packed and it was lovely, and the staff were fantastic; and you’re going to hear about them tonight. And it’s a great pleasure to have Richard [Jones] – Richard’s very local; the youngest of four boys. You probably know his brother Stuart, who’s a renowned golfer. I think you’ve been a wonderful advocate for the Hastings District, Richard, and it’s just a pleasure to have you. It’s taken us years and years to talk him in to coming [chuckles] … he ran a mile for years, but he’s got the right wife. [Laughter] So over to you Richard, thank you.

Richard Jones: Thank you, Joyce, thank you. Wow! This is a bit like a Bon Marche sale – so many of you turned up early! Wonderful … thank you all so much for coming. How many of the Bon Marche family do we have present? I know it’s been a long time. One over there … two, three, four, good. Thank you for coming and joining us; I know over the years we’ve lost a few, and that’s a sad commentary, but we do welcome you all here and I hope I can make it interesting enough for you. There are quite a few photos over on the tables, and if you show up on any of them in the loose ones there – you’d like to take it away, you’re welcome.

So this talk includes the history of the stores, but for any of you who would like to hear some more personal details, there is a recording of an interview I had with Frank Cooper on the Hastings [Hawke’s Bay] Knowledge Bank website, headed Bon Marche Ltd – Richard Jones. [Correction: Heading is Jones, Richard Llewellyn Interview] So that was a little bit more personal than the talk I’m giving tonight.

Heretaunga Street East would’ve been a very different area when my grandfather, Matt Johnson, took over the Blythe & Co [Company] shop, where he had worked in 1897. Most of the buildings were made of corrugated iron and wood, except for the four-storey Grand Hotel. Johnson’s was flanked by Giorgi’s and Westerman’s; well-known family businesses. The street itself was quite narrow; wide enough for a steam engine and a horse and cart in those days. And of course after the earthquake there were [was] a group of councillors who would’ve liked to have widened Heretaunga Street, but unfortunately that motion was defeated, and so it stayed as it is today.

I would like to share with you a public announcement in the Herald Tribune at the time of Johnson’s take-over from Blythe’s, and I hope you enjoy the English that was spoken in those days. And the quote was:

‘I beg to announce that I have disposed of my business to Mr. M. Johnson, (late of Blythe & Co.) and respectfully solicit continuance of the liberal patronage to him you have generously bestowed on me in the past. Respectfully yours, S. Ridgeway’

[Chuckles]

The response was, quote: ‘In reference to the above, I have much pleasure in imitating the fact that I have taken over Mr. Ridgeway’s business and intend to add drapery to the stock. My long experience in Hastings is sufficient guarantee that my stock will be well assorted and right up to date. My prices will be found to be as reasonable as any house in the trade, as my expenses will be small. My motto will be ‘Small Profits and Quick Returns’. Country orders will receive my special attention. Inspection respectfully invited before purchasing elsewhere. Yours faithfully, M Johnson. Opening date Saturday, February the 26th, 1897′

Ten staff were employed at this stage, including his daughter, my aunt, Hinepare. She received her name by the way, because the kaumatuas of the area … Matt got very friendly with the Māori group, and the kaumatuas asked that his two daughters be called the Māori names; my aunt, Hinepare; my mother, Hinemanu.

The store was heavily stocked from floor to ceiling, as you can see. [Shows slides] Matt died on October 28th, 1929, so he did not witness the earthquake in 1931 that devastated the shopping area, including the Grand Hotel. You saw his ad [advertisement] there, [on the slide] and I just thought it’s worth noting one of items on the ad was: ‘Ladies – here’s news worth having. Johnson says, “Clear the dresses and silks out – never mind what they cost.” Right! So smash go the prices’.

So that was part of his first ad in those days … fairly familiar to things that we used to talk about.

Matt’s obituary praised him for many local activities, including his time as Deputy Mayor. His other public duties included being a member of the Hawke’s Bay Licensing Board; an original member of the Hastings Citizens’ Band; an original trustee of the Hastings Star [?Bowcott?] Society; foundation member of the Hawke’s Bay Trotting Club; member of the Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club; and founding chairman of the Hastings’ Retailers’ Association.

So after the ‘quake we got on to the building and redevelopment of Bon Marche in the next block of Heretaunga Street East. This is a picture of one of the original staff photos, 1907, and it shows Mabel McCormick seated just on my left here, and George Murfitt sitting in front. George carried on for fifty-eight years with Bon Marche. Mabel, I think, has relations in Waipukurau – any relations here? Mabel McCormick? But she lived to, I think, nearly a hundred, down in Oamaru. So she came to visit us, and I think we’ve got a photo of when she came to visit us, which you’ll see shortly.

So on to the building and redevelopment of Bon Marche in the next block of Heretaunga Street East. Hugh Jones, my father, had taken on management of this new building that was to house the store. Nutter’s Fashion store was on the corner; Mr Wright, father of theatre manager, Cedric, was the bespoke tailor next door, then Bott’s Book Store … later Ian Hickman’s. On our other side was Ah Wing’s greengrocery, and next to that Kershaw’s furniture and coffin-makers. Across the road [chuckles] … that’s true, I used to go out and watch them making the coffins in the back at Kershaw’s. [Chuckle] Across the road we had Denton Wyatt’s Book Store, the Dominion Caf, [Café] Simmonds Garden Centre, F L Bone, the Rialto Tearooms, Bunker’s Toys and the Albert Hotel. At our back door we had McDermott’s Saddlery, Paterson’s Office Supply and the Herald Tribune. A few of you will remember these businesses.

This store had an innovative island window on its frontage with three other windows surrounding, so it’s customers could walk around perusing the stock. This was a very wide frontage for its time, using the new system of wooden trusses. I remember that every morning we used to carry out long forms* – we used to call it the door – to the front of the windows and pile them up with stock. When I first left school, I spotted a fellow shoplift a bundle of socks. I shouted, so he dropped them fortunately, and ran away. [Chuckles]

There were two front doors, the left opening into the men’s and boys’ wear department, with a long wooden counter down one side. The other door opened onto two long counters; to the left we sold furnishing fabrics, manchester, dress fabrics and Simplicity patterns. On the right we had hosiery, fancy goods, knitting yarns, gloves and hats, and hankies of course. At the back we had women’s fashion and childrenswear. Toys came later with an expansion.

At the rear of the building there was an old two-storey wooden building that we nicknamed the cabaret, because as you walked in to it had a very bouncy floor. There were even some old disused brick ovens, and I think it might’ve been Warren’s Bakery actually, in the very early days. In 1956 we demolished this and built a new area which then housed our ladies fashion department, or showroom, and much-needed enlarged office space.

People often used to ask why we were not open on a Friday night or a Saturday. This was because my mother was very involved with the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Their belief was that Saturday was the Sabbath, from sunset on a Friday, and so my father respected this. In those days we sold goods that people needed on their farms, homes and work places; for example – overalls for farmers and freezing workers; bush shirts; grey blankets; Briar Rose fireside rugs; mosquito netting, particularly for whitebaiters; [chuckles] nappies by the bale from India; bales of sheeting to be torn up and sold unhemmed; blanket ends for babies; embroidery cottons; ribbons; knitting wools; buttons; hankies; nylon stockings; winceyette for nightwear; viyella for baby gowns; Irish linen tea towels. No pre-packaging in those days. The fabric department was a very busy one as most housewives made their family’s clothes. The remnants bin was always popular.

We had some very loyal employees over the years, and many stayed with us most of their working lives. I particularly remember George Murfitt through the war years, and there’s George in the middle there with two of his favourite girls. [Chuckles] He was a memorable character, almost one of the family over a period of fifty-eight years. He opened up the doors every morning at 8am and closed again at 5.30. He biked to and from his home in King Street regardless of weather, and lived in what we called a whare at the back of his sister’s house, next to the stables. She was May Sowersby, and they were part of a well-established farming family. George had an answer for every occasion. Sometimes a customer would see the till and ask George for a loan. [Chuckles] His answer would be, “Well, you see, it’s like this – we have an agreement with the bank. The manager has promised that he won’t sell clothes if we don’t lend money.” [Laughter]

We expanded again when we took over the greengrocery next door, and incorporated this into the main store. The new fashion at that time was jeans, so we opened a special department for that trend, headed by Don Palmer and Peggy Brazier. The island windows were also removed at this stage to allow more store space inside. This was also a time for redevelopment upstairs to extend the tearooms and management space. Our problem had been that there was no designated place for staff to have morning tea or lunch – they just found a cubbyhole behind the windows or counters. Imagine the workers’ rights complaints there would be today.

In the fifties and sixties we became nationally renowned for our twice-yearly sales, which were unusual at the time – January and July. To really boost stock at super special prices we would scour the country for bargain goods. We did a huge trade in seconds, buying up rejects from suppliers like Superfit in Hastings here, for children’s underwear, thanks to people like Mrs Holman and Peter Morrison. Basil Morley found great bargains, as did John Harwood, with towels, sheets and furnishings. Grace Hunt and Mrs Umbridge helped me with fabric specials and remnants. Simplicity patterns were great sellers at that time. Our brother, Stuart, and my son, Simon, also found great bargains for men’s and boys’ wear. People would begin queuing up from midnight for the opening day of the sale, as you can see. [Showing slide] Just like at the gates of Eden Park for a rugby test. [Chuckles] My father was often needed to use his St John skills when customers fainted in the excitement. [Chuckles] In winter our menswear man, Cyril Ireland, would serve Wattie’s soup in the early hours to those in the queue, and in summer, cold drinks. Brother Bryce was our promotions expert, and the double-page sale ad was a major feature. He would be frantic in the days before as we would want him to make last-minute changes to the content.

When the doors opened there would be a crazy dash for the best bargains. The earliest arrivals were given a ticket and were allowed [in] a few minutes early. The remnants table again was always very popular with people grabbing what they wanted and tussling with others for their bargains. The staff loved the sales; working as a team, and were very proud of the results. Amy’s hot meal at midday in the tearooms was always full of stories from the morning rush, and there was much comradie. [Camaraderie] I am slightly embarrassed to admit that part of our practice during the sale and other times was to keep children happy, so mothers could concentrate on shopping. [Chuckles] We used to move around the store handing out very sugary sweets [chuckles] … certainly not acceptable today.

One of Bryce’s most successful ads was at the time of the landing of the Apollo spacecraft on the moon. He transposed our faces for those of the astronauts … easy to do in these days, but innovative then. The title was, ‘They will go anywhere for bargains.’ [Chuckles] And so we did. Often in the Bon Marche van to stock up on specials, we shared our buying with other retailers up and down the country. H & J Smiths of Invercargill shared their imports of manchester, towels and sheets – even their well-known Chrismouses. Frank Baddeley of Mrs Coates in Christchurch got us involved with David Crew and Crucci knitting yarns. From Wellington the Evans Brothers shared their imports of sheets and nappies. These nappies were of such good quality that they lasted through three of our children and can still be used for car cleaning. [Chuckles] Ralph Court of George Courts, Auckland, started us off with discount books.

It is interesting to note that in those days the Retailers’ Federation consisted of very strong local provincial Associations, and that meant a strong network of family-owned businesses up and down the country. As with so many organisations these days, everything is centralised in Auckland or Wellington and dominated by big companies. I believe we have lost something in this less personal era, in terms of service.

It is important to remember that all purchases were conducted through National Cash Registers, [NCR] and these did not become electronic until after 1980. We did, however, handle over four thousand accounts through our small office that we had in those days; and Val Yule will remember being in the office there with a few others … pretty small space. A great big safe, but a small office space. [Chuckles] We dedicated an office staff member to handle these accounts. There were no computers of course, and so we kept very meticulous ledgers and cash books.

We also ran theme promotions where staff would dress up and goods would be presented according to that theme. For example, the biggest one was the ‘Latin look’, and the whole store looked Italian. We even walked a model gondola up and down Heretaunga Street. For the Hastings Centennial celebrations we decorated everything in old-world style. I’ll just stop there and say, these are the models from the Assembly Hall, when Selwyn Toogood promoted fashion parades for us in the Assembly Hall. And we had some very charming models in those days – all local.

There were often market days with tables and goods on the footpath; a common idea these days, but unusual then. The staff really got behind these special weeks and it was great for teamwork and enthusiasm.

In 1960 my father died, aged only sixty-seven. He had suffered from ill health as a result of rheumatic fever when young. Because of this illness he could not go to the war, and instead became very involved in the local community. He had come to New Zealand from Wales when eighteen, and at twenty-one, settled in Hastings and married my mother. During these years he worked for Ross & Glendinning as a travelling rep. [Representative] His chief interest was in St John Ambulance, taking a very active part in its administration and eventually being deservedly appointed a Commander of the Order. He was much respected in the district, and on the executive of many organisations including the Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board, Hawke’s Bay Retailers, New Zealand Retailers, Employers’ Association, Automobile Association, and the Royston Hospital. During the war he was a great supporter of local fun sessions that raised money for soldiers overseas. For his services to the community he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Coronation Medal. My oldest brother, Ross, became managing director at this time. All four of us were involved in the running of the business. It was now time for further expansion. [Showing slide] There’s the executive team of 1992. We used to meet every week up in the office and discuss the programmes that we were organising.

In 1961 we bought a building in Hastings Street West, Napier. That’s part of it there. Selwyn Toogood performed at the opening and drew a huge crowd – again, bargains galore. He arrived in that Mini [showing slide] and we had quite a crowd outside [chuckles] as he came to cut the ribbon to open the Napier store. Len Dadson was appointed manager. His involvement with the Napier Frivolity Minstrels gave us great opportunities for further theme promotions, and a culture of fun. Sadly Len died in an accident, and Rod McBean from the Hastings store took over. Rod was the organiser of the Hawkeye mascot for Hawke’s Bay Rugby, so the festive atmosphere continued. We always took an active part in Napier Retailers’ Promotion Days, with our bouncy castle on the street. Christmas also lent itself to dressing up, and the staff would sing carols. There’s quite a few of these dress-up photos. You can see we had a – there’s the management team. [Laughter] So we did a lot of that promotion in those days, and [background murmuring] everybody participated willingly; the staff were marvellous. [Shows slides] As you can see, everybody got into it with gusto. [Chuckles] And then we had the Simpsons call on us in Napier; and there’s the bouncy castle. And Club Med promotion day we did there, with the team in Napier. And here’s the Napier team and they went on to sing carols at Christmas time; here they are. We all had a lot of fun.

Over the next ten years or so we expanded three more times in Napier. By this time we employed over thirty people in that store. Morrie Dunn handled sales in the menswear department, and Nancy Walters was in charge of our ladies’ fashion – unfortunately, Nancy died just recently. All stock was transported from Hastings by the Bon Marche van. Often I needed to do three trips a day. Ticket-writing and promotions and advertising were also handled from Hastings. One year there was a torrential downpour in Napier, with hail blocking the gutters. The whole store was flooded. The staff were amazing in their efforts to mop up and clean. A huge flood sale of all the damaged goods was the result.

As sales began to decline we tried all sorts of ideas to boost interest. We even sold books for a while, and at one stage sold plants on behalf of growers. Sadly it eventually became necessary in 1993 to close the Napier store. It is important to note that supermarkets had begun to sell soft goods, particularly nursery items; also, K-Mart and the Warehouse had opened. We could not match their buying power and volume. We survived another two years in Hastings, but for the same reason we had to close.

The most difficult part over those years was the breaking up of our Bon Marche family, who had been so loyal for so long. In the last week or so we had a display of old photos for the customers and former staff to enjoy. They certainly jogged memories for many. We also invited people to write their thoughts into a register. Hundreds did so, and we still enjoy referring back to these comments. And just to finish, I’d like to just read a couple of the comments that were written because they compliment particularly the staff:

‘Deeply regret the closing of Bon Marche. The service received from your staff has always been the friendliest, helpful and kind. You will all be greatly missed, and Hastings shopping centre will certainly not be the same. All the very best’.

‘This shop and its staff saved my life, nearly twice while my children were growing up. Many memories of shopping here. Totty’s Florist’ … those of you might remember Totty’s Florist.

So we were fortunate that people did remember us in those days, and as I say, we certainly had a lot of fun.

‘Congratulations and many thanks for the wonderful service, warmth and hospitality given to the Hastings and wider community. I’ve enjoyed sixty-nine plus years of shopping with you’.

‘I have only been in Hawke’s Bay for a short time, but I have enjoyed some of the friendly service from the staff and management and am sorry to see another part of Hawke’s Bay retail trade disappear’.

So on and on they went; there’s quite a few there. And I want to thank you all for your attention and it’s been a wonderful time we’ve had in those years at Bon Marche. And [we] hope that very few of you ever had any complaints; [chuckles] we hope we adjusted the complaints successfully. And we were lucky in the fact that we had wonderful staff and wonderful customers. Thank you very much.

[Applause]

Joyce: Richard – fantastic. Thank you for coming. Everything you said, Richard, I’m so pleased you felt it because so did the people of our city. It was a fantastic shop; but it changed like the rest of the world.

Richard: Absolutely.

Joyce: And I think your point about personal service in shops just couldn’t be more poignant, so thank you for that. I want questions, please?

Question: Richard, where did the name Bon Marche actually come from, and does it mean ‘good sale?’

Richard: It means ‘good market, or good service’. It started after grandfather Matt died, and the earthquake happened and Bon Marche came; and there was a manager for a short while. And over that time they needed … when my grandfather died, so Matt Johnson finished … I don’t know whether you noted his phone number on those pictures by the way, 111; [Chuckles] But when he died we had a manager take over for a while, and you saw some of the early staff. And at that stage somebody obviously dreamed up the name, but we can’t say who it was or how it happened, but it carried on. Originally we looked at the French side, Bon Marché in Paris, but whether it followed on from that or not, we’re not sure.

Question: Richard, what was stocktaking like?

Richard: Oh! [Laughter] Stocktaking was very interesting, because we always did it after hours, and everything had to be counted in those days. We had no computer, we had no barcodes, or anything like that, so everything had to be counted; and the staff would come back after we closed with all the sheets. And then detailing the sheets was quite something – getting them all back in and make sure we had them all. And of course if one went missing you had horror stories – what’s happened to the stock? And have we lost that much? And that sort of thing, so it was quite a burden once a year to do that stocktaking, but it was always done successfully by a very willing staff.

Question: Is Amy Booth here?

Richard: No, Amy’s in hospital at the moment, sadly. Well, Amy used to walk from the hospital into the store and she was with us for twenty-five years, and was in the sewing room as we said, doing alterations; and then became the tea lady. We had over sixty staff in the Hastings store at its peak, so we had plenty of people to service for mornings and afternoon teas. But Amy did a marvellous job and was very, very loyal to us.

Question: Richard, what happened in the earthquake?

Richard: I wasn’t here then. [Laughter] I came along a couple of years later, [chuckles] but what happened in the earthquake I don’t know; they obviously carried on, because the photos … you’ll see photos over there, and as I say if anybody’s in the photos – the loose ones – you’d like to take away, you’re welcome. But there’s a photo over there with the Grand Hotel collapsed on the Heretaunga Street, but Bon Marche was still standing along with the neighbouring stores, and so I presume they cleared up and carried on after they cleared the streets. So that sort of went on for a while, and then as I say we transferred a further block east and started up the new store.

Question: My father used come up and see George Murfitt. He came in for a straw hat one day, and he went home with a [inaudible]. [Laughter]

Richard: That was George. George used to go fishing with Cec [Cecil Vidal] to Taupo, and the story goes that one day they took the boat out into the lake; and all of a sudden hands went up – “Sir, we’ve got to go back … we’ve got to go back.” And they said, “What’s the ..?” “We’ve got no water for the gin.” [Laughter] But no, we had wonderful times with George.

Question: I think I know the answer to this question, but how did the family operate? The brothers get on, and you know, working close together? Was it harmonious?

Richard: Well – thank you; we were very fortunate that we did all get on very well. Brothers came in at different stages; brother Ross … he was a Master of Science, and he was down with Dr Arnott in Nelson doing dehydration of apples for the Americans during the war. And after that he came in and helped my father. Brother Stuart was a shepherd out in Glazebrooks’ after he was in the Air-Sea Rescue in Norfolk Island; brother Bryce … he went off and did his accounting degree and finished up in Rainbow [&] Hobbs. Took him a little longer than he thought it would, [chuckles] but he did pass eventually. And I went straight in from school. How we broke it up was, brother Ross was the managing director – he handled all the affairs there, and looked after ladies’ fashion. Brother Bryce handled all the advertising and staffing matters. Brother Stuart handled, with son Simon, the mens’ and boys’ wear purchasing and handling the staff there; and I looked after the dress fabrics, manchester and children’s wear. So we all divided up – oh, here’s another old staff member, Erena Griffiths – been with us for a long time. [Showing slide] So we broke it up and we all had our individual roles to play, and it worked exceptionally well. Of course people kept asking about brother Stuart, with his golf and my father used to reply, “Well it’s a poor firm that can’t keep one waster.” [Laughter] But actually his golfing career was a boost in our buying establishments, because he was welcome in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch – wherever he went. The warehouses and things used to enjoy his company; he was quite outgoing, and he got the successes in purchasing that he often wanted. So he did very well in that area and was well recognised for it. So that’s how we how we broke it up. Thank you for the question.

Question: You make a passing mention to Nutters – I see the building on the corner …

Richard: Nutters is still… the sign’s still up there. Nutter’s Fashions – they had a fashion store on the corner there. I’m not sure whether it went straight into The Corner Shop with a cafeteria after that, but George Kearns was there for quite a while as The Corner Shop, and he later went on and took over Bunkers from Ivan Collett. So that was the story there.

You laughed earlier on about Kershaw’s coffin makers; that was an intriguing thing, because not many people made coffins in those days, and they had quite an industry out in their back manufacturing yard.

Question: Richard, you said Bryce was involved with the buying – how did you actually organise, with all the different departments, the buying of it?

Richard: As I say, Stuart and Simon looked after the buying for the men’s and boys’ wear section, and we broke it up like that. Bryce was advertising, he didn’t do any buying. We didn’t trust him. [Laughter] But Ross had very capable ladies helping in the fashion department; they used to do the buying. We were members of buying groups too, in those days, which you had to be, because to get the volume and bargains you had to try and get a little bit extra. So we were a part of the Retail Traders’ Society, which was a buying group, and they used to put out goods that we’d go and view and see what we wanted. But generally we would travel to Auckland and Wellington to the warehouses, and in those days there were some very big warehouses; today, not at all. We used to hunt for bargains and go through the manufacturing areas, and pick up the stock like that. And the knitting yarn I mentioned, they were in Wellington, and I’d take the Bon Marche van down. And I was very friendly with the management team there; and what we’d do is we’d look at the overruns and extras there, throw them into the van and I’d drive them home again, and we’d have them as a special the next day.

Question: What about Chrismouses?

Richard: Chrismouses. Norman, you’re the only one that participated in the Chrismouses …

Norman: I’ve still got plenty. [Laughter]

Richard: Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very successful promotion. Promoted by H & J Smiths in Invercargill – they said, “Here, you’ve gotta have this giveaway for purchasers, these Chrismouses.” They were grey mice with a bit of cheese hanging out of their mouth. [Chuckles] They were reasonable, a stuffed toy, and we thought at the time it was quite good, but they were an absolute failure. [Laughter] We had a few of those over the time … fifty years … mmm.

Joyce: Richard will stay on after this, but I think he deserves one massive thank you from us all. [Applause]

Richard: And thank you to Landmarks, too; they do a tremendous job here, looking after and encouraging us to talk, and bringing you people along here; so I think it’s wonderful. If I had any power at all, Joyce would get a medal.

[Applause & laughter].

Joyce: They’d probably prefer a tsunami, Richard. [Laughter] Thank you very much.

*A form is a long wooden bench