Thomson’s Suits – Angus and Michael Thomson

Jim Newbigin: It’s 12th March 2019. The speakers are Angus and his father, Mick Thomson, and we’re going to hear the history of the Thomson family, and their men’s outfitters.

Joyce Barry: Welcome everyone. Suits; everyone thought suits were going to go out in the 1960s; they thought they were going to go out in the eighties, but they’re still here, and you see endless pictures of men with different philosophies and different politics, but they’re all wearing suits. So I was absolutely thrilled to approach the Thomsons, and for Angus, who’s on the better side of life as far as the rest of us are, here tonight, [chuckles] was very, very keen to come and talk, and I think we should be privileged at that, so Angus, I’m handing over to you. Michael is going to talk as well, but Angus will be our main speaker tonight; welcome, Angus. Thank you.

[Applause]

Angus Thomson: Thank you very much for that, Joyce; what a wonderful introduction that was, and I’d also like to thank you as well for asking us to come along tonight, to present to this amazing crowd. Great to see so many familiar faces as well, including family and friends.

So good evening and welcome to the story of Thomson’s Suits. I’d just like to make a special tribute to everyone that’s travelled from far and wide, but also to all of you that [who] have turned out tonight; it certainly means a lot.

So the format for tonight will be Tommo … Mike Thomson … he’ll talk about the history of the shop with regards to how it started and grew; then I’ll talk about the later years. We’ll also have some photos for your viewing pleasure, and if you do have any questions regarding these or you’d like us to talk about them at the end, please let us know. So without any further ado, I’d like to welcome Michael.

[Applause]

Michael Thomson: Thank you, Angus. That’s a wonderful introduction for me. Unbelievable. [Chuckles] I got married nearly fifty years ago; I’m more nervous now than I was then. [Chuckles] Unfortunately, if I’m reading, that’s because my memory’s not so good.

But the history of Thomson’s Suits – we were born in May, 1957. Mick Thomson started work at Blackmore’s Clothing Shop in approximately 1928, where he learned the trade. And in 1941 he was called to fight for our country in World War II; returned home in 1945, where he continued to work at Blackmore’s; he loved it. It was the only job he ever wanted, until Mr Blackmore Senior called him aside to tell him his son, Colin, was going to take over as manager. As you can imagine, Mick wasn’t too happy about that. Anyway, a couple of weeks later a friend, Joe Howard, who was a real estate agent, saw Dad and said to him, “There’s a soon-to-be-empty shop in the 300 block of Heretaunga Street. It was a ladies’ shop and the ladies were retiring. Dad went to have a look, but thought it was too far out of the main shopping area; then Joe said to him the old saying: “Mick, if you want to succeed, go west young man.” [Chuckles] So the decision was made. Dad didn’t have much money, but the word got around the district and country that he was opening on his own, and the manufacturers were fantastic – “Get what you need and pay for it when you can”, the majority said. Suppliers such as Lane Walker Rudkin, and Lichfield in Christchurch, Maida Vale, Cambridge, and Amblers in Auckland, and James Brown, later to become Rembrandt in Wellington, were all incredible support. So our home in Avenue Road became the warehouse, while waiting for the shop to be ready.

Finally, May 20th 1957 came, and the shop was ready to open. Dad, Mum, and a young guy called Barry Bowman, were ready. Barry was a real hard case; great ladies’ man, and loved life. [Chuckles] The first day was fantastic; they were flat stick all day. One customer came in and said to Dad, “I need a suit”, and Dad said, “No, you don’t; I sold you one just two weeks ago at Blackmore’s.” [Laughter] And the guy said, “You need the money more than me”, [laughter] which was fantastic. Dad and Mum came home with a satchel tucked under their arm, and exhausted but very happy. My sister Judy and I were allowed to count the money … threw the money up in the air and then counted it. They had budgeted to take £300, and at the end of the count they’d taken £900. It was unbelievable.

So Thomson’s Suits had begun. Not long after they opened, Mum’s youngest brother, Dick Prebble, joined the firm, and with Jenny Henderson in the office the shop continued to grow. In 1959, I became the before and after schoolboy … in the mornings to sweep the floor inside and out, and then deliveries after school. The alterations ladies lived near Mahora School in Victoria Street, so I had to bike there and back. Occasionally I’d call in home and see if Mum would take me in the car. [Chuckles] She didn’t do it very often.

In 1960 the shop next door became vacant, so that was the first of the expansion. It had been the paint warehouse for N C Raikes’ Paint Shop. At that time the business was still growing, and Dad employed Peter Coleman, who used to ride track work at the racecourse in the morning before work, and he was a neat guy.

In January 1966 I went to Wellington to Vance Vivian’s for work experience. I was there until October when I got the call to say Barry Bowman had tragically been killed in an accident, so in November 1966 I came home and started work at Thomson’s Suits. I enjoyed the time in Wellington while staying with my auntie and uncle and cousins in Lyall Bay. A young lady came into the shop one day and she wanted a present for her boyfriend. So I just said, “Well, what about a pair of pyjamas?” She said, “Yeah.” [Chuckles] And I said, “Well what size?” She said, “My size. Can I try them on?” I said, “What about a shirt?” [Chuckles] And she said, “No, I want pyjamas.” [Chuckles] So I took her upstairs into the fitting room and was waiting outside; there was a curtain door on it, and the guys that worked there all of a sudden pushed me into the fitting room. [Laughter] And here’s this young lady, with a pair of pyjama pants on and the top on, but unbuttoned. No bra … not that [??] So I walked out of there very quick. [Chuckles]

When I got home, at the same time we also took on another salesman by the name of John Darrow; he’d previously been the manager of Hugh Wright’s. John … JD as we called him … was a brilliant window dresser, and a salesman; very dapper gentleman. He had the ability to make our clients feel that they were the most important people in the world. JD was an integral part of our staff for forty years. His personality was infectious. He once wore a hat to work, like a Robin Hood hat, you know, the ones with a peaked front? It came out over his nose, so I told him that, and I laughed, and he kicked the hat onto the road and left it there; never wore it again. [Chuckles] I took him to Ruapehu once because he was a great skier, and we stayed in the Havelock North, or Hawke’s Bay, Ski Lodge, which was great on the first night. In the morning JD said, “C’mon, we haven’t got time to get boots for you; get your shoes on, we’re going. You can watch me ski.” So up we go to the ski thingys; he’s on the ski thing … [whatever] it’s called; it’s up the mountain, [chuckles] and I’m there in my leather-soled shoes, slipping and sliding. Anyway, he waves to me; so he starts skiing down; the cloud comes over. Then the cloud lifted. Where’s JD? Nowhere to be seen. He’d crashed into another guy and smashed his ankle. So the paramedics went up and brought him down, and I took his skis and, still in my leather-soled shoes, went back to the ski lodge thinking, ‘This’ll be all right.’ I bought half a dozen beer; there was four or five older gentlemen – they may’ve been forty, but they were older than me – [chuckles] and they talked all night about the younger generation, and drank my beer. [Laughter] So I said to JD, “That’s the end of me for skiing.” So I had to go to Taumarunui and pick him up the next day, and brought him home.

After Dick Prebble had been with us for about fifteen years, he decided to open his own business [cough] in Taradale. He left us in 1974. Business was still going very well, and in 1973 N C Raikes’ shop on the other side became vacant ‘cause they’d moved to the next block. We knocked down the wall and expanded, incorporating a boys’ department as well as the Hereworth School uniform, and men’s shoe department. We included the Lindisfarne uniform a few years later.

The sixties and seventies were a great time for Hawke’s Bay. Some new cloths for suits were developed for the seasons, Murano and Euroweave created a light-weight and hard-wearing mohair and wool cloth for summer, while Belcrest and Irish Stormproof produced a warm and very hard-wearing, pure wool cloth for winter; bad for business, because they wouldn’t wear out. [Laughter] Dad’s reputation as a cloth salesman grew, and wives would come to tell me, “Jack needs a new outfit; you know the size. Sort it out.” We’d give them the outfit we chose for them on appro, [approval] and nine times out of ten they would fit, and they’d buy them.

The fashion for the young man about town in those days was tweed jackets, moleskin or [cough] cavalry twill trousers, Aertex shirts in summer, and Viyella shirts in winter. Many of these young men frequented the hugely popular Lager Bar in the Mayfair hotel; ooh, they were great days. [Chuckles] Then the fashion changed to navy blue reefer jackets, charcoal flannel trousers.

To mention just a few of our younger staff members that [who] have worked over the years: Kim Howard – I see he’s here tonight; John McKee, Graham Taylor – ‘Curls’, we used to call him; Neville Stewart, John McNaughton, Pete Thompson, Ian Tilyard, Grant Nisbett, Grant Herrick, [cough] Paul Roberts and Brian O’Sullivan. We all worked hard, but had a lot of fun too. Bruce Giorgi joined us after John McNaughton left, and worked for us until he retired five years ago … great servant for Thomson’s Suits.

There were twenty-one menswear outlets in Hastings thirty-five years ago; now there are five. Only two are owner-operated, and that’s us and Alexanders. We used to have menswear Christmas parties, where manufacturers, reps [representatives] and retailers would all mix, tell stories and lies. [Chuckles] At one of those such events there was a bit of a fight. John McKee … ‘Runs’, as he was known, had hit an employee from Blackmore’s. Runs told us that the Blackmore’s guy had said something derogatory about Mick, so he whacked him. [Chuckles] We still don’t know if that is really what happened, but [chuckles] he was whacked.

Dad loved the farming sector; he was very keen on dog trials. He was time-keeper for the Huntaway classes at several different trials, and one of the instigators in retaining the dog trials at the A & P [Agricultural & Pastoral] Show; also responsible for Polo, Hawke’s Bay Racing, Hastings Golf Club and Kia Toa Bowling Club, and others. Angus is going to say a few more things about that.

When I first began working at Thomson’s Suits, Dad and I had a talk … as you would. He suggested that I should play rugby for Hastings Old Boys, and I should join the Golf Club and the County Club. I thought that was a great idea. After Pam and I were married in 1969, I told her that I’d joined these clubs because, as Mick explained, it was great for business. And it was. Those early days of my working life there was no Saturday shopping; we stayed open until nine o’clock on Friday. I’d leave the shop at nine and go to the club and play snooker, sometimes ‘til one or two in the morning. By that time the bar had closed, so we were pretty sober by the time we drove home. [Chuckles] True!

In 1975, Mum and Dad were in a very bad car accident, and as a result Dad was hospitalised for months with a badly broken pelvis and various other injuries. Dad was not able to work full-time again, and could only come in for short periods of time, so I became the boss at twenty-eight years of age. I had great support from JD and Bruce.

Dad had always wanted Thomson’s Suits to be on the corner, so in 1993 I asked the Lambertons, who owned Kiwi Cycles, “How would you feel about moving over the road to your empty shop?” “Great idea”, they said. So we moved out for a couple of months and rented two small shops down the road while the re-build was done. Mrs Redstone, our landlady, passed away in 2000, so I purchased the building from her estate.

I only had one real argument with Dad – it was a bit stupid, but it was the only real argument I had. He went out to the loo, and someone had taken the wooden part of the toilet roll holder. And he said, “Michael, what are you going to do about it?” And I said, “What do you mean?” And he said “What are you going to do? Someone’s nicked the wooden part of the toilet roll holder.” [Chuckles] I said, “Who cares?” [Chuckles] I went home that night to their place, and I had a talk with Mick, and a drink; and I said, “Hey Dad – if you’re going to carry on like this, I’ll bugger off, you be boss for six months, and I’ll come back.” I said, “I can’t put up with that sort of nonsense.” He said, “Don’t be like that. Don’t be stupid.” So we left it at that, and that was the only time we had a real argument … [Laughter]

I’m extremely proud of what we have done at Thomson’s Suits over the sixty years, and would like to thank my wife, Pam, [applause] for nearly fifty years; our children Mark, Liz and Angus and their partners, who didn’t see much of me in those early years; my staff, especially, and our loyal clients. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be standing here today. I would now like to hand over to son, Angus, who was working on an orchard when one day he came to me and said, “Tommo, how would you feel if I came and worked in the shop?” My eyes lit up and [I] said, “Fantastic!” That was twenty years ago, and so now he’s the boss and doing a wonderful job, and I’m just the boy. [Laughter and applause]

Angus: Thank you for that, Dad – that was an amazing presentation, and I’m sure everyone got a, got quite a good knowledge out of that.

When I was growing up I guess I didn’t know how lucky I was to have such an amazing legacy that I was a part of. When I was at Intermediate School, I would sometimes pop around to Nan and Pop for a visit, and Pop would tell me stories of the shop, and what he did. He was retired at this stage, but would still call in with his walking stick and make sure everyone was on their toes. Pop would always say that the shop was a ‘bloody big business’, and Michael seemed to be ‘doing it well’. I now understand what he was saying, but at the time it took me a while as I generally took it for granted. When I left school, I went to work at the Red Apple, an orchard owned by Van Howard, who was Kim’s brother; who, as it also happened, is the son of Joe Howard, the real estate man who found the original first shop for Mick.

I had the intention of working for a year and then heading to Uni, [university] but after a year I enjoyed earning money rather than spending it, but with that I became a full-time worker for Van. After four years there I moved to another orchard which was owned by Mo Pierce; I also had a job at a very popular bar and café called Diva, and this was owned by Kim Howard. [Chuckles] I don’t know whether this is a coincidence or not; I’m not sure. This kept me busy until the end of ‘98, when Mo Pierce decided to sell his orchard, and it was then that I wanted to join the family firm. I had a bit of experience in the shop over the previous years as an after-school boy, but once I started full-time I thoroughly enjoyed it … the staff, the customers; being nice and warm inside when it was cold and wet outside; and no more early morning starts at four am to go spraying. Not only that, but the great people we met every day, and also how varied the role was. Each day was different, from selecting what to buy for stock, to helping clients to choose a great outfit. My early years at the store were certainly an eye-opener, learning the trade so to speak. This included, but [was] not limited to dealing with customers, tidying the stock, keeping the shop looking great, and as the new kid on the staff, sweeping the front every morning.

The stories that were told by the staff always had us laughing, for a few times anyway; but they started getting a bit old after the joke was told for the five-hundredth time. [Chuckles] John Darrow had a great repertoire of jokes; one of them was: A lady walked into the shop one day and she was blind; she had a dog with her … a seeing eye dog. The dog ran off the leash, ran around the shop and jumped into the window. While it was in the window, it did its business on one of the sports coats in there. We thought, ‘Oh no – what are we going to do?’ So we had to sell that sports coat at a turd of the price. [Laughter] He had a hundred more like that, but we don’t have the time to go through them. [Chuckles]

As Mike had already mentioned, we were very lucky to have John, or JD as we called him. He thought of us as family, and would do anything for us; he was always immaculate, and whatever he did, well-dressed. We had the best window displays in the whole town, and his connection with his customers was second to none. He had customers that would drive past the shop, then call out, “John, I need a new suit; actually, make that two.” And he would go into the suit lounge, pick out two suits, three shirts and four ties, wrap them up and send them off, and back came a cheque. That’s how good he was. But there was one thing to be said in that he didn’t like anyone touching his windows. There was one time when he left early and some Christmas lights fell down in the window. Since JD wasn’t there, I took it upon myself to put them back up and in a slightly different place. Thinking I’d done a brilliant job, I left it at that. Well the next day when JD turned up, he knew immediately his window had been changed, and he wanted to know who did it, and why. [Chuckles] Took him about three days to start talking to me after that. [Chuckles]

When I successfully passed the apprentice stage, I also started doing a few more things in the business. This included the accounts, the financial side of the business, and also the advertising. This certainly gave me a varied role at work, which I loved. With technology always improving and changing, we had to change with the time, from cash and cheques being the normal form of payment, to EFTPOS. [Electronic Funds Transfer Point of Sale] I do recall Tommo saying, “This EFTPOS thing … that’s not going to last. [Chuckles] People just like to have cash or cheques in their wallets.” So now people can pay with their phones and their watches, let alone with cards. There was also a massive alert for everyone, but especially businesses, when Y2K was approaching. Y2K, for those that didn’t know, is the year 2000; and nobody could guarantee that the computers would roll over to the new year. People were told to update their computers and back up all their information three times, just to be safe. Thankfully, when January 1st 2000 rolled around, everything carried on like clockwork.

As an older business, Thomson’s has a lot of business history that is written down manually in a folder, and this included what stock was bought, how many we had left, and how many had sold. This is how we forecast our buying for the new season. We generally have to order our stock approximately six to eight months in advance, so we have to know how many we need to buy a long way out. This system had served Thomson’s well up until 2015, to be fair. We’re still using that system now, but we have also introduced a POS system, or Point of Sale system. [Shows slides] On the slide you’ll see a few piece[s] of paper exactly like that, and that’s how it was done from 1964 or even prior, to 2015. So the Point of Sale system: it’s a computer system that allows us to record all stock movements … when we purchased it, what size, what colour and what date; whereas the abacus, which is what I called the old system, would only tell us once or twice a year, depending on the product, how many in a particular size we’d sold. For example, Aertex shirts in 1975 – the year I was born – we sold a whopping seven hundred and eighty shirts for that year, and then in 2019 I can tell you on which, on each individual day, how many we sold; for example, 18th January we sold fifteen. And then in 2018 we’d actually sold seventeen hundred, so Aertex is a very big part of our business.

This new technology gives us so many more reports to base our future buying from, but unfortunately it can’t tell us where the fashion is going, only where it has been. An example of this, we’d purchased a black, quarter-zip merino pullover, and that sold super well. In four weeks we’d sold the lot, and so we thought, ‘Right, we’ll get on to the supplier, find out how many they’ve got left.’ So they had twenty left, and we thought, ‘Right, we’ll take the lot; we’ll sell those in no time.’ So in the next ten months we’d only sold three; [chuckles] but these are the things that we learn from.

Obviously Thomson’s wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all our wonderful customers that we have returning to the store and coming through the doors. It is what makes the job so enjoyable when you see people you’ve helped, out and about looking sharp. A couple of years ago we were celebrating our sixtieth birthday when we had the photographer from Hawke’s Bay Today in taking photos. In through the doors walks a very loyal customer called David Hildreth, and it just so happened that he came in on the first day that Pop opened up the doors. So the photographer suggested that David try on a jacket with me helping. We proceeded to do that with the photographer taking shots, when David turned around and said, “I like that jacket; it looks good and it fits me well. Wrap it up for me.” [Chuckles] So that was very worthwhile.

We also try to give back to the local community in many ways. We sponsored, as Michael said, the local dog trials – that’s at the A & P Show – the Te Aute Trials, Okawa, and Taradale to name a few. We also do a month when we take a percentage of what we sell and donate that to the local charity that we choose for that month; so in the last couple of years we’ve donated approximately $1400 to the Hawke’s Bay Helicopter Trust, and approximately $1300 to the Wildflowers exhibition that raises money for the Cranford Hospice. Local schools, rugby clubs, bowling clubs, Elsthorpe Sports day, Raukawa Sports day, and major functions, all benefit from not just Thomson’s Suits, but so many other local businesses that all help in their small way.

Michael: [?] didn’t donate it to me? [Chuckles]

Angus: We’ve donated lots to you, Michael. [Laughter] You’ve just got a very short memory. [Laughter]

Another reason why Thomson’s had stood the test of time is the suppliers that we’ve been dealing with. They have helped us when needed, and have been a great support. The slogan or motto that we’ve stuck to throughout the years has been pretty simple: quality product, with exceptional service at an affordable price. We stick with the suppliers that stand behind their product as we do with what we sell. We expect our products to last as long as what would be considered a fair amount of time. We will do our very best to remedy any situation that our customers may come across. Pop also had an old saying, which most people would have heard before, which is ‘The customer’s always right’; well that’s most of the time. [Chuckles]

As Tommo has mentioned previously, staff are very important. We need to have staff that relate well to the customer. We’ve never been a store to sit behind the counter and wait for the customer to come to us for help. We’d rather be in amongst it to give our advice on certain fits or fabrics to the benefit of the customer. Michael’s mentioned some of the staff that have worked on the floor, or salesmen, but we’ve also had some lovely office staff as well. These include, to name just a few, Marilyn Sinclair, Denise Streeter, Heather Bark, Judy Birch, Denise Watkins, Ros Geddie, Julia Ebbett, Debbie McAllister, Jackie Irving, Liz Dart, Nyla Daly, Anne Thompson, and currently, Rebecca Wilson.

When Michael retired at the end of 2016, that was when I took over the reins, so to speak. It turned out to be quite an interesting time work-wise. At the time we had Ben Graham, Hamish Grant, myself, and Murray Price working. Ben came to me and said that he was leaving to pursue a job in the mortgage broking industry, but realised the timing only gave me three months to find someone. Prior to this, I also was doing the finances as we had just updated to Xero – which was a new accounting system – and needed to understand the system. I’d been doing this for approximately three months since our last office lady left. At the start of February I also found out Hamish was leaving in the next three weeks, so in less than three months I had three staff leaving out of five. Thankfully I’d employed the talents of a local HR [Human Resources] company, who handled finding the potential candidates and whittling them down to approximately eight for the three roles we needed filling – office, sales and marketing, and sales and merchandising. From the eight we narrowed it down to three, and these turned out to be Steve McCarty, who’s had a lot of experience with sales and marketing. He got this at Farmlands for a number of years, Firenzo, and later Central Districts Cricket; Layton McKay, who knows just about anything you need to know about wine, who’s had ten years experience at Advintage; and Rebecca Wilson, who is very fluent with Xero, and learnt pretty quickly the ins and outs of our POS system. These guys turned out to be lifesavers as they picked up the ethos at Thomson’s Suits, and also brought other aspects to the place as well.

The competition surrounding clothing has changed immensely [cough] over the years. There was twenty-one menswear stores serving the Hastings locals, to just two independent retailers today. I believe this has changed for a number of reasons – the expansion of the rural stores serving the farmers in the rural sector families – I see John Newland’s here; welcome. So Farmlands, Wrightson’s, Fruitfed Supplies – they expanded to incorporate menswear, dishwashing liquid, pretty much anything you need for the farm, where we used to have a lot of farm wear in the store. So that side of our business certainly dropped away, but we certainly increased it with, for example, the Aertex shirts, suits and more of the fashion clothing.

And a lot of the corporate businesses now source their uniform from large distributors, cutting out the retailer; so now big corporates will go online or go to big firms up in Auckland or even overseas, and order a hundred suits or a hundred shirts, rather than everyone getting their individual outfit for work. The chain stores have also rapidly grown over the years, and they’ve certainly encroached on the independent stores over the time. One story that Michael told me was when Postie Plus took the market, and people could shop from a catalogue from the comfort of their home. Retailers throughout the country were up in arms and saying, “This’ll kill my business, and that will be the end of bricks and mortar stores.” It was either Pop or Dad that said, “Don’t worry, there will always be the people who like to feel what they’re buying, and also enjoy the experience of face-to-face retail.”

So with the advancement of technology it wasn’t long before online shopping came about; and again people were up in arms around the country saying, [cough] “It’s going to kill my business.” But this is certainly growing at a steady rate, and Kiwis are already spending $4.2-billion annually online. These are certainly changing times at the moment; we just have to keep trying to create different strategies to encourage people into town. So these and so many more are all the challenges that we face at [in] the day to day life at Thomson’s Suits, but that is what keeps us on our toes.

Last, but definitely not least, I’d just like to acknowledge the hard work that Michael has put into the business. He still has a knack to sell ice to Eskimos, but he can’t use a computer still. [Chuckles] He thinks it hates him. [Chuckles] Fifty years in one job is a hell of a long time, and also to have it flourish under his leadership is pleasing to see. I remember in 1999 when Main Streets was around – now called the Hastings City Business Association – they were having their Business Awards, and we were entered. I’d only been in the shop for a year and a half, and on the night of the Awards I was hopeful, but with so many other wonderful businesses around I didn’t think we could get there. When Thomson’s Suits was called up for the Best Independent Retail business, I was ecstatic; then Thomson’s name was called up for the Overall Business Award; I was gobsmacked. Such an awesome feeling to have your dad’s business win such an award, and I was a part of it.

And I’d also like to point out, that while I was away on holiday last year with Dad, my brother and a friend of ours, seeing the All Blacks play Australia in Sydney, we actually repeated the performance, with the staff going along to the Best Business Awards and winning not just the Best Retailer Award, but also the Overall Award. You betcha we celebrated that night! [Chuckles] So I’d just like to thank you, Dad, for carrying on a great tradition that your father started. I just hope that I can do it justice and see it through for another generation. So there is a chance for that to happen with Richie, [Thomson] but we’re not going to push him. So I’d just like to thank you all again for being here tonight. I hope we haven’t bored you too much, and we’d love to answer any questions that you have. [Applause]

Question: How much does the weather play in what you sell and what you don’t sell? You were saying that you bought so many jumpers …

Angus: It certainly does play a huge part – certainly have the two seasons, summer and winter obviously; we find that in Hawke’s Bay, Hastings especially, people sort of go into hibernation over the wintertime, so it’s sort of the people that need garments. It’s you know, pretty cold outside so they need a jersey to wear, or warmer trousers. In the summer with so many more events happening, yeah, people certainly come in. They get a little bit more bold with the shirts that they buy; brighter shirts and trousers in the summertime. But in the winter it’s certainly very conservative.

Question: Michael, my father used to tell me the story that prior to taking the shop on, Mick was terrified that Colin Blackmore, or the Blackmores, would find out that he was looking around. So Dad tells the story that they went in at half past one in the morning with a searchlight, through the back door; did you ever heard anything about that?

Michael: That sounds a wee bit like you. [Laughter] Telling tall stories. [Chuckles] I’ve never heard that one.

Comment: If I could just prove quality does last. At school at the end of 1957 when Thomson opened the shop, and of course next year, 1958. He said, “Right, young man, we’re going to have to kit you out”, and what-have-you; so this sports coat [chuckles] was bought in 1958. It could tell a few stories though …

Angus: That still looks brand new.

… it’s Woolmark, Guardsman. And then he said, “Of course you’ve got to have a green, slouch hat to go down the farm.” [Applause]

Michael: That’s fantastic. In fact the late Bruce Morrison and I went on a road trip in my mother’s Hillman Imp, and we had the same hat … up the Coast, and called into a Ruatoria pub and said we were from Australia; we were cattle ranchers. [Laughter] They didn’t believe us, but … exactly that hat. Brilliant.

Question: I was looking at the building; how old is that? Sort of looks Art Deco or Spanish Mission.

Angus: So the building that we’re in was built in 1935. The earthquake actually damaged the existing building, so that got replaced and rebuilt, so that was built in the sort of Art Deco, Spanish Mission time.

Joyce: I think we agree it’s been a wonderful night talking about clothes. [Applause]

I’d just like to pick up on a theme that came through when Angus talked, just how technology is now impinging on businesses; the fact that he just lets it roll off his tongue about Xero and POS and all those work methods that we didn’t even dream about. How lucky you are, Michael, to have a son who’s prepared to pick up the technology. Driving north of Sydney with my son-in-law, we were four miles out of Sydney up the coast, and he said to his watch, “Alexa, would you vacuum the house.” [Laughter] And Alexa does vacuum the penthouse back in Sydney, just on talking to his watch. I think it’s been a wonderful night. Thank you; a very modest thank you to the Thomsons from Landmarks.

[Applause]