Newspaper Article 1994 – Bon Marche to close

Bon Marche to close

The Bon Marche department store in Hastings, a feature of Heretaunga St retailing for 96 years, is to close.

Managing director Richard Jones announced the decision yesterday, prompted by a decline in his company’s fortunes since 1991 as apparel retailing has become dominated by chainstores.

“Sales are no longer sufficient to support our type of independent apparel-based business,” he said.

Mr Jones and son Simon, a 10-year employee of Bon Marche, will continue in retailing, but have yet to decide if it will be in clothing or some other business.

Bon Marche will hold a closing sale starting next week and will probably close at the end of January, putting 10 staff out of work, including some who intend to retire.

Mr Jones said the decision to close came while the company was still solvent and all bills were being paid. He said the company’s fortunes had been declining steadily since 1991.

Many things have happened which have affected us, including the drift of patronage away from the main street of Hastings to shops like K mart and The Warehouse, which have their own car parking.”

He said the Heretaunga St mall had not made it easy for retailers in the street, with a lack of passing trade and also of places for people to park.

Bon Marche (French for good trading) began as M. Johnson Ltd, started by Mr Jones’s grandfather, Matthew Johnson, a one-time deputy mayor of Hastings, in 1898.

The company became Bon Marche after the earthquake when taken over by Mr Jones’s father, James F. Jones, and moved to its present site in the 200 block of Heretaunga St. Previously it was in the 100 block opposite the Grand Hotel.

Mr James Jones’s four sons, Ross, Stuart, Bryce and Richard all worked in the business and developed the company into one of Hawke’s Bay’s best-known and most successful firms.

Bon Marche Ltd owns the building which the Hastings store occupies and it carries a government valuation of $420,000. Mr Jones said it was possible some of the site could be leased and a smaller operation run by himself and his son, or the whole site sold.

Mr Jones said the decision to close Bon Marche, made a few days ago, was an economic decision made in association with financial advisers.

The Tomoana works closure and the decline of spending had been factors in the timing.

Regret from mayor

Hastings mayor Jeremy Dwyer today said he regretted the loss of a respected retail name in the city. It would be “greatly missed”, he said.

“While it is the dramatic retail and economic change which regretfully has seen Bon Marche go, it is pleasing to know that Hastings retail has not seen the last of Bon Marche, perhaps in another form.”

The president of the Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce, Peter Barnes, said it was disappointing to see the end of a family-owned retail business. Bon Marche had been a leading retailer and a significant contributor to business groups and council debate.

New Zealand was following an international trend of a much larger share of retail dollars going to “hyper” stores and malls in response to shoppers’ demands for a “shopping experience” and lower prices achieved through the buying power of the large chains.

“It is most likely that this trend will continue. However, there is still a role for the family business in niche market areas that are not served by the large chains,” Mr Barnes said.

Need to restructure

The Jones family should be congratulated for recognising the need to restructure its business, the chairwoman of the Hastings Mainstreet promotion committee, Sue Hardy, said today.

Mrs Hardy said it was always sad to see the closure of a long-established business, but the face of retailing in the city had changed dramatically during the past few years.

It was to the Jones family’s credit that it was prepared to take up the challenge by closing Bon Marche and look for another business opportunity.

The family had put a lot of commitment into the development of Hastings, most recently with Richard Jones being chairman of the steering committee set up to look into the viability of the Mainstreet programme.

“I look forward to their re-entry into the Hastings business community in a new, strong and progressive business,” Mrs Hardy said.

Photo caption – Managing director Richard Jones, left, was in good spirits today, relieved that the saddest part of the closure decision, telling the staff, was over. Staff had been kept informed of the company’s trading difficulties, so yesterday’s announcement was far from a surprise, he said. With him are son Simon and company chairman Ross Jones.