Newspaper Article – Brady and McNaughton – New shop, but old hands

Brady and McNaughton

New shop, but old hands

Brady and McNaughton Apparel Ltd only opened for business in the Hastings mall this week, but can boast a staff experience of some 63 years in the men’s clothing industry.

Housed in the former McCready’s building partners Allan Brady and John McNaughton own an extensive knowledge in both fashion and Hawke’s Bay being “Hastings born and bred boys”.

Allan, a St John’s College old boy, left school and went straight into fashion as a junior of Poppelwells. It turned out to be a long partnership as he remained with the firm, reaching the heights of manager, until the shop closed in 1988.

From there he secured a job with Warnocks where he met John and the idea of opening their own clothing store was aired. Similarly, John’s work record reads the same. He left school, Hastings Boy’s High, after gaining work with Bon Marche.

A three year stint with the Heretaunga Street shop saw him gain enough experience to land a senior sales position with Thomsons suits, where he worked for 12 years.

For the last seven years John has been at Warnocks also as manager.

In opening their own clothing outlet both men saw the need and opportunity in Hastings to start up a locally owned and operated menswear shop.

Allan says that in the last few years in the city there has been six menswear shops close down without any opening to fill the gap.

“What we decided was lacking was a middle-of-the-road offering good quality menswear right across the board.

“We’re also catering the big man as there’s not many doing that … we are offering a wide variety of clothing for the customer,” says Allan.

Both partners are in agreement that there is something to offer the Hastings man in clothing, as John says. It’s (the shop) something

we’ve been mulling over for a long time and a lot of what we have is not being offered in town at the moment.”

John sites [cites] the shop’s range of sports, leisure and school wear plus reiterates on Allan’s comment about good-middle-of-the-road gear.

“There are a lot of bargain type places in town but we’re going for something a little bit different to that,’ he says.

Both men, former Warnocks workers, say that the possible closure of that particular clothing chain in New Zealand had no bearing on their decision to go out on their own.

“For starters Hastings isn’t closing anyway,” points out John.

“Basically we were waiting for the right place to come up and this building is just, the place. It is central and allows us plenty of space for a wide range of clothing and displays,” says Allan.

“The shop is being fronted by Allan and John literally but both say that as the business grows they will look to employing extra staff”.

They are confident of servicing the market and they have identified and say that being local will offer them an added strength. And interests don’t stop at work.

Allan has been an active member of the St Joseph’s and the Hastings Tennis and Squash Club’s “for many years” and is current president of the St John’s College Old Boys Association.

He was also an active PTA member when his children were at school.

Likewise, John has a keen interest in sport and while he no longer plays rugby, is on the Celtic Rugby Club’s committee. He does, however, enjoy a hit around the golf course. And it is with these sporting links that the two are keen to introduce a range clothing for those athletically inclined.