Latest news with #Smith&Caughey's
NZ Herald
a day ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
Smith & Caughey's Queen St store to be sold after closure
The board's moves to sell could hardly come at a worse time. Auckland department store Smith & Caughey's has shut. Photo / Dean Purcell Many properties are for sale in the CBD, some sites staying empty for decades – including the Royal International on Elliott St and the Auckland Star site on Fort St. Widescale development of apartments has ceased and many older office buildings have vacant floors. Demolition specialist Ripout NZ showed mid-July how it was removing fixtures and fittings in the ground-floor cosmetics areas. Peter Alexander of the Smith & Caughey's board. Photo / Dean Purcell Andrew Lamb of Galaxy Property said his business was managing the building, but he preferred to talk about that later this year or early next year. What's it worth? Smith & Caughey Ltd owns the CBD properties and holds a number of titles. They include 253-261 Queen St, whose title was issued in 1965. It has a capital value of $39 million and annual rates of $283,000. Andrew Lamb of Galaxy Property. Photo / Michael Craig The property is made up of 2946sq m of land worth $35m and 1.3ha or 1329sq m of floor space worth only $4m. A second title at 20 Elliott St is a 1998sq m property and a third title at 9-11 Wellesley St is a 723sq m property. All titles are under one CV. Auckland Council holds no separate valuation or property information on the last two street addresses. Smith & Caughey's Queen St and Newmarket properties have a combined valuation of $53.5m. The Herald reported last year that if the Queen St and Newmarket buildings were sold, the money could be expected to be paid to shareholders. But nothing was said about the properties in last year's closure announcement, nor about the trust's future. The company Smith & Caughey is owned by Smith & Caughey Holdings, whose registered office is at 253-261 Queen St. Smith & Caughey Holdings was only incorporated in June 1988. Smith & Caughey Ltd's five directors are: Epsom's Peter John Alexander; St Heliers' Matthew Andrew Lovelace Caughey; Freemans Bay's Simon Fraser Dunlop; Epsom's John Nicholas Elliott and Remuera's Michael Howell Holloway. Historic buildings Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga lists the Smith & Caughey Building, Wellesley St West and Elliot [sic] St, as a Historic Place Category 1 building. Category 1 historic places are of special or outstanding historical or cultural significance or value. The building was entered on to the list in March 1986. One heritage website said Smith & Caughey's Wellesley St extension with its south facade and north elevation dated back to 1927. It was designed by architect Roy Lippincott, an American who designed a number of famous buildings. What next for the property? Some have suggested other retailers may be interested, including a supermarket operator, although that seems unlikely given the multi-level nature of buildings. A city centre school, offices and apartments have also been put forward as other possibilities. Plans for the St James Suites apartment block on Queen St. The tower was never built and the site is for sale. Apartments appear an unlikely prospect with so many already in town and the costs of conversion high. Plans for the $400m St James apartments never rose beside the heritage St James Theatre on Queen St. That empty site is understood to be up for sale. Tamba Carleton from CBRE specialises in research on apartments. Tamba Carleton of CBRE specialises in researching this area and is keeping totals of ditched schemes. Expansion remains sluggish, data from this year's first quarter show, although the build-to-rent sector is busy, Carleton has found. John Love is yet to pay $3m for the ex-Civic Administration Building, owned by the Auckland Council. It was the authority's headquarters but he converted it into 114 luxury apartments. He rebranded that The CAB. Not all units are sold. The $16.5m penthouse and sub-penthouses remain for sale. The CAB – 23 units are left to sell by developer John Love. Photo / Alex Burton Only when Love repays a loan standing last year at $70m does he have to pay the $3m. Are offices a possibility? Older office floorspace in that mid-town area is hard to lease. Big corporates are instead drawn to new, big-floor-space, green-star-rated, environmentally efficient buildings developed by businesses such as Mansons TCLM and Precinct Properties. Newmarket site In Newmarket, Smith & Caughey's traded from the heart of that suburb at a site near the end of Remuera Rd: the distinctive premises at 225 Broadway. That title is owned by Smith & Caughey Ltd. Council records show 219-225 Broadway is valued at $13.5m, has a land area of 1114sq m and a total floor area of 1846sq m. Rates there are $74,000/year. Anne Gibson has been the Herald's property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
NZ Herald
18-07-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Diary of a Smith & Caughey's sales girl: What it was like working for the iconic Auckland retailer
It wasn't jealousy, exactly. More a kind of intrigue, laced with the knowledge that accent alone could open and close doors. Good afternoon, ma'am. Of course, sir. That's a beautiful choice, ma'am. I listened, I mimicked, and I understood no one else knew about the game. But they were still playing. Let me explain. This was my first exposure to the upper class of Aotearoa. I was 18. It was a far cry from the thundering laughter and humility of Onehunga, where I was raised, shaped and gifted a tongue. I'm also an Indo-Fijian immigrant. It was 2010. I remember serving Christopher Luxon. He told me he ran an airline. It would have been 2013 or 2014. He came in alone to the Newmarket branch of Smith & Caughey's and got two shirts. As I was bagging up, he asked me if I was a student. I was used to men coming in and making useless conversation, often bizarre tales, that non-casually wove in ludicrous wealth. I'm a manager of this and that, they would say. I've travelled here and there. Once, a middle-aged man detailed coherently in 10 long minutes how he helped forge passports to get people out of the Bosnian War. All I asked was if he needed help finding something. These chats almost always led to an invitation to 'talk more' and a gifting of the holy business card at the till. I'm very aware of how conceited I sound, but this happened. Every single shift. The shop's window display showing some of the history of the store after it announced its closure. Photo / Dean Purcell I remember thinking they were all boring, and I didn't understand at that age why they thought talking about jobs and wealth was a good way to flirt. Perhaps it was because, as a student on basically minimum wage, I knew I couldn't reciprocate. Perhaps it was because the main shop we got our clothes from growing up was The Warehouse. Perhaps it was because it isn't a good way to flirt. I would smile. I would feign interest; being polite was my job. Luxon wasn't at all like that, though. Not with me anyway. I told him I was studying a BA in Politics and Spanish. The degree that gets criticised for poor job prospects. I expressed my uncertainty about my future. He said: 'I studied the same thing [referring to the politics part, though I'm not sure in what capacity], and now look, I'm the CEO of Air New Zealand.' I never forgot that moment for two reasons. One, Luxon did indeed succeed in inspiring a young student suffering from disenchantment. Two, it didn't feel like I was his tool to score validation. Luxon's politics as the leader of one of the country's most conservative coalition governments to date aside, that energy was rare in the menswear department. The Queen St branch. Photo / Michael Craig Although the talk was often dull, I admit I was always curious about how they came to be how they were. I'd serve men with their breast-implanted trophy wives, fashion designers, models, gangsters, politicians, sugar babies, drug dealers, chief executives, escorts, the I-grew-up-poor-and-now-I'm-here people, the generational wealth people and the I-wear-real-fur kind of people. Not all of them were pillocks, of course. I've had plenty of nice and kind conversations with customers at Smith & Caughey's. But being nice and kind is the baseline. What I remember more is the absurdity of exchanges with some of them, fascinated by their delusion of power. And that's what this story is about. I remember when a man literally threw his cash at me after I asked for payment. 'There you go, I just paid your wages,' he said, looking at me dead straight in the eye. I looked at the woman, presumably his wife, standing beside him physically and, apparently, metaphorically. Are you okay with your husband speaking to me like that? I said to her with my eyes. She held the same expression as him and said nothing. Once, an older man of large stature, maybe in his 60s, perhaps even early 70s, walked in and stopped dead when he saw me. I greeted him as I was trained to do. He looked me up and down without any coyness. Instead of greeting me back, he said loudly: 'Mmm, I want you. I want a piece of you'. While I was no stranger to flattery, this felt different. His eyes were wide and locked in. The arrogance of his display told me he didn't play by normal social rules. He didn't touch me. He didn't come closer. He didn't say anything more. And yet my frozen body wanted to get as far away from him as possible. The announcement of the store's closure attracted nostalgic crowds. Photo / Dean Purcell What followed is a blur; I found an excuse to walk away and hide, forcing my colleague to attend to him. After a while, I returned, and the man had left. I told the security guard what happened, more out of making conversation than to prompt action. His anger surprised me. The security guard went out onto the street to see if he could spot him. He reviewed the security footage. He told the assistant store manager, who then came down to personally check if I was okay. I will note that I always felt physically safe while at work. It was clear that our store manager was protective of her staff. Before this job, I was a part-time sales assistant at a Hallensteins outlet store in Dressmart. There, discounts were king. Here, in the land of $200 keychains, discounts were offensive. I remember the first time I voluntarily told a Smith & Caughey's customer about a sale. It was also the last. The woman was looking for a nice handbag, which was the department I started in before moving to menswear. I showed her the ones on special first, thinking she would be grateful to know – everything is rudely expensive, after all – and it's a normal practice for retail staff. But this wasn't a normal place. I might as well have told her I had a lovechild with her son and stole her cat. She didn't need to buy things on sale. The price didn't matter. She could buy anything in the store if she wanted to, and I darn well should know that. I remember the first time a customer shouted at me. It had to have been in my first year. His signature did not match his credit card. I politely let him know, even asked if he wanted to try again. He started pointing his finger. He started protruding his veins. It was like he morphed into an evil character from a Hayao Miyazaki film. 'YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DO THIS TO ME. NOT TODAY. I AM A LOYAL CUSTOMER,' he screamed as he walked off with the goods. I was shaken and in tears. I didn't know how to handle angry men then. I'm not sure I know how to handle them now. Concerned about a potential theft that I let happen, I informed my superiors. The counter manager told me they called him, secured payment and that he was sorry for how he treated me. A colleague told me the company called and apologised to him before rewarding him with store credit for his loyalty. I remember a man walked in with – I kid you not – his nose in the air. Our conversation was the following: 'Good afternoon,' I said. 'I need a pair of jeans, but I am far too rich for you. Smith & Caughey's won't have the jeans that I need. I am too rich,' he said. It was like a scene from a cartoon. There is nothing wrong with grandeur inherently, nor the desire to show appreciation for someone's artistry and the beauty of their creations. Feeding a fantasy is something else. Some Smith & Caughey's customers, I know, felt special when they were inside. They felt like they 'made it' – they were 'a somebody'. To simply be seen there, for many, I believe, was always the point. A masterclass in marketing. Until it wasn't.
Scoop
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
World Press Photo Exhibition Announces New Auckland Venue
Press Release – Elephant Publicity Rotary Club of Auckland presents World Press Photo Exhibition Saturday 26 July – Sunday 24 August, Auckland Opening next month, the prestigious international World Press Photo Exhibition returns to showcase the world's most compelling photojournalism from around the globe. Following the closure of Smith & Caughey's at the end of July, the exhibition has a new home for 2025 thanks to the generosity of the owners of 131 Queen Street and the team at Krukziener Properties. The exhibition will run as scheduled from 26 July – 24 August, with tickets available online via Eventfinda or at the door. The World Press Photo Exhibition offers a striking window into the past year's defining and often overlooked moments and news events, capturing stories of conflict, climate, culture and community. The World Press Photo Exhibition features a wide selection of images from the World Press Photo Contest 2025, taken by 42 international photo journalists and documentary photographers. Included in the diverse selection of images and stories on display at this year's exhibition is Amanda Maciel Perobelli's series Brazil's Worst-Ever Floods that captures record-breaking floods in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, which caused widespread environmental devastation, the displacement of over 600,000 residents, and the death of 183 people. Federico Ríos' project Paths of Desperate Hope documents a variety of individuals as they journey through one of the most important migration routes in the world, the Darién Gap, a 100-kilometer long stretch of dense and roadless jungle connecting Colombia and Panama. This treacherous land route is a critical passage for those seeking to migrate from South America to the United States, with more than a million people having braved the route since 2021. Also on display will be Ebrahim Alipoor's long term project Bullets Have No Borders, capturing kolbars (border couriers) who carry goods such as household appliances, mobile phones, and clothes, on their backs through treacherous terrain from Iraq and Turkey into Iranian Kurdistan. They work in incredibly tough conditions, for very little money, and at risk to their lives – both from the elements and from authorities. The Rotary Club of Auckland is proud to bring the World Press Photo Exhibition to Auckland, with all proceeds from the event going towards Rotary youth charities and disability charity PHAB. World Press Photo Exhibition Auckland Dates: Saturday 26 July – Sunday 24 August Times: Sunday – Tuesday: 10.30am – 6pm. Wednesday – Saturday: 10.30am – 6.30PM Location: 131 Queen Street Tickets via Eventfinda
Scoop
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
World Press Photo Exhibition Announces New Auckland Venue
Rotary Club of Auckland presents World Press Photo Exhibition Saturday 26 July - Sunday 24 August, Auckland Opening next month, the prestigious international World Press Photo Exhibition returns to showcase the world's most compelling photojournalism from around the globe. Following the closure of Smith & Caughey's at the end of July, the exhibition has a new home for 2025 thanks to the generosity of the owners of 131 Queen Street and the team at Krukziener Properties. The exhibition will run as scheduled from 26 July – 24 August, with tickets available online via Eventfinda or at the door. The World Press Photo Exhibition offers a striking window into the past year's defining and often overlooked moments and news events, capturing stories of conflict, climate, culture and community. The World Press Photo Exhibition features a wide selection of images from the World Press Photo Contest 2025, taken by 42 international photo journalists and documentary photographers. Included in the diverse selection of images and stories on display at this year's exhibition is Amanda Maciel Perobelli's series Brazil's Worst-Ever Floods that captures record-breaking floods in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, which caused widespread environmental devastation, the displacement of over 600,000 residents, and the death of 183 people. Federico Ríos' project Paths of Desperate Hope documents a variety of individuals as they journey through one of the most important migration routes in the world, the Darién Gap, a 100-kilometer long stretch of dense and roadless jungle connecting Colombia and Panama. This treacherous land route is a critical passage for those seeking to migrate from South America to the United States, with more than a million people having braved the route since 2021. Also on display will be Ebrahim Alipoor's long term project Bullets Have No Borders, capturing kolbars (border couriers) who carry goods such as household appliances, mobile phones, and clothes, on their backs through treacherous terrain from Iraq and Turkey into Iranian Kurdistan. They work in incredibly tough conditions, for very little money, and at risk to their lives – both from the elements and from authorities. The Rotary Club of Auckland is proud to bring the World Press Photo Exhibition to Auckland, with all proceeds from the event going towards Rotary youth charities and disability charity PHAB. World Press Photo Exhibition Auckland Dates: Saturday 26 July - Sunday 24 August Times: Sunday - Tuesday: 10.30am – 6pm. Wednesday – Saturday: 10.30am – 6.30PM Location: 131 Queen Street Tickets via Eventfinda
NZ Herald
25-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Smith & Caughey's closure: What's really to blame?
Retail nostalgia fades as Smith & Caughey's exits the changing face of Queen Street. Photo / Michael Craig THREE KEY FACTS Like all OG Aucklanders, I'm upset that Smith and Caughey's in Queen St is to close up shop. An expedition to the old girl was part of my history. Late night Friday, we'd troop in to Q Street and pay a visit to the glittering store and
