Farmers (department store)
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The Farmers Trading Company has 56 department stores in New Zealand, and two homestores. The chain is more up-market than competitors like The Warehouse. Farmers has stores in all of the major New Zealand markets, and anchors most of the major malls.
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[edit] History
The company was founded by Robert Laidlaw in 1909 as 'Laidlaw Leeds' and sold agricultural related goods through mail order catalogues, following a successful American model. In 1918 Laidlaw Leeds merged with The Farmers Union Trading Company, when then was renamed as The Farmers Trading Company. The company expanded into retail and adopted the department store model. For many years the multi-story Farmers Building in downtown Auckland was the largest store in the country, and had free buses that took shoppers to the store from other parts of the city. After closing in the early 1990's, the large downtown store is now an upscale hotel. Currently, most Farmers stores are attatched to shopping malls, with their larger stores in the suburbs.
The company grew from one store during the 1910s to 56 by 1990 through opportunism and take-overs. Farmers included DEKA discount merchandise chain, The Deka chain closed in July 2001 after financial difficulty in competing with The Warehouse discount department stores.
Farmers has traditionally been a middle market retailer, on par with Sears or JC Penney in the United States. With the recent development of The Warehouse (a Wal-mart type store), Farmers made a decision to become a far more fashionable shopping destination, ranging an increasing amount of branded product. Where Farmers once would have faced competition from The Warehouse (nationwide) and various small chain stores, they've established themselves well apart from this discount retailer. Farmers still face competition from the remaining department stores like Arthur Barnett, H & J Smith, Ballantynes, Smith & Caugheys, & Kirkcaldies & Stains, none of which are nationwide.
[edit] Ownership
Farmers Department Stores are privately owned by James Pascoe Limited which is in turned owned by Anne Norman and family. James Pascoe and Fisher and Paykel Appliances bought Farmers on 6 November 2003 from Foodlands Associates for $NZ311m. The business was split into the retail and finance arms with James Pascoe holding the retail arm and FPA the finance arm which includes the Farmers card.
[edit] Criticisms
Farmers has been criticised for its returns policy. The current policy states that if there is any item from a Farmers store that has a problem or a manufacturers defect, you can return it within 12 months and Farmers will refund the current price of the item. However this only applies to manufacturers defects and faults. In other situations, the customer has 14 days in which to return the item. If the item is deemed to be resaleable then the customer will be given a store credit to the current value of the item. Farmers card holders can choose to have the amount put on their Farmers cards, only if the item was purchased on the card.
[edit] Farmers Card
The Farmers Card is a 'lite version of a credit card'. It acts and provides similar services like a credit card, but can only be used at Farmers and certain other stores in New Zealand.
It has no joining fee,no annual fees, up to 55 days of interest credit, special cardholder discount nights, special card discounts, and competitions.
[edit] References
- Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (Robert Laidlaw)
- Museum of Transport and Technology (Farmers Free Bus)
- Notice of Sale of Farmers Group
- DEKA
[edit] External links
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