Hill and Stewart was a New Zealand chain of appliance and

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

stores in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, operating between 1951 and 2010.

History

1950s–1980s

The company was founded by war veteran St John Hill and his business partner John Stewart in

Auckland CBD The Auckland Central Business District (CBD), or Auckland city centre, is the geographical and economic heart of the Auckland, Auckland metropolitan area. It is the area in which Auckland was established in 1840, by William Hobson on land gifted ...

in 1951. Hill was operating a secondhand appliance shop on Wyndham Street, when the pair gained a sought-after franchise to sell Fisher and Paykel appliances and opened their first shop on Queen Street. The business was successful, and opened new stores in

Karangahape Road Karangahape Road (commonly known as K' Road) is one of the main streets in the Auckland CBD, central business district (CBD) of Auckland, New Zealand. The massive expansion of motorways through the nearby inner city area – and subsequent flig ...

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore, New Zealand, North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is an isthmus between Shoal Bay, New Zealand, Shoal Bay, arm of the Waitematā Harbour, and the Hauraki Gulf. Lake Pupuke, a volca ...

and Newmarket over the next few years. In 1999, there were ten stores around Auckland. Stewart's home phone number appeared on the chain's advertisements for many years, so that customers could contact him directly with any problems they had. Few people actually rang him, and those who did were unfailingly polite.

1980–2006

Most stores were sold to owner-operators by the early 1980s, but still operated under the Hill and Stewart name. Stewart sold the last company store in Takapuna in 1987. Hill and Stewart was sentenced for breaching the Fair Trading Act twice in 1999, and once in 2007.

2006–2010

The chain was purchased by

JB Hi-Fi JB Hi-Fi Limited is an Australian consumer electronics retail company. It is publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Its headquarters are located in Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria. As of June 2024, the company operates 330 sto ...

in 2006, to operate alongside its own network of stores. There were 11 Hill and Stewart branded stores in 2007. Six Hill and Stewart stores were still operating in 2009. One was rebranded as JB Hi-Fi, three were closed in the latter half of 2009, and the final two were closed in early 2010. The Westfield St Lukes store continued to operate until stock was sold out.

References

{{Retailers in New Zealand Consumer electronics retailers of New Zealand Retail companies established in 1951 New Zealand companies established in 1951 2010 disestablishments in New Zealand Defunct retail companies of New Zealand