KEY POINTS:
Hobson St was once a treasure trove for city workers who had home handyman projects on the go. The street was a mega cluster of hardware shops, places where you could browse away lunchtime or splash out on an electric drill, on time payment if you wished.
John
Brown, sales manager for Shroff & Sons for 25 years, is misty-eyed recalling those days.
"In this street were 10 outlets ... you could go from one to the other and buy anything you needed, whether it be hardware or engineering and woodworking machinery.
"You had the Morrie Blacks, the Charles Palmers, the Louis Eichmanns, the Farmers Trading Company.
"Now, we are the last on the street," said Mr Brown, taking a breather from the final stocktaking of a firm that has served farm, trade and private customers since 1886.
Richard, who is the fifth generation of Shroffs to head the business, and his brother, Michael, have closed the doors, because they want to pursue other interests.
Retirement beckons Mr Brown, after 40 years in the hardware trade, the best of which were more hectic years when the Farmers department store was a powerful business magnet, not only for itself but also for dozens of smaller Hobson St traders nearby.
"Friday night was huge business for us when the Farmers were open."
Previous managing director Brian Shroff, father of Richard and Michael, believed that an independent retailer must maintain an efficient, personalised service. That done, the retailer could always hold his own against the bigger firms.
"The Shroffs were astute businessmen, always up with the trends and the competition," said Mr Brown.
Some of the trends and the responses that enabled Shroffs to survive in the face of the buying power and promotions of the big hardware chains are revealed by clippings of Shroff's 1920s and 30s advertisements pasted in pages of an old flooring sample catalogue.
Saddles and harness gear for buggies, gigs and traps were big sellers until 1920 when the horse gave way to the motor car. The firm then included car parts on its shelves along with couches, chests of drawers, wallpaper, cow bells, pig's nose rings and hair clippers.
Fifty years ago the home handyman trend started and Shroff customers were served low-priced power tools with the other essential ingredient - a little sound advice.
Prices went so low that yesterday the firm had a packing case filled with hand tools they had repaired in its workshop for people who had never bothered to collect them.
Michael Shroff said the firm had held its own during competition from the big chains ... "and that's thanks to Richard and the staff".
"They know what they're talking about and you don't find that when you go to a supermarket and there's just the checkout."
Shroff's building, erected for them in the 1970s, was sold two years ago to Sky City Auckland, who also own the adjacent car parks. The company says it is considering alternative uses for the building.
Coincidentally, Sky City was built on the site of the original Shroff buildings.