Westerman’s at Christmas in the 1930s. Photo / Michael Fowler Collection
Westerman’s at Christmas in the 1930s. Photo / Michael Fowler Collection
In December 1910, Ernest Alfred Mitchell Westerman was seated next to a farmer on the Wellington express train travelling from Hastings.
After introducing themselves, their conversation probably went a bit like this:
Farmer: “What was your business in Hastings?”
Ernest: “I have travelled to inspect a drapery – Greenfields, with a view to purchasing it. Lately, I have been in a partnership with Mr Cole, in Wellington and Masterton – however, this has ended, with Cole taking ownership of the business after buying me out.”
Farmer: “Mr Greenfield in Hastings runs a good business.”
Ernest: “Yes, he does – I, of course, however, would liquidate all his stock and introduce my own lines. I have very good supply lines from contacts gained from my overseas work experience some 10 years ago in the United Kingdom.”
Farmer: “Have you made your mind up to purchase Greenfields?”
Ernest: “I’m not going to purchase it. The business and location of the store, near the centre of Hastings, is fine. It’s just Hastings – I am not convinced that it has a future.”
Farmer: “I can assure you, Mr Westerman, Hastings has a bright future – its rural hinterlands of rich pastoral farming and horticulture will continue to develop and provide much wealth to their urban cousins. I advise you to get off this train and go back to Hastings. This is a decision you will regret.”
And that is what Ernest Westerman did – he got off the train, walked the eight kilometres back to Hastings and bought J A Greenfields Eclipse Drapery. (The business was where today’s Westerman building faces Heretaunga St East.)
Victor Westerman joined his brother Ernest in the business after World War I. Photo credit / Joan Anderson
Ernest took possession in January 1911 and, true to his word, sold off Greenfields’ stock, brought in his preferred lines and changed the name to Westerman & Co Ltd.
The farmer was right – Hastings grew and prospered and so did Westerman & Co, despite some environmental, social and economic curveballs thrown its way.
Ernest Westerman’s business strategy was to have frequent sales of stock. His tagline was “famous for low prices”.
I think he would put modern-day Briscoes to shame with the number of sales he manufactured, seemingly seizing upon the slightest excuse for one.
During a World War I fundraiser, Ernest was fined £10 for “never having a sale”. The opposite, of course, was true. If he altered the building, there would be a demolition sale, quickly followed by another sale as the stock had dust on it, then a grand opening sale due to the new alterations. If there was a big thunderstorm, “a lightning sale” followed the next day.
Until Ernest’s death in 1952, business was not easy – two world wars, import restrictions in the late 1930s, the Great Depression and the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake. Ernest saw opportunities in all of them and, while he never traded on people’s misery, he adapted to what the circumstances had dealt him.
The burden of these events was shared with his brother Victor Leonard Westerman, a chartered accountant who joined Ernest as a partner in the business after World War I. It would prove to be a formidable partnership – the creative marketer and the fastidious accountant.
My latest book is on the history of Westerman’s, entitled Famous for Low Prices: The Story of Westerman & Co Limited. The store was a very nostalgic place for me, hence my writing it. I can remember being taken there as a young child.
My main memory hook is the cash canisters being propelled after they were placed into an opening by shop assistants and transported through a tube to who knows where ‒ only to return some minutes later from the mystery location with a paid receipt and change.
The Westerman’s building today is one of Hawke’s Bay’s best examples of the Spanish Mission style. It stands on the corner of Heretaunga and Russell Streets and serves as a reminder of the once-iconic department store, which went out of family ownership in 1975.
Famous for Low Prices: The Story of Westerman & Co. Ltd, Michael Fowler Publishing Limited (2023) $40. Available from Arts Heretaunga, Russell Street South; Whitcoulls Hastings; Dickens Books & Exchange; Wardini’s, Havelock North. $40. And also Michael Fowler’s Stories of Historic Hawke’s Bay (2022) $79.99.
