Taihape retailer goes extra mile for customers

Geoff Wilson, owner of Treasure Trove in Taihape. PHOTO/LIN FERGUSON

Geoff Wilson is an avid antique collector, restorer of beautiful old furniture and, he says, probably the only boatie - his yacht is moored in Auckland - who spends most of his time on dry land.

"I'm so busy these days, I just don't get time to go out on the water."

And he's not making life any more simple because he's expanding from his shop, Treasure Trove, into a second shop in the old Taihape Times building further up Hautapu St.

However, the new shop will be all about slick new furniture, mostly beds and lounge suites, he said.

Taihape might be small, but the volume of traffic heading north and south on State Highway One was where 75 per cent of his business came from.

He bought a moving truck and tells his customers who come from all over the country he will deliver their goods free.

"Most can't believe it. One Auckland man said he'd buy an antique safe right then and there if he could work out how to get it to Auckland. When I said I'd deliver it free but he'd have to wait a week before I was up there again, he nearly fell over and was absolutely thrilled."

Geoff spends hundreds of hours at auctions throughout the country and only brings in antiques of value.

"I'm not into junk."

At the back of his enormous emporium-style shop he has a vast storage and restoration area. "You can see why I'm always busy, with all these projects on the go."

Beautiful pieces of furniture made from kauri, oak and rimu are lined up.

He strokes the pieces carefully.

"Look at these, look at this old workmanship - it's stunning."

Geoff also knows his stuff about valuable old pottery and china.

"You would be amazed at the number of serious collectors there are and they come back in here again and again."

Delivering all over the country doesn't bother him. He's wise enough to know that that's what brings many customers into shop.

"The new shop will be just that, shiny and new. Quite, quite different."

Retail in Taihape has been in his family for more than 50 years, he said.

"My dad owned the Four Square, my mother ran the Marigold Tearooms and Adams Bruce. "I used to help my mother in the tearooms and it was always busy, even then."

Living in Taihape is a good life, he said.

"Unfortunately, it's too quiet for a lot of people, and my wife was one of them. But, well, there is good business here, so I'm staying."