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Hannahs is a New Zealand footwear retail company.

Hannahs operates at 70 locations around New Zealand: 34 under its main Hannahs brand, 16 under its low-price Number One Shoes brand, and 20 under both brands.

History

19th century

Irish cobbler Robert Hanna emigrated from Ireland to New Zealand, via Australia, in 1866. He traveled to Charleston, New Zealand for work, where he was forced to add an "H" to his surname after losing a coin toss with another man with the same surname.

Hannah established his first store, R. Hannah & Co., in Charleston, New Zealand on 29 January 1868. It produced high-quality shores for gold miners during the end of the West Coast Gold Rush.

Business quickly declined as gold started to run out. Miners left the area and property owners abandoned their land. Hannah originally planned to relocate to the United States but chose to move to Wellington instead..

Hannah established a new shop on Lambton Quay in 1870. He established a three-storey shop and factory, between Cuba Street and Leeds Street, in 1874.

Hannah quickly established branches around the country. In 1883, he established a store on Hastings Street in Napier. Two others followed on Heretaunga Street in Hastings. By 1893, Hannah has 10 shops and his factory employed more than 250 people. At its peak, the factory was capable of producing 6,000 pairs of shoes a week.

The company also became a major landowner, leasing commercial property on Cuba Street to other businesses.

Robert's brother William took over the three Napier and Hastings store in 1897. The Napier site became a street storey store, regional office and warehouse.

20th century

In addition to his shop on Leeds Street, Hannah also had two factories on Lambton Quay at different times.

During the start of the Great Depression, Hannah reportedly put in his own orders to his factory to keep staff in employment.

Robert Hannah died of pneumonia in 1930. At the time, he had 19 stores in the North Island and 11 in the South Island, in addition to his factory.

The Napier and Hastings stores were destroyed in the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, along with a new shipment of English shoes and other stock.

Three stores at one of the Hastings stores died. William Hannah was visiting his accountant at the time; the two men grabbed each other and made it out of the three-storey YMCA building they were in without injury.

Robert Hannah's son brought William Hannah and his family back to the family home in Wellington. William initially lived in a tent outside the house as he no longer trusted being inside a building. A few years later he returned to Hawke's Bay, living in a tent while he rebuilt the business in Napier and Hastings.

In 1983 the New Brighton, Christchurch Hannahs store was one of the first retailers in Canterbury to trade on a Saturday.

The First Labour Government started restricting footwear imports and increasing import tariffs in 1938 to protect the local footwear industry.

The Fourth Labour Government removed import restrictions on footwear and began lowering in the late 1980s, leading to a sharp increase in the volume of shoes imported from China and other Asian countries. Many local shoe manufacturers closed

Richard Johnson, Robert Hannah's great-great grandson, has worked for Hannahs as a staff member and consultant.

1990s

The site of the original Leeds Street factory was converted into residential apartments during the 1996. A section of Leeds Street is now called Hannahs Laneway.

Hannahs launched its own footwear brand Pulp in 1997.

The company relocated its headquarters to Porirua in 1999.

2000s

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Hannahs stated to stock a range of international footwear and accessory brands, including Hush Puppies, ], Ipanema x Gisele Bundchen, Kardashian Kollection handbags, Truth or Dare by Madonna and Keds.

2010s

In 2010, there were 48 Number One Shoes stores around the country.

Hannahs and Number One Shoes went through changes of ownership in 2015 and 2017. At the time of the 2017 sale, there were 51 Hannahs stores and 89 Number One Shoes stores, which employed hundreds of people and represented about a quarter of the New Zealand footwear market..

In 2018, Hannahs marked its 150th anniversary. It had 50 stores, was based in , and was the country's largest retailer of international footwear brands such as Clarks, Hush Puppies and Keds.

In May 2021, an employee at the Number One Shoes store in Palmerston North was arrested for allegedly taking photos of co-workers and customers before performing lewd acts with their shoes the previous month. Newshub reported he had posted images of up to 250 teenage girls on Facebook. He pleaded guilty to two charges of offensive behaviour, and was discharged without conviction.

In 2021, Hannahs was starting to close its "shabby" or under-performing stores or merge stores with Number One Shoes. The chain had been losing market share to rival chain Merchant 1948, department stores and online retailers due to its conservative business model.

References

1. "Hannahs Shoes". hannahs.co.nz. Hannahs.
2. "Number One Shoes". numberoneshoes.co.nz. Hannahs.
3. ^ "Hannah family: Collection relating to the Hannah family and R. Hannah & Co. Ltd". Department of Internal Affairs. National Library of New Zealand.
4. ^ "Back in time: Hannahs". ICG Media. The Register. 31 May 2018.
5. ^ "Hannahs celebrates 150 years". Adrenalin Publishing. NZ Business. 1 February 2018.
6. ^ "Hannahs celebrates 150 years in business". fashionz.co.nz. FashioNZ. 13 February 2018.
7. ^ Salmons, Matthew (26 April 2018). "A life in shoes, 35 years out of 150". Nine Entertainment. The Press.
8. Carroll, Joanne (21 January 2020). "Land abandoned after West Coast gold rush on market 100 years later". stuff.co.nz. Stuff Business.
9. ^ Tolerton, Jane (11 March 2010). "Footwear". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
10. O'Neil, Andrea (15 September 2015). "Robert Hannah's shoe empire marches into Wellington - 150 years of news". Fairfax New Zealand. Dominion Post.
11. ^ "Historic Hawke's Bay: Hannahs fills big Napier boots". APN News & Media. Hawke's Bay Today. 10 December 2012.
12. ^ George, Damian (18 September 2016). "Historic Hannah family collection donated to Alexander Turnbull Library offers insight into Wellington business pioneer". stuff.co.nz. Dominion Post.
13. ^ Fowler, Michael (4 February 2012). "Historic Hawke's Bay: Tough road back for Hannahs". APN News & Media. Hawke's Bay Today.
14. Marshall, Nikki (30 November 2015). "48 hours in Wellington, New Zealand: where to go, what to do". Guardian Media Group. The Guardian.
15. Stevenson, Rebecca (17 November 2010). "Number 1 makeover". Fairfax New Zealand. stuff.co.nz.
16. Harris, Catherine (27 August 2015). "Hellaby flags sale of shoe stores Hannahs and Number One Shoes". stuff.co.nz. Stuff Business.
17. ^ Harris, Catherine (11 October 2017). "Bapcor sells NZ assets including Hannah's and Number One Shoes". stuff.co.nz.
18. Palmer, Scott (10 May 2021). "Number One Shoes employee arrested over alleged covert, sexual acts with coworkers' shoes for fetish site". MediaWorks New Zealand. Newshub.
19. Palmer, Scott (11 May 2021). "Number One Shoes employee accused of posting pictures of teens to shoe fetish porn sites, could have 250 victims". MediaWorks New Zealand. Newshub.
20. Ellingham, Jimmy (25 May 2021). "Shoe shop worker admits lewd acts with other people's footwear". stuff.co.nz.
21. Ellingham, Jimmy (7 July 2021). "Shoe shop worker avoids conviction for lewd acts with other people's footwear". ].
22. Carrolll, Melanie (1 July 2021). "More shoe shuffling likely as Hannahs closes 'shabby' stores". stuff.co.nz. Stuff Business.

External links

• Hannahs Official Website
• Number One Shoes Official Website

• Companies based in Auckland
• Retail companies of New Zealand
• Retail companies established in 1868
• New Zealand companies established in 1868