The Shops and Stores of Pukerua Bay

The First Store

During construction of the Pukerua to Paekakariki section of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway between 1884 and 1886 there were at least two stores for the men living in the work camp. Storekeepers were John A. Lennie from Pauatahanui, who went on to run the refreshments rooms at Plimmerton Station, and Allan Carmont who was declared bankrupt in 1886.

After the railway was opened in 1886 Pukerua became an attractive place for Europeans to visit and later to settle. There were already three families clearing the land for farming who employed workers on their farms.

In 1905 Horace Ames and his two sons, Horace and John, were farming at Pukerua on land referred to by the Native Land Court as Pukerua 3cNo1A Block VI Paekakariki Survey District.

In 1906 Horace (junior) married Norma Bessie Bradey from Pauatahanui. They settled on the leased land which was adjacent to the railway on what is now Te Pari Pari Road. In 1917 Norma Ames purchased Lots 2, 4 and 7 on plan 3473 from Charles Gray.

Horace continued farming while Norma set up the Pukerua Cash Store.

Norma supplied provisions for the weekenders and the few permanent residents. If there was no one in the store when a local popped in they simply left a note of what they had taken and paid later. Horace carried sacks of sugar and flour on his back along the railway line from the station to the store. There were ninety steps from their home close to the railway down to the store on the bluff.

As an established residence the home of Horrace Ames was used as a polling place for Parliamentary Elections and Licensing Polls. The 1911 prohibition referendum was New Zealand’s first nationwide referendum. Voters were given the chance to vote for national continuance of alcohol sales or national prohibition. The Pukerua result of the 1911 Prohibition Poll was For continuance five, Against two.

In what was reported as The Liquor Battle Referendum of 1919 Pukerua polled with six votes for Continuance and four votes for Prohibition. (Evening Post, 11 April 1919, p3) The permanent pākehā residents in Pukerua at this time totalled ten – farmers, railway porters and gangers.

When the earliest and smallest stretch of internal roads opened, Horace Ames brought the first car to Pukerua. He drove along the line “at a great bat until he could turn off onto the one small piece of usable road between the line and store. He never met an oncoming train, confident that he would know when the next train, one of a few, would be due along the single track”. (Kay, B. 1996 Anthony Wall, Settler of Porirua, The Papakowhai Story, p106)

In the late 1920s with easier access and the popularity of the Bay for a weekend excursion the Ames opened a small store on the beach which supplied hot water, among other services, so picnickers would not need to make the climb up the zig zag path to their store.

Norma and Horace Ames continued to run their store and lending library until 1939. The construction of the highway between Plimmerton and Paekakariki brought about many changes for the landowners in the northern part of Pukerua Bay. Many of the owners along what is now Te Pari Pari Road lost substantial parts of their property.

In September 1937 Horace Ames had the forethought to make an application in accordance with the Industrial Efficiency Act 1936 for a licence to “install one petrol pump at applicant’s store, Pukerua Bay”. His application was declined. (The New Zealand Gazette, 1937 October 14, p2349)

The next blow for the Ames was the removal of their store to make way for the new coastal road. By this time the Ames must have felt dispirited and they retired to Raumati Beach.

Horace Ames died in 1945 and Norma died in 1982, aged 100. Their daughter Phyllis died in 1931 aged 22 and their son Noel died in 1932 aged 26. Dorothy Challies née Henderson, a friend of the family, wrote, “The Ames family must not be forgotten. They were fine but terribly unfortunate people.” (Dorothy Challies, 1999, unpublished letter.)

Following the opening of Centennial Highway a new store, in art-deco style, was built adjacent to the western side of the highway at the end of what is now Onepu Road. First known as McKay’s Store, this building included the Post Office and the Bay View Tea Rooms. Gilbert McKay was the storekeeper and his mother, Mrs Violet McKay, was the postmistress. Signage on the store advertised Capstan Cigarettes, and Tip Top ice cream.

Mr Otto Lepper was the storekeeper from 1942 until his death in 1943. Mrs Isabel Lepper (née Boulton from Pauatahanui) was postmistress until the store changed hands to Robert and Eveline Gilmour in 1945.

In April 1945 Robert Gilmour advertised in the Evening Post, “While passing through Pukerua Bay stop at Post Office Store for Afternoon Tea and Light Luncheon. We welcome you. Open Sundays. R. Gilmour, Proprietor.” Gilmour’s Grocery Service offered free delivery using their Singer 9 van. Their store, situated at the top of the zigzag from Brendan Beach, was popular with weekenders and holidaymakers who bought fresh milk, bread, vegetables and possibly most importantly, fishhooks.

The Post Office made the news when the Evening Post reported the theft of  a Ration Book:

“That is about the only thing you people ask for,” said Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, when asked by a woman defendant, who had pleaded guilty to theft if she could have her name suppressed. “I won’t suppress your name,” he continued. “It was a deliberate theft—a stupid theft.” The accused, Kathleen Mary Mitchell, married, on October 16 went to the post office at Pukerua Bay, said Detective -Sergeant G. E. Callaghan. The post office was run by the storekeeper and was part of the store. In the absence of the attendant she had taken a new ration book, and the following day returned and took possession of a date stamp, with which she stamped the ration book. When inquiries were made, by Detective N. J. McPhee, he found the ration book and the stamp at her home. She was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence within six months if called upon. (Evening Post, 27 October 1945, p9)

In the Evening Post on 3 November 1945 the following was published:

Disclaimer. Mrs. Margaret Mitchell, Pah Rd., Pukerua Bay, wishes to make it known that she is in no way connected with the recent Court case concerning theft of ration book.

The shop was renamed as the Pukerua Service Store in May 1948 and the Gilmour’s re-opened the Pukerua Book Club in an annex off their store with a selection of the “latest popular books”. The Junior Pukerua Book Club was opened for the first day of the August school holidays offering “Bright and thrilling school and adventure stories for boys and girls, comics, etc.” Over the summer holiday period the Pukerua Book Club offered visitors a 10/- returnable deposit to use the book club.

The Pukerua News, published monthly between April 1947 and September 1950 wrote about the friction between Gilmour’s Store and Lindsay’s 4-Square Store. The Progressive Association felt the time was ripe for “the drawing up of plans for the layout of a future shopping area, embracing attractive and modern ideas, thus avoiding haphazard shop building as the population increases.” (Pukerua News, June 1948)

At the March 1948 meeting of the Progressive Association it was decided to send a deputation to meet the Chief Postmaster to obtain the best possible postal services for the Bay. The next month’s Pukerua News reported that if suitable accommodation could be found full postal facilities would be provided for the district. Mr A.K. Lindsay agreed to lease his premises. The May Pukerua News printed the following statement from the Pukerua Service Store, “We have not at any time been officially consulted in the matter of providing premises for a money order office. Had we been we should have been only too happy to co-operate to the best of our ability with the Postal Authorities.” On 24 June 1948 the new Post Office was opened in an empty space attached to Lindsay’s store. The June edition of the Pukerua News advised that the new Post Office was “centrally situated for the growing area near the station”.

The Pukerua Service Store continued to trade despite losing the Post Office. They sold “Certified Sutton’s Supreme seed potatoes at town prices, Yates seeds, Lime, and Super Blood & Bone”. In November they offered a full range of first grade Christmas Cake ingredients including, “dried fruits, nuts, spices, essences and cooking fat.”

In May 1950 Mr and Mrs Gilmour left the Bay. The store then “changed hands a bit” according to a local resident. Mr and Mrs A.W. (Wiffy) Clark introduced themselves as the new proprietors of the Pukerua Service Store with the motto, “(1) At your service (2) Civility (3) Consideration for all your needs”. The Pukerua Book Club offered “New books selected for your pleasure. Make the Library your Meeting Place.” (Pukerua News, June 1950) They carried on the tea rooms with Mrs Clark’s mother baking the scones. Wiffy made home deliveries in his truck but the highlight of the week was late on Saturdays when everyone came to collect their Evening Post and Sports Post.

Charles (Robby) Robinson with his wife Nita took over as the Pukerua Service Store grocers when the Clark family left the Bay in 1957. They were followed by Clive and Lillian Round. Mr Round drove a blue bus around the Bay selling groceries and sweets. “We were always waiting for him to come before the flicks started in the RSA hall,” said Mick Williams who lived nearby.

In 1963 Russell and Ethel Dreyer, with help from their teenage sons, ran the store followed by Mr Kara Swainson who took over. He turned the store into a milk bar and fish and chip shop. The store complete with juke box was very popular as a gathering place for teenagers. On Wednesdays Mr Swainson would dispense 10 cent packages of fish and chips from the side door of his Morris van to the waiting children at the school. In the early 1970s the building was damaged by fire. This was the final blow for a store at this site and it was demolished.

In 1965 the lending library was absorbed into the Pukerua Bay Library, as a branch of the Country Library Service.

The Second Store

Back in 1925 prominent landowner Charles Gray had set up his brother-in-law in a rival store on the corner of what is now Toenga Road. This was barely 300 metres from Ames Cash Store. A second store, along with a small store at the beach, very soon divided customer loyalty in such a small community.

Early in December 1929 the well-known panorama photographer R.P. Moore was invited to visit Pukerua Bay by Charles Gray. Moore’s two images were used to promote the sales of sections in the Bay. In the Christmas Number of The Dominion Gray promoted this second store. Pukerua Bay is Calling You – A Superb Seaside Attraction – Steeped in Maori Legend

… Housekeeping is well catered for by Lindsay’s two stores. Groceries of all kinds, bread, drapery, cool drinks, cooked meals, fruit and vegetables are stocked and milk from the store’s own dairy herd is available to customers. Lindsay’s stores cater for transport to and from the railway station per motor truck. Anyone wanting information regarding seaside cottages or sections for sale should communicate with A.K. Lindsay, general store, private wire, Pukerua Bay Bureau.

Morning and afternoon tea is served at Lindsay’s store. Fencing material is kept in stock. (The Dominion Christmas Number, 1929)

Meg Waddilove, who first started coming to Pukerua Bay as a small child and later became a resident, remembered those early days in verse,

We liked to travel up the track to reach the general store.

That sold the most amazing goods from ceiling to the floor.

The owner was a kindly man who lived behind the shop

And if you acted most polite you’d get a lollipop.

His wife served too in apron white, and both enjoyed a natter.

So if they were not busy we’d go inside to chatter

On some days, our timing right, we’d on the white gate sit

And wait for stokers on the train to throw coal, bit by bit

Which we would gather up with glee and quickly transport back

To our little seaside haven by the sea.

From Haven by the sea by Margaret Waddilove, 1984

The construction of the highway through Pukerua Bay also brought about changes for Lindsay’s General Store. To straighten the sharp bend on the corner near the store, the Ministry of Works took land in front of the store.

In 1939 Arthur Lindsay opened a new store on the main road opposite the Plunket Rooms.

He continued to trade in competition with the newly built Pukerua Service Store further north on the western side of the new highway. Petrol pumps were installed at Lindsay’s General Store. Did Charles Gray have any influence in Horace Ames’ earlier application to sell motoring spirit being declined in 1937?

Following WW II the centre of housing moved from Te Pari Pari, Toenga, Pa and Haunui Roads to the new sections along Rawhiti Road on the western side of the state highway. In 1947 Lindsay’s Store had become “Your 4-Square Store” with home deliveries on Tuesday and Friday.

The Pukerua News carried advertisements for both stores. Their competing advertisements also reflected post war restrictions and the values and culture of the time. (Pukerua News, August 1948)

In October 1948 the Pukerua Service Store offered “New books, Spring hats and soft toys” along with, “limited supplies of cigarettes, tobacco, Weet-Bix and asparagus – secure yours now.” They had “full stocks of Patent Medicines” and the Tea Rooms and Milk Bar was open on Sundays from 10am. They were the agents for Dominion Dyers for all dyeing and dry cleaning.

Lindsay’s 4-Square Store offered “English bone china, pressure cookers” and asked customers to notice, “the shortage of Weet-Bix has finished”! In July 1949, “the sugar position has eased and we will be able to supply much larger quantities and be sure to get your ration of rice when it arrives”! They opened a Christmas Club in 1949 as, “a novel way to save for Xmas shopping … make those Pennies Pounds.” There was a full range of sandshoes: “child’s 6s 6d, ladies 8s 6d, gents 10s”. “Lindsay’s were the agents for Parsonage & Co. Upholstery and the Petone Laundry Co, Ltd for dyeing and dry cleaning. In their garden news they offered “English Galvanised Buckets, Govt. certified Seed Potatoes, Blood and Bone, Fish Manure and Super Phosphate” and most importantly, “Why walk up the garden path these cold nights – instal an Elsan Lavatory”!

Arthur died in 1951 and his wife Annie continued to manage the store with their son Arnold and daughter Beth as shop assistants. Arnold, with his wife Charmian, ran the store and in 1956 Lindsays Pukerua Ltd, a private company, received its Certificate of Incorporation. Annie died in 1993 aged 96. Arnold’s son Darryl remembers each week being given an envelope to take to his great-aunt Elizabeth Gray who was then living further up Te Ara Road. He realised later that the envelope contained rent for the shop.

William (Bill) Scott and his wife Elizabeth (Betty) bought the Lindsay’s 4-Square Store in 1960. The northern end of the building was their family home where they lived with their three sons. In 1964 the Scotts enclosed the porch to make more room for customers, goods and staff. They baked standard loaves of bread, delivered coal and shopping orders to homes and were agents for milk coupons. It was the “hub of gossip where you could get almost everything. If it wasn’t in stock Mr and Mrs Scott would get it in for you.” (Angela Ryan, 1999). Mrs Elliot, their assistant, was popular with school children as she “Made up the best 5c bag of mixed lollies!”

Bill Scott continued to sell petrol, firstly Atlantic and then Caltex. In the early 1960s the Atlantic Union Oil Co. Ltd purchased the land and former RSA hall on the corner of Teihana Road West and the main highway with the intention of building a petrol station. Bill Scott held the licence for selling petrol in Pukerua Bay and as this was a significant part of his turnover he understandably did not want to relinquish his licence. Eventually the RSA hall was donated to the Pukerua Bay Scout Group and the land sold.

Bill Scott was offered the opportunity to close his store and manage the newly built New World Supermarket on Mana Esplanade. He declined but in 1974 sold his business to James and Peggy Thrupp. They traded as Golden Coast Stores until 1977. Graeme and Marion Udy then traded as the Pukerua Bay Foodmarket. For a short while they also ran a fish and chip shop from the old post office/storeroom.

From 1981 the store became the site for the Porirua District Licensing Trust Pukerua Bay Bottle Store with Fae Fagan as manager. It also served as a community notice board, an outlet for poetry book sales, information centre for passing traffic, and a dry-cleaning agent. Fae sold train and intercity bus tickets, milk, newspapers and magazines, ice creams, cigarettes, chippies, soft drinks – in short it was a mini dairy.

The accommodation area became a craft shop and then the Bay House Collections antique store before finally the entire building became a private home.

Other Services

Early European residents of the Bay usually had a house cow and were willing to sell milk to weekenders or those living down on the beach. Bert D’Ath recalled as a small boy going up the path from the beach to collect milk from George and Saidie O’Meara who lived in a railway cottage by the No. 3 tunnel. These were tough times; the men on the goods trains would drop off coal to swap for cream and butter.

The 1929 Christmas Supplement of the 13 December Dominion promoted Pukerua Bay as a “Superb Seaside Attraction”.

Housekeeping is well catered for by Lindsay’s two stores. Groceries of all kinds, bread, drapery, cool drinks, cooked meals, fruit and vegetables are stocked and milk from the store’s own dairy herd is available to customers.

Alfred Amey sold milk from his black Jersey house cow using his milk float. He also raised chickens and ducklings and sold their eggs. In 1932 the Ladies Guild at St Andrew’s, Plimmerton ordered nine dozen eggs at 10d a dozen from Mr Amey for baking cakes for their annual Shop Day.

William Allen was the first to deliver milk in Pukerua Bay using his horse and cart.

The Pukerua News announced in February 1948, “The introduction of pasteurised milk by the local dairyman is a wise decision from the health point of view.” Two months later the Progressive Association reported, “Residents will have no choice in the matter of raw milk supply.” When milkman Mr Eastwood left the Bay his run was taken over by Mr John Sweetman. In the October 1964 Pukerua Gazette he said he was “unable to leave milk where no tokens are left. It isn’t that he minds doing this it’s just that the milk boxes in Pukerua Bay have no names or numbers on them and he doesn’t know whom he is giving the milk to.”

In 1929 James Casey, a butcher in Plimmerton, offered a delivery service to the nearby villages. Deliveries were made on horseback using a big basket carried on the front of the saddle. In 1929 thirteen residents signed a petition, “to allow Caseys Butcher to cross the railway line at Pukerua Bay three times a week in order to supply us with meat as there is no permanent Butcher here and we have to depend on this man to supply us.” An added note says, “Shop at Plimmerton. Gate is at siding.”

In August 1948 Jim Casey became a regular advertiser in the Pukerua News with the line “Our Meat is Tastier”. His sons Ivan and Bill Casey continued the service using a van to Pukerua Bay on Tuesdays and Fridays. Their van horn would sound (very loudly) and customers would greet the butcher with their plate or roasting dish to select their ‘cuts’. The unrefrigerated van carried a full range of meat, poultry and small goods. Their reputation for the finest sausages based on a 1915 recipe was unchallenged. There was always an exchange of the latest joke and offers of cups of tea especially on cold stormy days. A regular customer was Nobby Clark who would walk round from Wairaka. The door-to-door service ended in 1974 when Porirua City Council enforced hygiene regulations.

In 1964 the Pukerua Gazette advised readers that an “application for a permit to open a butcher shop in the vicinity of the “Lookout” was approved by the County Town Committee but according to the grapevine the Main Highway Board may feel otherwise about a butcher shop being established on the main highway.” (Pukerua Gazette, June 1964)

It was reported in Greymouth, Ashburton and Christchurch papers in November 1949 that “Baker Refuses to Deliver Bread: Costs Too High”. Bread deliveries to householders in Plimmerton and Pukerua Bay, 15-20 miles from Wellington would be stopping due to the high cost of delivery and the fixed price for bread. Householders were told to collect their bread from local shops, which in many cases was a walk of a mile or two. (Greymouth Evening Star, 24 November 1949, p9)

In 1964 the Pukerua Gazette announced that Mr Alex Anderson had been appointed sole representative for Magnet Bakeries in Paraparaumu. He would be making deliveries Monday to Friday “in time for housewives to make Dad’s lunch with fresh bread each day, which no doubt will also please him.”

From the 1920s until the 1970s many Pukerua families did not have a car and shopping by train was inconvenient. From the 1920’s Pukerua housewives valued home deliveries of milk, bread, meat, fish and vegetables.

Pukerua Bay families appreciated the weekly visits of Parbhu, the greengrocer, Caseys’ the butcher, the fishmonger, George Sebire with drycleaning. At various times daily deliveries of bread. Many families of teenagers were Gary Howan’s milk boys and others paper girls and boys. These were highly sought after as after-school jobs. And then there was Jack Carpenter, the Rawleigh’s man. Jack always whistled as he walked up the path. Pre-schoolers were always amazed when he produced multiple copies of a quick drawing on his order pad, thanks to the carbon paper!

The Kapiti Observer announced in March 1969 “Pukerua Bay to have new shopping mall building. The 7,000 sq ft construction will be first major development in the bay for roughly 30 years. Ample off-street parking will be provided and shoppers will be able to drive right around the centre.” (The Kapiti Observer, 13 March 1969, p9) The original plan included a chemist, dairy, butcher, supermarket and toilets.

Early in 1970 the Greenmeadows Shopping Centre opened, the building housed only three shops: the Pukerua Mini Market, the Pukerua Bay Meat Market Ltd and the Porirua District Licensing Trust Pukerua Bay Bottle Store.

Mr and Mrs W. Collins were the proprietors of the Mini Market – “Open seven days and free delivery on Fridays”. They offered GHB (Good Housekeeping Brand) specials along with a tearoom selling hot pies and buns. Mr du Chateau was the proprietor of the butcher shop, open Saturday mornings with free delivery on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The Bottle Store, managed by Mr Colin Hampton, offered wholesale, retail and flagon departments, open from 9am to 8pm and drive-in facilities!

The Pukerua Bay Progressive Association’s newsletter for October 1980 said, “Mr Jessen, our local shopkeeper, is possibly extending his premises to cater for Pukerua Bay’s, needs, running specials and discounting on larger orders. He is quite prepared to buy in bulk on behalf of any organised group assisting the immobile.”

After yet another fire Bill and Pat Jessen converted the mini market into their home, the butcher’s shop closed and became the dairy which they managed. They were followed by Graeme and Alison Brown then Ken and Kath Fowler.

For a brief period after the Jessen family moved from the home space Shoprite set up a No-Frills style store. They did not carry fresh foods, eg vegetables, fruit and meat and this store did not last for long.

For a time in the 1980s there was neither a store nor a dairy in the Bay. Beryl Carpenter (who had worked in Scot’s Four-Square) and her near neighbour Olive Southern came to the rescue. Each week armed with many shopping lists they set off for Moore Wilsons at Kenepuru, returning later in the day with bags of shopping for their grateful customers.

Finally in the early 1990s the Rawhiti Road complex became Harley Speed & Custom – a mecca for Harley Davidson motorcyclists.

A new set of shops was built in 1990 on the empty site on the corner of the State Highway and Teihana Road West. The three-shop block included a dairy, a take-away and a second-hand bookshop. The developer said, “As a bonus, the added amenity of having these shops at the bay is sure to improve property values long-term.” (Kapiti Mail, 28 November 1990, p12) The dairy and take-away managed by Gordon and Marlene Henwood was open seven days a week, 8am to 8pm. The proprietor of Archway Books was Pat Reesby, a journalist with a love of books from children’s literature to sci-fi, westerns, history, psychology, in all some 12,000 books and a collection of sheet music.

A second set of shops was built later. This complex has also housed, a video store, a second-hand home appliances store, a fruit and vegetable shop, a physiotherapist, and a beauty spa. Reds Hair Salon continues in the second building.

The demise of the local stores came about with the opening of large chain stores and supermarkets with their competitive prices, weekend shopping and the availability of household transport.

By Margaret Blair