Property focus for Guinness owner

Auckland's family owned Hughes and Cossar, which took control of Guinness Appliances in 1999, is now largely a property holding company.

Hughes and Cossar Group Holdings owns the Guinness Appliances buildings in First Ave and Glasgow St, Tauranga, and in Te Puke's main street, and will continue to lease them out. The former Guinness service centre in Glasgow St is now leased by Action Equipment.

Its associate company, Guinness Brothers, has leased the buildings in Katikati and Waihi that once housed the appliances stores - the new tenant in Katikati is Four Square Discount.

Hughes and Cossar, established four years before Guinness Bros in 1904, operated eight liquor outlets before selling to Dominion Breweries in 1987.

But Hughes and Cossar, now headed by third-generation Wayne Hughes, kept those buildings as well, including the one in Harington St, Tauranga, now tenanted by The Mill Liquorsave.

Mr Hughes' grandfather, Cyril, struck up a friendship with the Guinness brothers, Sid and Jack, and took over their liquor licence in Tauranga when they specialised in appliances and whiteware.

Hughes and Cossar first ran Guinness Wines and Spirits, and then over a period of 22 years bought the Guinness family shares.

The deals were mainly conducted by Wayne's father Arthur who died in 2005. Hughes and Cossar became an unlisted public company but when the final Guinness shares were bought three years ago the Hughes family business again became a limited liability company.

Hughes and Cossar also owns Polyprint Packaging, with factories in Maleme St, Tauranga, and in Albany north of Auckland.

This is a standalone business and is unaffected by the closing of Guinness Appliances. Gr