Two Pak’nSave operators plead guilty to unfair trading after ‘specials’ were not so special

Two supermarkets have admitted all charges after the Commerce Commission accused them of unfair trading.

Both supermarkets advertised prices that did not match the price charged at the point-of-sale, and promoted specials or discounts where no special actually existed.

Auckland District Court today heard from Hamilton’s Gladstone Retail Ltd, trading as Pak’nSave Mill Street, and Silverdale Food Warehouse Ltd, trading as Pak’nSave Silverdale.

Defence counsel Iain Thain said the two cases were similar.

He said Gladstone faced eight charges of breaching the Fair Trading Act and had already pleaded guilty to four of those charges.

The Mill St trader today pleaded guilty to the other four charges.

The Silverdale and Mill St operators pleaded guilty. Photo / Google

The Silverdale supermarket north of Auckland faced 10 charges of breaching the Fair Trading Act.

It pleaded guilty to seven of those charges last month and today entered guilty pleas to the remaining three charges.

Judge Simon John Lance remanded the matter to sentencing on November 4.

The court heard prosecutor Jacob Barry would file the Commerce Commission’s submissions by October 21.

The defence must file submissions by October 28.

Those submissions will outline what the parties think appropriate penalties should be.

Each charge faces a maximum penalty of $600,000.

Both sides agreed a two-and-a-half-hour sentencing would be sufficient for both defendants.

The supermarkets were charged with misleading conduct in relation to goods, and false or misleading representations.

The Commerce Commission last December announced it would file the criminal charges.

“The major supermarkets are large, well-resourced businesses that should invest the time and effort to get pricing and promotions right,” the commission’s deputy chair, Anne Callinan, said at the time.

John Weekes is a business journalist mostly covering aviation and courts. He previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.