Christmas shopping in April

By ELLEN READ

For Audrey and Rebecca McHardy, Christmas began in April. That's when the mother and daughter team made the trip to Asia to start buying Christmas stock for their four gift and homeware shops.

While that makes for a long festive season, Rebecca McHardy said the buildup was worth it now, with money rolling in from busy shoppers.

Rebecca and her mother first travelled to Asia four years ago to find stock for Audrey's Havelock North shop.

"She asked me to go on a buying trip just to help her. It wasn't any great business scheme but we bought so much product that we thought we'd open a shop in Auckland," Rebecca McHardy said.

The Havelock North shop was renamed Redcurrent and an Auckland store was opened in Ponsonby in 1999.

The America's Cup was in full swing, adding vibrancy and excitement to the city, said McHardy, who was living in Auckland at the time.

The pair looked at buildings in Mt Eden and Ponsonby before settling on the site. "We didn't go down the [Three Lamps] end, which was the end to be in then, we went down the other end [nearer Karangahape Rd] which was sort of up and coming," McHardy said.

They followed this pattern with subsequent shops in Wellington and Christchurch, after spending up to a year looking for the right buildings.

"We're not a huge corporation. It's just my mother and I, but we're growing fast.

"But we still want to have boutique shops and we want to keep that feeling,"

Redcurrent prides itself on stocking different wares from other gift shops, and has a roughly 50:50 split between New Zealand and overseas products.

"My mother started doing this before I was involved. She used to go to Asia and trek up the hills in Bali and go to the warehouses in Manila to buy our products," McHardy said.

To cope with the imports, the McHardys set up their own warehouse operation in Napier.

"It's a lot more work because you're running a warehouse for your own shops and dealing with all the importing," Rebecca McHardy said. But it helps keep prices down as there is no middle stage.

It also helps divide the duties between Audrey and Rebecca.

Audrey, based in Havelock North, looks after the buying and warehousing and Rebecca, now based in Christchurch, takes care of the retail and business side.

"Working together works well. We're very similar so we agree on everything,"McHardy said.

The pair put in their own money to set themselves up and have been careful to keep debt levels low and to put profits back into the business.

Plans include the opening of a Newmarket shop next year and eventual expansion to Australia.

For the time being, however, things are quite busy enough as Christmas looms, bringing an increase in the number of part-time staff.

Clare Hilsz, manager of the Ponsonby Redcurrent shop, has seven staff looking after the pre-Christmas rush.

"It means we're relaxed and can focus on customers.

"We also keep the air conditioning turned up so it's nice and comfortable to be in here."

Restocking and tidying are done after hours to ensure the customers see only the presentable shop.