Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Hastings' Denton Wyatt Books closing after 86 years

Ruby Harfield
By Ruby Harfield
Hawkes Bay Today·
17 Nov, 2017 06:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Glenda and Ross Taylor are closing the doors on Denton Wyatt - Books, Gifts & Lotto which has been in the family for 86 years. Photo/Paul Taylor

Glenda and Ross Taylor are closing the doors on Denton Wyatt - Books, Gifts & Lotto which has been in the family for 86 years. Photo/Paul Taylor

A family business which has been in Hastings for 86 years will be closing its doors next month.

Denton Wyatt Books, Gifts & Lotto, owned by Ross and Glenda Taylor, will cease operation on Heretaunga St, East, on December 7.

The store originally started in 1931 as Denton Wyatt Booksellers & Stationers, by Mrs Taylor's grandfather, Denton Wyatt.

The Taylors have run the business for 34 years with the assistance of several staff members including Dianne Heighway who has worked there for 25 years.

The couple first made the decision to close the store about two years ago because they had reached retirement age and wanted to spend more time with family, travelling, gardening, volunteering and cycling.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We have no really big plans."

Mr Taylor said the pair worked six days a week and found it difficult to visit their three children and eight grandchildren in Melbourne and Wellington as well as Hawke's Bay.

They also bought a new caravan in July and hoped to make use of it frequently and possibly take on a trip around the South Island.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We've used it once, we had a big journey to Dannevirke," he said.

Mrs Taylor said they would like to thank their customers for their loyal patronage and friendship over many years.

"Although we will miss all the lovely customers and friends we have made over the 34 years, it is now time to retire from the six-day-a-week business."

The store was first opened by Mr Wyatt who was a building contractor by trade at Wyatt & Henderson but decided to become a bookseller-stationer after a serious cycling accident made his usual line of work impossible.

Before starting the business, Mr Wyatt (as a newcomer to the book trade) had to ask permission from all bookshops in Hastings to open a new store.

One being Foster Brook Booksellers where his wife, Edith, had worked.

The couple opened the doors of Denton Wyatt at 225 Heretaunga St, East, on New Year's Eve 1931, the same year as the Hawke's Bay Earthquake.

Two years later their daughters Mabel and Joan were brought into the business.

When Mabel passed away in 1961 her son Norman bought the business with Joan and continued until Joan's daughter and son-in-law, Glenda and Ross, purchased the store.

Stationery was a big part of the business when it first started with Conway Stewart fountain pens, dip pens and assorted nibs being popular.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

School stationery was also prominent and there would be queues of children at the store until 7pm when it was back-to-school time.

Mr Wyatt supervised a team of paperboys who delivered the Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, he also sold papers from other parts of the country including the Evening Post, the Dominion and Napier's Daily Telegraph.

Magazines sales have always been strong with orders dating back to 1938.

Hastings resident Margaret Hutcheson said she recalled coming into the shop with her father when she was a child and still has her English Woman's Weekly and the People's Friend ordered today.

Another regular customer and retired motor engineer, Colin Campbell, said he placed an order for the English Autocar magazine in 1953 at the start of his apprenticeship with Ross Dysart & McLean, Eastbourne St.

The magazine cost one shilling and three pence (now $14.99) out of his wage of two pounds three shillings and five pence.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Taylors have seen several generations of customers with magazine and comic orders such as Beano, Bunty, Archie and the Phantom.

Lotto and its predecessors Golden Kiwi and Art Union were always popular, Mr Taylor said.

"Lotto has been a fun product to sell having sold more than 10 major prizes."

The business moved three doors down to its current site, the former PJ George printers building, in about 1989 because of the introduction of Lotto and the need for more space.

In 2003 the shop expanded even further into the adjoining building on the corner previously occupied by Eye Browse Gifts and Stevens Cycles.

That allowed space for gift sales.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Taylors will be closing the doors on December 7 and have leased the building out to a new development but no further information is available at this stage.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay Cancer Society opens retreat for free therapy sessions

30 Jun 02:41 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

She's moved 14 times since toxic flooding forced her out - now she has a place to call home

30 Jun 02:34 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Former All Black and Hawke’s Bay rugby legend dies

30 Jun 01:50 AM

Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay Cancer Society opens retreat for free therapy sessions

Hawke’s Bay Cancer Society opens retreat for free therapy sessions

30 Jun 02:41 AM

Patients can access up to six free one-hour sessions at the retreat.

She's moved 14 times since toxic flooding forced her out - now she has a place to call home

She's moved 14 times since toxic flooding forced her out - now she has a place to call home

30 Jun 02:34 AM
Former All Black and Hawke’s Bay rugby legend dies

Former All Black and Hawke’s Bay rugby legend dies

30 Jun 01:50 AM
Premium
Napier Port industrial action ends as pay agreement reached for workers

Napier Port industrial action ends as pay agreement reached for workers

30 Jun 12:47 AM
There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently
sponsored

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP