New Zealand’s last great department store is facing the squeeze from a difficult retail environment that its management describes as a “severe recession”.
Staff were told at a meeting in Christchurch last week that the company was facing challenging times.
“We pride ourselves on being open and transparent in our communications with our staff. That includes keeping our people informed, through regular meetings and other communications, about how our business is tracking,” says managing director Jonathan Ballantyne.
He told the Herald the current retail climate had already led to a minor restructuring.
“Recently, we have made small changes to our staffing structure, affecting the roles of around 1%, out of a total staff complement of just under 300 people. We have worked closely with the staff affected by this process,” said Ballantyne.
He says the business “regularly reviews its operations” to respond to market conditions.
“The retail sector, including Ballantynes, has faced major shifts in recent years due to economic challenges, rising costs, and evolving consumer behaviour.
“We have responded to these challenges and stayed very focused on what our customers want. It is a topic we talk to our staff about regularly at face-to-face meetings and through other communications,” said Ballantyne.
Ballantynes has operated in Christchurch for 170 years and has outlasted its contemporaries Smith & Caughey’s, Kirkcaldie and Stains, Arthur Barnett and H&J Smith.
Jonathan Ballantyne told the Herald in 2024: “We’ve gone through two world wars, two pandemics [Covid-19 and influenza], two depressions, two disasters [fire in 1947 and an earthquake in 2011] and a recession every four or five years.”
The latest recession is biting hard for the upmarket retailer.
“It’s fair to say the entire retail sector in New Zealand has had a challenging few years, against the backdrop of a prolonged and severe recession.
“It’s against that backdrop that the whole Ballantynes team is focused more than ever on delivering exceptional experiences and service for our customers,” said Ballantyne.
Ballantynes is a cornerstone of Christchurch’s retail precinct, and its shop windows are an attraction of their own in the lead-up to the festive season.
“With Christmas fast approaching, we are looking forward to welcoming shoppers with the same energy and care they’ve come to expect from us over the past 170 years,” says Ballantyne.
The store’s long-time chief executive, Maria O’Halloran, left the company in December last year after more than a decade in the role.
Jonathan Ballantyne is a fifth-generation Ballantyne and a current board member. His own career has seen him achieve success in both banking and construction. He’d previously told the Herald that the family’s success away from the department store is, in his opinion, what gives Ballantynes an advantage.
“Family has worked in the firm but the family hasn’t generally depended on the firm. Those that didn’t work in the firm were off doing other things, and any dividends or anything like that was just a little bit of extra.
“There’s never been any sort of great demand on the firm to produce lots of money and give it to its shareholders.”
That “financial freedom” had meant the business could concentrate on itself rather than those demanding a dividend, according to Ballantyne.
“The shareholders have been quite happy to say, ‘Well, if you make three bucks, you put two bucks back into the firm and we will take a dollar’, you know? That has always helped the firm to be in a good position and to me, it’s why when you look at it, it looks like it’s in really good nick.”
Despite the recent restructure, Ballantyne is optimistic shoppers will not feel the cutbacks.
“We are confident these changes are appropriate to the circumstances facing Ballantynes and won’t have any impact on how we look after our customers.”
Mike Thorpe is a senior journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.