KEY POINTS:
Foodtown is celebrating 50 years of serving Kiwi customers, and former staff are returning to New Zealand for a golden reunion.
On June 28, 1958, the first Foodtown opened its doors in Otahuhu, Auckland, causing mass commotion and excitement.
The manager of the original store, 87-year-old
Doug Ross, remembers the day the store opened.
"There was so much traffic on the main road. They had to close the road because it was so congested _ there was no motorway then.
"Radio 1ZB had to appeal to the public to visit the next day, but that only made it worse. It was such a momentous occasion when it opened."
Foodtown discounts in 1958 included a 6lb (2.7kg) bag of Chelsea sugar at 49c, an 11oz bottle of Watties tomato sauce for 27c and toilet rolls for 14c each.
The supermarket was the first American-styled supermarket to open in New Zealand, by owners Norman Kent, John Brown, Brian Picot and Tom Ah Chee.
Mr Ross says Mr Ah Chee was a "magnificent and an incredibly entrepreneurial man" who with Norm Kent built the original Foodtown building themselves.
Mr Ross, who worked at the Otahuhu store for about 20 years, acknowledged that a lot has changed since the first store opened, like food prices and online shopping now available.
"It was the forerunner of supermarkets in Auckland and New Zealand," he said.
"A lot of stuff wasn't pre-packaged back then. The food was all loose, like flour and sugar.
"One of the things that hasn't changed is that when you're in the food business, it's the busiest occupation, you're always working."
The original Foodtown store was such a success that a second store was opened not far away, in Takanini, in 1961. Today, there are 30 Foodtown stores.
The brand is now part of Progressive Enterprises, after the Foodtown company was restructured in 1961.
In 2003, the Foodtown-Woolworths Onecard was introduced, giving customers extra discounts at Woolworths and Foodtown stores.
Progressive's general manager of supermarket operations, Dave Chambers, also worked at the original Foodtown, managing it for a year.
He said: "I was packing bags and pulling trolleys back in the day. Back then, air-conditioning was pretty basic, the types of refrigeration they had wasn't as good as today and the most popular foods people bought were milk, butter, potatoes and cheese."
About 400 former and current staff will fly in from America, Australia and around New Zealand for the June 21 reunion, which will include a display on the original store.
Mr Ross says he's excited about the reunion and is looking forward to meeting up with old friends he made on the job.
"We're really excited. Foodtown was such a dynamic thing to happen and a lot friendships were made."
Brian Picot remembers when eggs came in brown paper bags, supermarket trolleys were a new thing and carry-out boys would take your shopping out to the car.
"People weren't used to using trolleys," he said.
"But toilet rolls were going really cheap _ three for 14c or something rather and of course you couldn't hold three rolls in your hands or poke them through your fingers, so you had to use the trolley."
Mr Picot has fond memories of the original Foodtown store.
"It had the first automatic doors and air conditioning, and we had to adopt barcoding soon after.
"Nowadays everything's bigger and brighter. Packaging and diversification of product is enormous."
He attributes the success of supermarkets today to the passion and dedication of those who started that first store years ago.
"The greatest asset isn't on the balance sheet, it's the people you work with."
1958 V 2008
THEN:
Weet-Bix large: 31c
Spaghetti 26oz : 20c
Chesdale Cheese 8oz: 30c
Choysa teabags 8oz: 33c
Nescafe coffee 4oz jar: 67c
NOW:
Weet-Bix 1kg: $6.30
Spaghetti (Watties) 420g: $1.49
Chesdale Cheese 250g: $3.69
Choysa teabags 100 pk: $3.99
Nescafe coffee 100g jar: $8.99
