Appliance store's family link goes back 60 years

The Dimocks are a clannish lot, and there's a family link between their appliance stores in Stratford, Hawera and Wanganui.
It all started 60 years ago, when Maurice Dimock opened a home appliance store in Hawera, at the corner of High and Argyle Sts.
Now, Maurice Dimock has shifted to Tauranga, but he still makes frequent visits to the Hawera store that he started in 1950.
In 1984 his son, Wayne Dimock, bought the store from his father. Meanwhile Wayne's brother, Royce, was running his own electrical business in Hawera. Royce saw an opportunity to both service and sell appliances in Stratford, and he and wife Carol opened a store there in 1989.
The two had six children, several of whom ended up studying at UCOL in Wanganui and Palmerston North. The parents found themselves spending more and more time over that way.
In 2002 they shifted to Wanganui and opened a store in Victoria Ave. It sold both appliances and furniture - a natural fit, since both were part of homes.
Then, in 2006, Royce's brother Wayne shifted to the South Island. Royce and Carol bought his Hawera store.
Yet more change was to come. The next year they sold the Stratford store to their son Matthew and his wife Megan, and the Hawera store followed the lead of the Wanganui one and started selling furniture.
This year the Wanganui store got a Beds R Us franchise - allowing it to sell a range of New Zealand-made beds.
All three shops are part of New Zealand's largest independent electrical appliance buying group. Combining the buying power of independent stores allows it to buy in bulk and get a price advantage - and add the 100 per cent tag to their names.