History – Delivering the goods

Bennett’s first store opened in 1890, a stone’s throw from Port Albert Wharf. At that time it was owned by John Shepherd, George Bennett’s father-in-law. George bought the store but accidentally drowned in 1910. His widow kept the business going until their son Len was old enough to take over in 1916. Roads were poor in the early years so goods were delivered by sea in the family launch.In 1926, the original wooden building burned down and a new General Store was constructed further up the road, on the corner of what was then Market Street. Well aware of the fire risk, Bennetts hired a Dargaville firm to make the new shop out of concrete. A small shed out the back stored flammable goods and there was a petrol pump outside the shop. It was said the store sold everything ‘from needles to anchors’. A set of pre-1924 brass W & T Avery scales, made in Birmingham, weighed butter and eggs bought from local farmers for four pence a pound.

Every Tuesday, scows delivered supplies from Auckland via the Kaipara Harbour. Fresh supplies appealed to customers and the store began a tradition of holding late nights on Tuesdays. As roads improved, Bennetts drove their truck down to Auckland to bring back goods for the shop.

It was truly a ‘general’ store supplying not only groceries but also hardware, paint, kerosene, mower petrol and farming gear. Occasionally, it would even stock drums of preserved mutton birds from the South Island and customers travelled miles to buy these delicacies.

From 1941 to 1987, the store was also a Post Office agency. Closing this agency ended 124 years of a Port Albert Post Office. In 1948, Bennetts took over the rural mail contract, a role they filled for 65 years. Mail was collected from Wellsford and delivered, along with newspapers and groceries, on their run of some 280 kms of rural roads.

Online shopping is nothing new. Phones, not computers, were used in those days but the principle was the same.

Customers rang through their orders and goods were delivered to their postbox on the rural delivery run. Once a week, regular customers were rung to confirm their orders and if any of those people were expecting visitors, the order would be adjusted accordingly. Anything and everything was carried – from bread, meat and milk to petrol and kerosene.

But as the old saying goes ‘all good things must come to an end’. Alf, Joe and Len Bennett reached retirement age and in 1991, Bennett’s General Store closed. The building was sold and is now a private home. The brass Avery scales, mail pigeonholes and other memorabilia can be seen in the Albertland Heritage Centre.