Early years Robert Laidlaw founded
Laidlaw Leeds in 1909, which sold agricultural supplies through mail order catalogues, following a successful American model. In 1910, a group of Auckland members of the Farmers Union formed the
Farmers Union Indenting and Trading Association. The Clevedon branch, for instance, approved the formation of such an association at a meeting held in July 1910. In 1916, the trading association was converted into the ''Farmers' Union Trading Co (Auckland) Ltd''. In 1917, the Farmers' Union Trading Company approached Laidlaw Leeds with an offer to merge, which Laidlaw accepted; he became the managing director of the new venture, the Farmers' Trading Company. The company soon expanded into retail and adopted the
department store model. There had also been an unrelated, older
Farmers Department Store in Sydney, Australia.
From mail order to stores The centre of operations was a high-rise warehouse and office complex in Auckland's
Hobson Street. In 1920 a retail space was opened to the public in the building. The co-op also bought many local stores in the Auckland province in 1920, by which time it had 32 stores, and offered
preference shares to urban members. In the 1930s a large wing was built onto the older 1914 building which included the Harbour View Tea Rooms. The architect involved, R. A. Lippencott, also gave the enlarged building a new facade in the new modern
Art-Deco style. Hobson Street was not a very good position for a department store, so copying similar arrangements by stores in American cities, Laidlaw arranged for a free bus to shuttle people from
Queen Street to the Hobson Street store. This was later augmented by a free tram to
Karangahape Road. Over successive years the adjacent sites were covered with warehouses and administration blocks for the growing business. Laidlaw, a teetotaler, made a point of buying the pub directly next door, The Grosvenor, and turning it into offices. As well as the store's rooftop playground and tearooms, Farmers was also noted for its high-rise parking building connected to the shop by an elevated skyway. Like many buildings from the 1920s onwards, it had electric lifts which multiplied in number as the building grew in size. The store also boasted the first escalators in Auckland which were opened in 1955 by the
Mayor of Auckland City,
Mr. J H Luxford and his wife. The Mayor cut the ribbon and the official party travelled up the escalators followed by a crowd of curious Aucklanders, along with the store's mascot Hector the parrot. The eight banks of escalators were the largest installation in the Southern Hemisphere.
South Island expansion In 1970, Farmers acquired
Calder Mackay, a Christchurch-based department store with branches around the South Island. Following the purchase Farmers became the largest department store chain in New Zealand. In 1982, following Bunting & Co.'s purchase of the Christchurch-based
Farmers-Haywrights department store chain (unrelated to the Farmers Trading Company), Farmers purchased 13 Farmers-Haywrights stores for $12 Million, bringing the total Farmers store count to 80.
Changes of ownership In 1986, Farmers was taken over by New Zealand property development company
Chase Corporation. In May 1989 the Chase Corporation announced that it was considering a sale of the chain, with Australian department store
David Jones expressing interest in purchasing the company. At the time Farmers had a turnover of $500 million. In October 1989, Farmers declined a purchase offer from
Fay Richwite who intended to re-list the company on the
New Zealand Stock Exchange. Later in October 1989,
Lion Nathan purchased 8 Farmers stores (
Cambridge,
Dargaville,
Glenfield,
Kaikohe,
Morrinsville,
Pukekohe,
Richmond,
Wainuiomata) and rebranded them to
DEKA. Farmers had 50 remaining stores in its fleet following the sale. In 1992, Farmers was sold to New Zealand discounter
DEKA. Following the sale the parent company was renamed as Farmers Deka Ltd (stores retained separate Farmers and DEKA branding). DEKA stores closed in July 2001 after financial difficulty. Farmers Deka Ltd was then renamed to Farmers Holdings Ltd. In 2003 Farmers was purchased by James Pascoe Ltd (now the
James Pascoe Group)
Contemporary era Farmers closed its Queen Street, Auckland, store in rented premises in 2014 after ending a long-term lease. In November 2015, the company opened a new Auckland CBD store located on the corner of Queen and Victoria Streets, formerly occupied by stationery retailer
Whitcoulls, renovating it as a three-level Farmers department store. In 2021 there were calls for Farmers and its parent the James Pascoe Group to repay the money it took from the COVID-19 wage subsidies programme of which Farmers claimed over NZ$28 million for its over 3700 staff. Farmers was traditionally a middle-market retailer, on par with
Sears or
JCPenney in the United States. With the development of the large-format discount department store
The Warehouse, Farmers decided to become a 'more fashionable shopping destination', introducing more label products. Where Farmers once would have faced competition from The Warehouse and various small chain stores, they have established themselves apart from being a discount department store. Farmers still face competition from remaining department stores
Ballantynes and
David Jones none of which are nationwide (though both Ballantynes and David Jones are upmarket stores, whilst Farmers serves the upper middle-market akin to
Macy's or
Debenhams). == Departments ==