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2000
Below: The large, open-plan area
of Urban Loft provided ample room
to display the thousands of quality
products on offer.
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Briscoes 150 Years in New Zealand You’ll Never Buy Better 267
stores such as Crate & Barrel and Williams-Sonoma—a homewares store
aimed at the top end of the market—and hoped for 11 potential outlets. The
downtown Auckland location surrounded by professionals working in the
city’s skyscrapers seemed a logical starting point. However, what the team
could not know was that the 2007 global financial crisis was just around the
corner—and with the crisis came redundancies in the surrounding city highrises.
As a result, Urban Loft never attained the revenues anticipated. ‘I blame
myself,’ says Duke. ‘The concept was great, but the timing was abominable.’
Urban Loft was closed in 2011.
With Urban Loft, the Briscoes team wanted to replicate the concept
championed by US stores such as Crate & Barrel and Williams-
Sonoma—a homewares store aimed at the top end of the market.
Living & Giving
In November 2006, a month after the Urban Loft launch, Briscoes announced
the purchase of the Living & Giving stores off PRG, former owner of the
Blue Star Group. Living & Giving had been established in 1987, and PRG
purchased the chain from its founder in 2000 for $5.1 million. At that point,
the company had a handful of stores and was doing a turnover of $10 million.
It was small fry for $360 million PRG, owner of appliance retailers Bond &
Bond, Noel Leeming, and Computer City. But for PRG, Living & Giving
became the problem child. Despite opening further stores, the chain struggled,
and was soon in a loss-making situation. A two-year restructuring programme
which reduced the stores from 16 to nine concluded in 2005, but made no
discernible difference. Living & Giving was put up for sale.
Briscoes’ decision to purchase was done eyes wide open. The Living &
Giving chain had first been considered as a potential acquisition in late 2001,
but hadn’t gone ahead. In 2006, the deal was done. The nine stores had about
2000
Above: The simple but striking designs
of a range of aromatic diffusers at Living
& Giving.