Life of a Salesman
A tribute to local identity Graeme Collier
Written for Beachlife magazine in 2011
Wainui’s Graeme and Raewynne Collier on their celebration of 25 years in business in 1994.
In Graeme Collier’s album of memories, a photo of his marriage to Raewynne James carries the hand-written caption – “This was the start of it, 7th November, 1959.” It does appear Graeme Watkins Collier, a long-time Okitu resident who died on June 15 this year, aged 75, measured the true beginning of his life from the time he married his wife and partner of 40 years.
Sadly Raewynne predeceased her husband in 2000, aged 62. Her own life underscored by a dedication to her family, the family business and Gisborne sporting interests. She was a life member of both the local YMCA and the squash club.
Sons David and Phillip watched with sadness as their father continued to pine for his wife more than a decade on. In recent times, when a rainbow would appear over Wainui Beach, he would remark: “There she is – won’t be long till I am with you my dearest.”
The sons believe there father is now happy, reunited with their mother in the great beyond, but they also look back with satisfaction on the 75 years Graeme Collier lived a full and generous life.
Graeme was born in Wellington on August 27, 1935 – the eldest son of Ron and Daph Collier who had a butcher shop in Karori. Graeme had a younger brother Brian who died in 1992.
Graeme grew up and spent his school days in Karori, working after school and during the holidays, firstly for a Chinese greengrocer and then in the menswear department of James Smith department store in the city. His brother Brian had a long-time managerial career with James Smith. On leaving school Graeme went to work as a sales trainee for the then bustling Petone Woollen Mills.
[During its 80-year history Petone products were often presented to royalty and shown off at world trade exhibitions. Fabrics, flannel, tweed and knitting yarn were regarded as superior to their English equivalent. In early 1963 the company merged with Kaiapoi Woollen Manufacturing Co and was known as Kaiapoi-Petone. The Petone operation struggled on for a further five years before its inevitable closure was announced. The mill was demolished in 1970.]
In August of 1959 Graeme Collier left Wellington to start life’s great adventure, transferring to take on a sales position in the Auckland area, based in Tauranga. His arrival “up north” made headlines when his brand new company car, a Hillman, was written off in a car crash while parked outside the Commercial Hotel in the main street of Hamilton. Not in any way to be blamed of the accident Graeme survived the embarrassment and eventually settled into his new position.
After marrying his Karori sweethheart Raewyn James later that year the couple bought a house in Tauranga and from here Graeme travelled around the North Island as a menswear salesman for the, by now merged, Petone-Kaiapoi company.
In Tauranga Graeme made a name for himself as a sportsman, winning the local men’s tennis singles championship and the men’s double championship in 1966. He also played hockey. Son Phillip was born in 1964 and David in 1966.
In 1963 Graeme started a life-long friendship with Gary Bowrey, another salesman with Kaiapoi-Petone, who was based in Rotorua. The two salesmen covered the same central north island territory – Graeme selling men’s wear and Gary women’s wear. Graeme made his name as a top salesman for the company while he and Gary enjoyed the “fringe benefits” of their work. Often while away on sales trips, staying at hotels in Taupo or wherever, they would meet up to go hunting or to play golf between appointments.
Gary remembers one such sales trip where they stayed at the Wairakei Hotel and arranged for the night porter to wake them at 4am. They headed bush for several hours of pre-dawn hunting (pigs and deer) and were back in time for a cooked breakfast at the hotel and to be showered, shaved and ready for their days’ appointments.
In 1966 Graeme was seconded to the Petone-Kaiapoi Auckland head office where he was appointed general manager for the area. Graeme and Raewynne, now with the two little boys in tow, rented a house in St Heliers, while renting out their own home in Tauranga.
In 1967 his friend Gary Bowery left the company and set himself up as a men’s wear retailer with his own store in Howick. Here Graeme was able to see that the real money in men’s wear was to be made at the retail end, not in wholesale sales and management.
Graeme went home to announce to Raewynne they were selling the house in Tauranga to invest in their own retail men’s wear business.
Graeme – and Raewynne, though unhappy with the concept of giving up their lovely home – began looking around the North Island for a suitable business to buy and eventually discovered the Gisborne firm of Ben Dudfield Tailoring and Menswear was for sale. This long-serving local business was founded in 1909 and taken over by the original owner’s son, Dick Dudfield, in 1950.
They decided Gisborne ticked all the boxes – as a progressive regional city with ‘warm summers, lovely beaches and a relaxed lifestyle’ – a great place to bring up their two sons. On Queen’s Birthday weekend of 1969 the Colliers bought the Ben Dudfield business at 107 Gladstone Road (now Trade Aid) which was to become known from then on as Colliers Menswear.
When Graeme, Raewynne and their young family arrived in Gisborne from Auckland in ‘69 they were full of optimism for a prosperous life ahead. Gisborne was booming, with at least 16 local retailers dealing in men’s wear and several specialist men’s wear stores. Bazil Adair, Charlie Brown, Melbourne Cash, Fitzmaurice and Butler, Rab Neilson, Rosies were all established men’s wear specialists.
While he was “walking in” to the long established firm of Ben Dudfield, Graeme knew he needed to provide “top service” to ensure the business retained its prime position in the marketplace.
Graeme Collier after winning the Tauranga men’s
tennis singles championship in 1966.
Graeme was a sociable sort of ‘bloke’, with sporting interests and an opinion on most things that were topical for the day – yet at first he found it difficult to gain access to what appeared to be a very ‘cliquey’ Gisborne society. In those days joining local establishments, like the Gisborne Club, required some degree of local sponsorship.
Son Phil says at one stage his parents almost decided to pack it in and move back to Tauranga but by chance their first home in Gisborne was a rented ‘pink bach’ (later owned by Owen and Llewellyn Williams) at Wainui Beach, and their next door neighbour was influential Gisborne identity, Win Ellis.
Win and his wife Ruth took the Collier family under their wing and they were introduced to the ‘right people’ – and slowly Graeme himself became a well-known social and business identity. So much so that half a decade on he was the charter president of the Wainui Lions Club and later went on to serve as president of the Gisborne Club.
In 1971 the family moved further along the beach after building their own new home at 53 Moana Road, where Graeme lived out his days.
Over the years Graeme expanded his premises to accommodate demand by buying the shop next door – and Colliers Menswear wrote its own chapter in the history of Gisborne central city retailing.
He also became even more involved in the community through the Lions Club, later forming Wainui Lions. In 1996 he was awarded a Melvin Jones Fellowship Award for humanitarian service.
During his early years in Gisborne he formed a long-lasting friendship with Kevin Boyle, a travelling salesman for Ambler and Company, the New Zealand distributor for brands like Summit and Aertex. Kevin, who is now retired and living in Havelock North, says: “Graeme was a great guy. Easy to get along with and a great organiser. An affable man who enjoyed a lot in life, and a few drinks at the end of the day of course.”
His other good mate Gary Bowrey commented: “He was an extremely kind person who spent a lot of his time helping other people. He was honest and sincere but stern when it was needed. Sometimes he could be a little too severe, and a stickler for the rules – but people usually recognised his good intentions.”
Graeme was also an outspoken advocate for the local retail trade and worked hard for inner city revival. He was a strong force behind the push for an upgrade of Gladstone Road that resulted in the eventual pre-millenium makeover of the CBD.
While Colliers Menswear prospered, ‘the times they were a-changing’. A general, world-wide trend towards more casual dress – and the advent of specialist jeans stores and franchised boutiques – saw the demise of many of the local, old-school men’s wear specialists in Gisborne during the ‘80s and ‘90s.
After moving Colliers location to the former Melbourne Cash menswear frontage at 110 Gladstone Road the store survived to be the last of the true men’s wear specialist outlets selling suits, sports coats and general high-quality men’s attire in Gisborne.
At a time when a new generation of young men in Gisborne were shopping for casual clothing at the local surf shops and national chain stores, Colliers maintained a certain dignity and earned a vote of loyalty from the rural and more conservative male dressers of the region. Colliers was, and still is, the place to go for Aertex shirts, polo shirts, Cambridge suits and Canterbury casuals.
The business is the last of its type in Gisborne, now managed by Phillip Collier, since Graeme officially ‘retired’ in 2000. However Phillip says his Dad never missed a day at work during his 11 years of ‘retirement’ – always turning up dead on time at 8.30am, working through to 4.30pm every day.
Phil does put his father’s enthusiasm for work down to the fact he missed his wife Raewynne so much he couldn’t bare to stay at home in an empty house.
The community turned out in large numbers to farewell Graeme Collier, the 1960s ‘blow-in’ from Tauranga who persevered and stayed to create his own local dynasty and make his mark as a true local identity.
Graeme leaves behind his sons and daughters-in-law Phillip and Lynda, David and Lisa and grandchildren Isabella, Noah, Rebecca and Stephanie – all who live at Wainui Beach.
Create Your Own Website With Webador