Smith & Caughey's

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Smith & Caughey Ltd, trading as Smith & Caughey's, is a chain of two mid-sized, upscale department stores in Auckland, New Zealand. One of the oldest surviving retail businesses in New Zealand, it was established in 1880 by Ulster-born Marianne Smith as a drapers and millinery shop, and is the oldest-surviving department store in Auckland. Currently, it is mostly fashion-oriented, with sections for jewellery, make-up and homewares.

Stores

The company has two stores in Auckland; on Queen Street, City Centre, and on Broadway, Newmarket. The flagship Queen Street store occupies a Heritage New Zealand Category 1 Listed building, which was designed by American architect Roy Alstan Lippincott and completed in 1929. The smaller Newmarket store occupies a building which was built by the company in the 1880s; the Newmarket branch initially operated under the name of Hugh Gilmore, before reverting to Smith and Caughey in 1917. The current official ambassador for Smith & Caughey's is New Zealand actress Antonia Prebble.

Proposed closure

In May 2024 the company announced that it intended to close both shops and its online store in early 2025 due to the downturn in business which had occurred over several years. A decision was made in August to continue trading by reducing the Queen St store from two levels to one and closing the Newmarket store.

Gallery

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