“Mate, you’re dreaming!” New Zealand’s homegrown hardware brand is celebrating 50 years of helping Kiwi make their home improvement dreams “easy as”.
Thursday, June 20 marks the official anniversary of the day eight stores came together in 1974, on a mission to put a hammer in the hands of generations of Kiwi. To celebrate, Mitre 10 released limited-edition anniversary merchandise, hosting promotions and activities both online and in-store and giving away prizes to lucky customers.
“This is a huge milestone for us, and we wouldn’t have made it here without the support of our customers and communities. While we pride ourselves on rolling our sleeves up and giving back to the community whenever we can, we thought this occasion called for an extra special thank you to the people who’ve backed us all the way too,” says Jules Lloyd-Jones, chief marketing officer of Mitre 10 New Zealand.
From ‘Mitre 10 Changing Rooms’ to the landmark ads featuring Lyn of Tawa, Gary McCormick, the sandpit kids and today’s ‘With you all the Way’ pair Pete and Grant, Mitre 10 has drilled or dug its way into the hearts (and sheds) of Kiwi across the country. It has been voted New Zealand’s most trusted home improvement brand 14 times in the Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand Awards and is consistently named one of the most trusted brands overall.
While the Valiants and Cortinas of its early days may now have been replaced by EVs (complete with charging bays in store carparks), Mitre 10’s commitment to giving locals a hand has been a constant throughout its history. Over the years, the co-operative has helped deliver 13 brand-new playgrounds to deserving schools through Project Playground, held long-term partnerships with the Graeme Dingle Foundation and Takahe Recovery Programme, and funded more than 40,000 native trees through Trees That Count. Through its long-standing sponsorship of the Community of the Year Award, part of the New Zealander of the Year Awards, Mitre 10 has now partnered with Kindness Collective to spread joy across the country, through communal food gardens and outdoor play spaces, among other initiatives.
“But perhaps what’s most special about turning 50 is that we’ve had shared with us so many stories of amazing people who’ve worked with Mitre 10 over the years – hard cases, customer favourites and celebrities in their hometowns. Some of our long-time team members are show champion chicken breeders, newspaper publishers, retired tradies and, I’ve recently discovered, would-be horse racing commentators. They’re the ones who’ve made our brand what it is over all these decades, and we are celebrating with them and with our communities,” Lloyd-Jones says.