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The History of the Postie Plus Group
Postie was founded by Thomas Dellaca and his family. Thomas set up a boot repair business in Globe
Hill near Westport in 1909. In 1919 Thomas relocated his family and business to Reefton which had the
largest population in New Zealand at the time, 25 years later the Dellaca family relocated to Westport
where they diversified their business into clothing, furnishings and flooring.
By the time the 80’s came around business was booming with the introduction of the Postie Fashions mail
order catalogue. Clothes For Less retail stores were opened in the 90’s which set the foundations for the
retail chain Postie Plus to be established in future years. The Dellaca family expanded their business even
further by purchasing the Warehouse Clothing chain and Waimate Knitwear in ‘96 and 98’. The millennium
saw big changes for the Company, with retail outlets throughout New Zealand there was no longer a need
for the mail order catalogues, and operations ceased in this area in 2001.
Babycity was founded in 1986 by the Nuttall family. Growth and prosperity saw the chain grow quickly over
the following decade. With business booming in 2002 the decision was made to merge the two well know
brands Babycity and Postie Plus with the new look and themed stores rolled out in the coming years.
The SchoolTex™ brand was established by the Postie Plus Group in 1997, and has since gained support
and loyalty from schools all over New Zealand. SchoolTex™ is the only National Retailer of school uniforms
and is one of the country’s leading Primary and Secondary School uniform providers. SchoolTex™ supplies
uniforms to 1500 schools through either our retail network of stores, or through bulk sales.
2003 brought further changes for the Group, purchasing the womens clothing chain Rendells and the
manchester chain Arbuckles. September 2003 saw the Group floated on the New Zealand Stock Exchange
becoming a publicly listed Company. The Group now had an extremely strong standing in the New Zealand
retail industry.
Over the next five years the group continued to grow and develop. In 2008, in order to concentrate the
Company’s efforts on apparel, the manchester chain Arbuckles was sold, allowing the Company to further
develop the stronger retail brands. The decision was made in 2012 to sell Babycity to allow the Company to
align itself with the growth strategy of the Group.
The future continues to look prosperous for the Group with Postie continuing to hold a strong position in
the market place in New Zealand and with Schooltex™ continuing to grow, expand and diversify. We look
forward to what the future holds for PPGL and are pleased that you are joining us on this exciting, ever
developing journey.
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