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Smiths Sports Shoes is a privately owned New Zealand company established initially as a family shoe store but for the last twenty years selling primarily technical sports shoes.
In 1949 at 344 Dominion Rd, Smiths Family Shoes first opened with Arthur and Minnie Smith at the helm to service the local families in the area.
Since 1949 the retail environment has changed dramatically along Dominion Road. The introduction of shopping malls put pressure on conventional strip shopping. The Smiths brand mix of destination backed with extensive marketing however flourished.
In 1968 Arthur passed away and his son Martin and wife Marie took over the business. Martin had been working in the business part time while completing his apprenticeship as a cobbler.
During the 1970s, around the time of the first running boom, Smiths Family shoes were building up a reputation as running one of the best sports shoe stores in Auckland with customers coming from all over to be fitted out in their sports shoes by Martin selling top world brands such as Gola, Olympic, O'Brien's and Laser.
The 1980s saw Chris, Martin's son, join the business and in 1982 the fashion shoes were removed from the shelves as Martin and Chris had decided to specialise solely into sports shoes. Family was swapped for sports and Smith's Sports Shoes was incorporated.
In 1987 Chris opened a second store in partnership with Bruce Greenhalgh over on the north shore of Auckland in Lake Rd, Takapuna.Bruce was to lead the way in Smiths Sports Shoes branching outside of Auckland opening stores in Hamilton and Christchurch.
During the late eighties and early nineties branded sports shoes were considered to be relatively expensive in New Zealand and Smith's realised that to grow their business they needed to be able to provide their customers with competitively priced sports footwear.
They were able to achieve this by bulk purchasing footwear and passing on considerable savings to the public. Weekend destinations sales at Alexander Park Raceway drew literally thousands of Auckland consumers who took advantage of prices never before seen in Auckland.
By 1990 Smith's Sports Shoes had out grown the original premises at 344 Dominion Rd and relocated to their current site at 193 Dominion Rd. At the time this was seen as a very bold move as the new premises was over 6000 square foot and would be one of the largest sport shoe specialist stores in New Zealand.
Smiths were however confidant that with their strong branding and reputation for offering specialty services a centrally located superstore concept would definitely work well within the Auckland landscape.
Mike MacKenzie joined the company as a partner just before the move to 193 Dominion road and was to oversee the the Auckland operation which was to grow to 6 stores at it's peak.
In February 1991 Smiths Sports Shoes new Superstore opened. Smith's entry into large format retailing did not compromise their principals of providing quality service, selection and competitive prices. Today the Dominion Road store remains a key icon within the expanding group with one of the largest and latest ranges of sporting footwear covering most key sports categories.
In 1992 Smiths Sports Shoes established a franchise arm with the intention of offering business opportunities through out New Zealand. Kieran McKee joined the company at this time as Franchise Director up until 2007.
Steadily over the last 13 years the Smith’s group has grown and developed into what you see today. The recipe has had some adjustments over time but the philosophy of service, selection and competitive pricing has remained the same.
The staff at Smith’s Sports Shoes stores offer exceptional technical support and service. This includes video gait analysis, and the latest Silicon Coach video analysis available. This type of specialist support is extremely important today, due mainly to the huge technical advancements made within the athletic footwear industry and the importance of fitting the right shoe for the customer's unique requirements.
Because of the Smith's Sports Shoes extensive range of shoes and categories, the whole family can be fitted with shoes for most sports and casual wear at affordable prices.
Smith's Sports Shoes now have 12 stores servicing the country from Whangarei to Dunedin. Smith's is one of the largest sports shoe specialists operating within the New Zealand market.
All staff operating at Smiths Sports Shoes stores are highly trained and will give expert advice specific to the customer's sporting and leisure requirements.
For over 55 years Smith's has been listening and catering seriously to our customers needs, if its one thing that Smith's knows its that the level of customer care and satisfaction is of the utmost importance hence Smith's commitment to the very highest standards of staff training.
Today Smiths Sports Shoes remain one of New Zealand's most successful sport shoe retailers, the management and staff at Smith's Sports Shoes invite you to come and share the experience of your next sports shoe purchase.
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