Grocer in Owaka
Malcolm Gibbs grocery store in Owaka
When Malcolm returned from the war in 1943 he was given a subsidy from the New Zealand Government to help him start a business. As he was born in Houipapa, near Owaka, he and Kathleen decided to set up a gocery business there. They bought a store from Sam McDowell. Malcolm’s father, Henry Gibbs, lived with Malcolm and Kathleen in their Owaka house next to the grocery store until he died in 1945.
In June, 1946 they welcomed their first child, Erris Bronwen Gibbs. She was born in the Owaka Nursing Home and four years later in November, 1950, Joan Alice Gibbs was born. Malcolm and Kathleen had two beautiful girls - Erris enjoyed playing outside and loved bouncing a ball as often as she could, while Joan was a beautiful little girl with blonde curly hair. They had several pet cats which they loved - Tinker was the favourite and was very patient every time Joan dressed him up like a baby and put him in the dolls pram. Erris liked to pretend to be the milkman and ‘deliver’ fruit cans of water in the back of her three-wheeled bike to the neighbours along the road.
Malcolm holding his daughter, Erris
Erris and Joan went to Owaka Primary and Secondary School. They walked home for lunch each school day. Their father’s shop was connected to their house. One day as they walked through the shop they took a packet of Wrigley’s chewing gum to have on their way back to school. This was easy they thought. However when they tried to take a Buzz bar one day they got caught by their father and got a good telling off - they never stole again!!
They both worked for pocket money in the grocery shop. They filled the shelves, packed loose goods like flour, sugar and sultanas. The flour was in big bins and it was a lovely feeling to put a hand into the flour and feel it soft and cool - very unhygienic!! Their father didn’t ever know.
The grocery van was a flatback VW. It was used to deliver grocery orders to families who lived in the rural area of Owaka - mostly the farmers. Erris learnt to drive in the VW by changing gears for her Dad or Don Greer who worked in the shop. She loved to help with the deliveries. Once a week the train came from Dunedin, through Balclutha and down to Owaka. The small goods (sausages, saveloys and bacon) were collected and taken to the shop to sell. There was a big bacon slicer in the back room of the shop where Malcolm sliced bacon for customers. Every day the VW would go to the local bakery to collect the fresh bread for delivery orders. Many times Erris nibbled at the hot soft bread off the ends of the big French loaves!!
Malcolm was a very successful grocer in Owaka. He was interested in becoming an independent grocer in a chain of grocers which had been established in the North Island. He was part of setting up Four Square in the South Island. He was one of the original directors. Foodstuffs/Four Square in Dunedin was where all the grocery items for his Owaka store were delivered from. They arrived by train.
As well as being one of 2 local grocers, Malcolm was very active in the local community. He was a justice of the peace, a board member of the Owaka School and his van was used as the ambulance. He was also a very generous grocer. During hard times after the war he would allow customers to defer paying for their groceries to help them through tough times financially. Many customers gave in kind by giving the family bottles of cream, meat and fish.
Kathleen was a very good cook. The family always had plenty of delicious wholesome food to eat and special things like whitebait, cream, bananas and an endless supply of yummy baking. Every day the staff and any travelling reps would be treated to delicious scones, bicuit and slices for morning tea in the backroom of the shop. Erris and Joan would sometimes take their lunch to school and there would be a leftove piece of bacon and egg pie or apple charlotte - yummy.
Kathleen was also a very good seamstress. She sewed all the girls clothes even making their coats. She also knitted their jerseys and cardigans. The weather in Owaka, South Otago was very cold in the winter and Erris and Joan had to wear a thick bodice done up with rubber buttons under their uniform to keep them warm. The house had an open fire in the dining room which was stoked with coal and wood. The coldest room was the front room where Kathleen held her Country Women’s Institute (CWI) Committee meetings. Fortunately there was an open fire in that room but it was only lit for special occasions. The piano was in the the front room and Erris and Joan had to do their piano practice in there. The cold didn’t help their enthusiam for practice!! Erris managed to pass her Grade 5 practical and theory exams.
Erris and Joan liked to play with their wooden blocks and their Hornby train set. They used to build towns on the floor in front of the dining room fire and make the train tracks go under the chairs and back round to the town. Joan loved to play with her Walkie-Talkie doll in the wooden dolls pram that her Dad made for her. Her Mum sewed the dolls clothes for Joan to dress up Mary and also Tinker the cat!! Mary, walked, ‘talked’ and moved her eyes so she could go to sleep.
After 20 very successful years in Owaka the Gibbs family moved to Fairfield just out of Dunedin. This was part of the plan right at the beginning of their marriage when they decided to spend part of their life in the country - Owaka, and the other part near the city, Dunedin. They wanted their girls to get a good secondary education so in the early 1960s they sold the shop to Don Greer and moved up to Dunedin where Erris and Joan went to Queens High School in St Kilda, Dunedin.