Overland Footwear Group
| Founded | 1948 in King Country, New Zealand |
|---|---|
| Founder | Guglielmo Anselmi |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | New Zealand, Australia |
| Products | Footwear |
| Owners | Anselmi family |
Number of employees | 450Â (2017) |
| Website | overlandfootwear |
Overland Footwear Group is a New Zealand and Australian footwear and fashion retail company. It operates the Merchant 1948 and Mi Piaci retail chains in both countries and produces its own footwear lines.[1]
History
[edit]North Italian immigrant Guglielmo (William) Anselmi purchased three shoe stores in the King Country, known as King Country Shoes, in 1948.[2] His son Tony Anselmi opened a discount shoe store in Lynn Mall, New Zealand's first shopping mall, when it opened in 1963. He named it Shane's Shoetown, after his son.[1]
He later added stores in Karangahape Road, Åtara and St Lukes Shopping Centre.[1]
Tony's son Shane returned to the company following the 1987 sharemarket crash.[1]
By 2014, the company had 60 high-street stores branded as Overland, Merchant 1948 and Mi Piaci. It was designing 40% of its shoes in-house, with designers recruited from Nike or Adidas or as new graduates from the London College of Fashion.[1]
In 2017, the company had 57 stores in New Zealand and Australia, including 13 under the Mi Piaci brand.[3] These included 13 Mi Piaci stores.[4] Overland stores were gradually being rebranded as Merchant 1948.[3]
A concept store for the Deuce sneaker brand briefly operated in Newmarket, Auckland from 2017.[5]
In early 2018, the company won an award for New Zealand's best workplace. At the time it had 450 store across New Zealand and Australia.[3]
In 2018, a member of the Anselmi family, Oscar Anselmi, established his own shoe brand Collective Canvas.[6]
In April 2019, a new store opened in Tauranga in 2019 as part of the second stage of the Tauranga Crossing shopping centre.[7] In October 2019, a new Merchant 1948 flagship store opened in Auckland as part of the new Westfield Newmarket shopping mall.[8]
In January 2020, a car crashed through the front window of the Merchant 1948 store in TaupÅ.[9] Three people were injured, including a woman who was pinned against shelving.[10]
In 2021, rival shoe retail company Hannahs was reported to be closing its Hannahs and Number One Shoes stores, in part due to rising competition from Merchant 1948 and Mi Piaci.[11]
A Merchant 1948 store was due to open in Invercargill Central Mall in late 2022.[12]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 Ralph, Fiona (3 December 2014). "The family behind Overland". New Zealand Media and Entertainment. New Zealand Herald.
- â "Introducing Merchant 1948". FashioNZ. FashioNZ. 2 October 2015.
- 1 2 3 Smith, Cameron (1 March 2018). "Overland Footwear wins IBM Best Workplace in New Zealand award". New Zealand Media and Entertainment. New Zealand Herald.
- â Steenhart, Josie (22 February 2017). "These Kiwi footwear businesses have been in the family for decades". stuff.co.nz.
- â Shaw, Aimee (2 November 2017). "Kiwi fashion brand Zambesi closes Newmarket store amid disruption in area". New Zealand Media and Entertainment. New Zealand Herald.
- â Ralph, Fiona (10 March 2021). "Get your kicks: The best sustainable sneaker brands you need to know about". stuff.co.nz.
- â Hunter, Zoe (4 April 2019). "Hundreds of shoppers file in to new Tauranga Crossing mall, staff dance for customers". New Zealand Media and Entertainment. Bay of Plenty Times.
- â Shaw, Aimee (10 October 2019). "Scentre Group opens highly-anticipated rooftop dining terrace at Westfield Newmarket". New Zealand Media and Entertainment. New Zealand Herald.
- â Beck, David (11 January 2022). "Car crashes through shoe shop in TaupÅ". New Zealand Media and Entertainment. Rotorua Daily Post.
- â Beck, David (28 January 2022). "Woman hit by car in TaupÅ shoe shop grateful to helpers". New Zealand Media and Entertainment. Rotorua Daily Post.
- â Carrolll, Melanie (1 July 2021). "More shoe shuffling likely as Hannahs closes 'shabby' stores". stuff.co.nz. Stuff Business.
- â Girao, Luisa (22 January 2022). "Development in city centre taking shape". Allied Press. Otago Daily Times.
