Mitre 10 Turns 50: Celebrating Five Decades Of Being ‘With You All The Way’

17 JUNE 2024: “Mate, you’re dreaming!” Aotearoa’s homegrown hardware brand is celebrating 50 years of helping Kiwi make their home improvement dreams “Easy As”. This Thursday 20 June 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 is releasing 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,” said Jules Lloyd-Jones, Chief Marketing Officer of Mitre 10 New Zealand.

To add the candle on the cake, if you spend $20 or more in-store before 30 June, you can use your unique receipt code to enter the draw to win a share of $120,000 in prizes.

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While the Valiants and Cortinas of its early days may now have been replaced by EVs (complete with charging bays in store carparks), Mitre 10’s commitment to giving locals a hand has been a constant throughout its history.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 motu, 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.

About Mitre 10

Mitre 10 (New Zealand) Ltd is a Kiwi co-operative of 84 locally owned stores nationwide, collectively employing over 8,000 team members. The country’s most trusted home improvement and garden retailer and one of the fastest-growing trade merchants, Mitre 10 has been a household name since 1974, and in June 2024 celebrates 50 years’ serving and supporting Kiwi communities.

The co-operative was ranked second in the 2023 Kantar Corporate Reputation Index, named most trusted home improvement store brand for the fourteenth time in the 2024 Readers Digest Trusted Brand Awards, #2 Most Trusted Brand overall, and is a repeat winner of Canstar Blue’s Most Satisfied Customers Award in the home improvement category.

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