Trevor Wong was about eight when he started helping out in his grandfather's fruit and vege shop. He retires on July 3 after running the town's Write Price supermarket for the past 29 years.



When Trevor Wong closes the door on Wairoa's Write Price supermarket for the last time on July 3 it will mark the end of a 90-year tradition spanning three generations.

Wong, 68, has recently announced that after 35 years in the Hawke's Bay town's supermarket business he is hanging up his apron with plans to spend more time racing along the Wairoa River on water skis or cruising highways on his late model Triumph Bonneville.

Wong's family emigrated from China in the late 1800s. His grandfather moved from Otaki to Wairoa in 1927 and opened a general store on the town's Marine Parade the same year.

"I was probably about eight when I started helping out in grandad's shop. He later on opened another fruit shop also on Marine Parade. Dad took that over and I worked there until about 1981 when I started working at the Hawke's Bay Consumer's Co-op supermarket, which is now New World, and was the town's first supermarket," he said.

"Six years later the opportunity arose to open a Write Price in the building we're in now. I opened it with my uncle, who had the Write Price in Napier," he said.

For the last 29 years Wong has run the store. For most of those years he worked seven days a week, but in the last few years he's reduced it to five days and just "pops in" on Saturdays and Sundays.

Any spare time is spent water-skiing on the Wairoa River, or cruising on his 2007 Triumph Bonneville motorbike.

"I hope to do a lot more cruising when I retire. I find that very relaxing," he said.

Wong has two daughters and four grandchildren living in Napier. None of them have expressed an interest in continuing the Wong's Wairoa supermarket dynasty, so he plans to one day move south to join them.

"I'll be the last Wong to run the supermarket here. It's a bit of an end of an era," he said.

Wong has seen a lot of changes over the years; some for better, some for worse.

"The scanning was the biggest improvement. That made things a lot easier. We used to write the price on each item - that's how the store got it's name. That took a while. I've really liked being in a smaller supermarket. There's more personal contact with customers. I never had any intention of moving to a larger store in a city," he said.

"They're so big today. They employ hundreds of people. I'm sure the bosses wouldn't know who was working for them, to be honest," he said.

"I employ about 45 people and I'm more involved in every department so I have a handle on everything. No department managers here," he said.

He won't miss the pressure and stress of running the business and dealing with dozens of staff.

"It gets pretty stressful when someone doesn't turn up to work for one reason or another," he said.

"I'm really grateful to all my customers who have supported me over the decades and all my staff, past and present," Wong said.

Wong said some of his staff will find work at Wairoa's New World, some were retiring or going to study, but about ten would need to find work.