4 | BUSINESS Hubbers Flooring & Furnishings T TKim Newth Inspiring beautiful interiors for 50 years Hubbers has adapted to stay on trend and today offers an extensive range of the latest products from many leading brands. “People coming to us today will often comment on how their parents shopped at Hubbers too. Of course, they don’t want to be buying what their parents did! It’s why we continually review and refresh what we offer.” T T to page 6 www.belgotex.co.nz Congratulations to Hubbers Flooring & Soft Furnishings. Belgotex is honoured to have supported the team in achieving this milestone. Hubbers Flooring & Furnishings is wellknown in the South Island market for providing quality products to make beautiful home interiors. Throughout its 50-year history since incorporation, Hubbers has adapted to stay on trend and today offers an extensive range of the latest products from many leading brands. Lloyd and Chris Hubber founded the family business and, since 2004, their daughter Karin has been at the helm as company director. Having grown up immersed in the world of floors and furnishings, Karin entered the business knowing it inside out. “I used to help out after school and I remember getting in the car with Dad, driving around Christchurch and measuring homes for carpets – all the kids would be in the back seat! He’d roll out carpet on the driveway and cut it up there. “I worked for Air New Zealand for 25 years before returning to the business. Mum’s health was not great so they needed me to come in. My father was still involved through to 2011. As the next generation, I naturally wanted to make some changes of my own. I started bringing in fabrics from Europe. We hadn’t had homewares before like French Country Collections. It was all about wanting to provide that full offering so we could be a one-stop shop for home interior products.” The Hubbers story ultimately traces its origins to her father’s legendary ‘gift of the gab’. He first began selling flooring at the iconic Invercargill department store H&J Smith in the early 1950s before launching a large carpet warehouse in Gore. In 1965, the family moved to Christchurch and started a furniture and carpets business on Oxford Terrace. Karin recalls that her father had a very good working relationship with David Lewis, founder of D A Lewis, at that time. The Hubbers name soon became established in the city, with a store on Colombo St followed by today’s flagship store at 295 Blenheim Rd. “There were eight in Dad’s family – he had six brothers – and they were all successful salespeople. Dad excelled at selling too. Mum drove the money side of the business and did most of the accounting work.” Karin says her parents built good relationships with both clients and staff, winning loyalty for Hubbers that has endured and continued under her leadership. Some Hubbers’ staff have been with the business for 30 years. Strong relationships with suppliers such as Feltex, Godfrey Hirst, James Dunlop and Windoware are also central to Hubbers’ success. Clients know they can rely on Hubbers’ excellent range of flooring, homewares, furniture and more to give them the look they require. “People coming to us today will often comment on how their parents shopped at Hubbers too. Of course, they don’t want to be buying what their parents did! It’s why we continually review and refresh what we offer.” Increasingly, their clients are not just on the hunt for one product but are wanting support on coordinating a whole range of products, from window coverings to wallpaper, cushions and flooring, as well as guidance on colours and textures. “They want us to put everything together for them and advise them on what products go well together. Our staff are experts in this. Whether it’s for one room or the whole home, we can service everything ourselves. We have a lot of catalogues and can bring in products if not in store. “We also have our own sewing room, which is pretty rare these days. We have nine staff in there [who make Hubbers’ curtains and roman blinds]. They are very experienced and very fussy so everything is finished to a high standard. It means we can offer that extra personal service to our clients.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=