Self help does the trick for reunion

JONATHAN CAMERON/Tribune

Self Help supermarket reunion organiser John Heatherwick with a Self Help recipe book from1939.

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John Heatherwick believes in self help so when it looked like a 40th anniversary reunion wasn't going to rise, he checked in.

The Palmerston North Self Help supermarket opened on May 28, 1969, on the corner of Albert St and Broadway Ave, now home to Melody's New World.

Self Help's branding was a rooster crowing "Self Help are cheaper, cheaper, cheaper".

Not long after opening the supermarket was renamed Self Help Economyland, then Wardells about 1977, before becoming New World.

Mr Heatherwick, who managed the supermarket from 1971-1985, says a number of former staff were talking six months ago about organising a reunion.

"I said `go for it, organise it. I'm not organising it' and nothing ever happened."

Ten days ago he was talking to a young man who mentioned his mum used to work at Self Help.

Mr Heatherwick felt compelled to see what was in train for the reunion, but former colleagues told him: "You're retired, you get onto it."

So he went home and made a list of names, and those names gave him names.

He's hoping actor Greg Johnson, who worked after school at the supermarket, will attend the May 30 reunion.

Johnson has appeared in Outrageous Fortune (Des Stewart), Shortland Street (Dean Cochrane), and Street Legal.

"He was a cheeky little bugger after school," Mr Heatherwick remembers.

Among those who've confirmed their attendance is Ivan Summersby, who managed the supermarket's predecessor, a Self Help grocery store on the corner of Rangitikei St and The Square.

Mr Heatherwick says the Self Help supermarket was Palmerston North's first modern supermarket and at the time one of the biggest in New Zealand.

"It was pretty hard to break into Palmerston North. There were about 60 co-op shops, everyone was loyal to the co-ops."

When he arrived in 1971 Economyland was like "a little village" with Soup St, Spice St, Cake Corner and Story Lane.

A pound of pears cost the princely sum of 18 cents, tomatoes a trifling 56 cents, while oranges went for 20 cents a pound.

Mr Heatherwick was just 24 when he took up the manager's position and remembers his nervousness walking past the checkout girls to his office on his first day.

"I can still remember that as clear as a bell. My legs were just jelly."

He had 50 staff while in his former position in Wanganui he had just six.

"All of a sudden you have just got to get confident. You can't hide behind things."

The 40 years reunion for former Self Help, Economyland and Wardells staff and current and former staff of Melody's New World is on May 30 at the Cloverlea Tavern.

To register email hwick@callsouth.net.nz, or ring 354-6312.