C C Ward

Landmark NP store takes scissors to fabric section.11 May 2006
By MICHELLE SUTTONNew Plymouth department store CC Ward is cutting its fabric business.
The landmark store, which opened in 1891 and is renowned for stocking high-quality material, is phasing out its fabric department.
The children's clothing department will also close at the end of the season.
CC Ward owner Roslyn Holyoake said the two departments were closing because the store was too small to fit everything in.
Fourteen years ago, CC Ward stocked furnishings, but that was relocated because of a lack of space and later sold.
"Today we are faced with the same problem. The physical size of the store is too small to cater for the number of product lines we do."
The decision is in line with department stores Smith and Caugheys, in Auckland, and Kirkcaldie & Stains, in Wellington, which both dropped their fabric departments several years ago.
The extra space from the fabric section would be used to expand the bridal department, in particular ready-made bridal dresses.
"All of our departments need to be more specialised. Our bridal department, 10 years ago, never had a ready-made dress and today there are over 1300 dresses in that department."
New Plymouth sewing tutor Jenny Major said shoppers from around the country travelled to CC Ward because of the quality fabric.
"It's possibly a sign of the times because less people have time to sew these days, but having said that I have 80-90 students a week in our sewing classes."
The closure of the store's fabric department would make it difficult to find top-end fabrics in Taranaki, she said.
The weekly sewing classes, previously at CC Ward, would continue at Spotlight Stores in New Plymouth from term 3 in mid-July.