Mangonui Four Square

Mangonui Four Square is located on the waterfront in Mangonui Harbour, Doubtless Bay, Northland.

Doubtless Bay was so named by Captain James Cook, who looked in on this expanse of water in 1769 and said “Doubtless a bay” and sailed by without entering it.

In European history the area is one of the oldest in New Zealand. But before the Europeans, the area was home for a large Maori population. Moehuri was led into the Mangonui harbour by a large shark and named the spot BIG SHARK, or translated into Maori- Mangonui.

The building that is now the Mangonui Four Square was erected on piles over the waters of the Mangonui Harbour in 1907. The building housed a dentist’s surgery and a variety of small shops until 1910 when the General Store across the road relocated to the building. It has retained its function as a general store over the years as well as providing private accommodation.

While the building may be old, the services are not. The store has refrigerated produce display cabinets and additional services include a Post Office and Banking facilities.

The harbour is home to a variety of fishing boats throughout the year. As many previous owners of the store will verify, you don’t need a boat to catch fish in the Mangonui Harbour - a fishing line out of the back window of the store will suffice. Gary McCormick even made a TV programme about it.

Information was sourced from the book “What you can do in and from Doubtless Bay” by Neva Clarke McKenna and the Historic Places Trust information leaflet “Heritage Trail of Mangonui”.

The household name Four Square emerged in the 1920s out of the Foodstuffs grocery buying co-operative. Foodstuffs’ founder, Mr J Heaton Barker, became concerned at the activities of the grocery chain stores of the day that were making life very difficult for independent grocers in Auckland. On 6th July 1922, Heaton Barker called together members of the Auckland Master Grocers Association to discuss plans for the formation of a co-operative buying group of independent grocers.

On 1st April 1925, this buying group registered a company, Foodstuffs Ltd [later Foodstuffs (Auckland) Ltd], the first of three regional co-operatives based in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, which now form the Foodstuffs group of co-operatives.
The name Four Square emerged when Mr Barker, while talking on the telephone to one of the buying group members on 4th July 1924, drew a square around the 4 of the date on his calendar. He immediately realised he had a suitable name for the buying group, stating that “they would stand ’Four Square’ to all the winds that blew”.

By the end of 1924 products were appearing under the Four Square name, and by 1929, discussions were underway on the use of a common branding on stores. Early versions of the Four Square sign were produced in the form of red and gold hand painted glass panels for display in members’ stores.

In February 1948, New Zealand’s first self-service grocery store was opened in Onehunga by Phil Barker (the son of the founder of the group) and Ray McGregor. This soon became the norm for grocery retailing.

During the 1950’s the Foodstuffs advertising department designed the famous Four Square man who initially appeared only in newspaper advertising and posters, but was developed to become part of the Four Square identity, appearing in every Four Square store and eventually becoming a nationally recognised icon in New Zealand, remaining famous to this day.

Four Square stores continue to serve local communities and towns throughout New Zealand.