Milne & Choyce
Milne & Choyce
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Milne & Choyce

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Milne & Choyce

Milne & Choyce, later trading as Milnes was a New Zealand luxury department store chain founded in 1867 and operating until at least 1992. At its peak Milne & Choyce operated at least seven branch stores around the North Island of New Zealand, alongside a Queen Street flagship.

On 3 July 1867, Mary Jane and Charlotte Milne took over the drapery shop of Mr and Mrs Wison at on the corner of Wyndham Street and Albert Street. The business was renamed Misses Milne.

In July 1874, the Misses Milne acquired the drapery shop of Mr. B. Cass within Cheapside House, on the corner of Queen Street and Wellesley Street. The original business on the corner of Wyndham Street and Albert Street continued to operate until operations were consolidated at Cheapside House in August. Sometime between this relocation and 1875 the business was renamed to M. & C. Milne.

In 1876, Charlotte Milne's husband Henry Charles Choyce took over her share in the company, and the business was renamed to Milne & Choyce. In September 1876, a fire occurred in the photography salon of John McGarrigle above Milne & Choyce's upstairs storeroom and destroyed much of the stores stock.

Milne & Choyce hosted a spring fashion parade in 1887, one of the first in Auckland.

In 1901, Milne & Choyce went public, and became Milne & Choyce Ltd., Henry Choyce served as managing director.

131 Queen Street was purchased in 1908 for £50,000. Milne & Choyce would now be situated "between the banks [Bank of New South Wales, Bank of New Zealand]". The company would relocate to 131 Queen Street store on 6 September 1909.

Mary Jane Milne retired at the age of seventy in 1909, though remained involved in the business until her death in 1921.

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