Our book, Thomas Gilchrist and Sons Limited of the Māniototo, tells the story of New Zealand’s longest continually operating general store, founded in 1899.

The book focuses on the Gilchrist family who ran the store for eight decades, the people who have run it since, the nine communities the store has served down to the present day and how those communities twice saved the store from closure during hard financial times.

The book’s particular value lies in its detailed insight into a once prominent form of shopping that has all but disappeared from New Zealand.

This quality production, 328 pages in length and with 430 colour and black and white images, can be purchased directly from the store.

To order copies, please email us at shop@gilchriststore.co.nz or phone us on 03 444 5808. State the number of copies you would like and your postal address. We will let you know at that point how to pay for your order.

Purchase details: $54.95 per copy, plus packaging and freight of $15.00 to anywhere in New Zealand. An extra fee of $5.50 will apply to all rural delivery addresses.

Proceeds from sales of the book, published in September 2023, go to upkeep of the store’s heritage-listed building and its memorabilia.