I’m sure there weren’t enough descriptive words to explain the excitement Esther Clarkson felt at the first sale of one of her straw hats. As the coins dropped into her hand, maybe she smiled to herself and felt assured that her little business could make something of itself. She had no idea! It was 1854 …
The year (1947) of the Ballantyne’s fire, it was regarded as one of the worst disasters Christchurch and New Zealand had faced. This photo of some of the firefighters that day tells the story in itself. The fire started down stairs in the furniture area and quickly spread through the three story department building. As …
As smoke silently crept up the cellar stairs of Ballantynes, unaware customers continued to sip their drinks in the tearooms and the businesses’ typewriters kept tapping away in the offices on the top floor. Brothers, Roger and Kenneth Ballantyne, were on site keeping an ever watchful eye over the family legacy, theirs since 1872. Ballantynes …
