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Worth: $85 million
THE CHRISTCHURCH chain store owner has yet again spotted a gap in the women's fashion market he is hoping to fill - an upmarket label without upmarket prices. It was a casual conversation between the director of listed retailer Hallenstein Glassons and fashion expert Deborah Caldwell that eventually led to the launch of the company's new label, Storm.
Storm opened in Newmarket, Auckland, in March, and will open another store shortly in Christchurch's High St. Storm has been one of a number of positive recent developments at Hallenstein Glasson in the past year, including the opening of its 21st Australian Glassons store in April, and a 29% rise in half-yearly net profit to February of $10.9 million.
Mr Glasson is from a long-line of South Island rag-traders. Glassons dates back to the 1900s when Charles and John Glasson started an open-to-the-public warehouse, which also operated a mail order service, in Christchurch.
That company eventually merged in 1985 with Hallenstein and has progressed from there.
Glasson also has a number of property interests in Christchurch and Wanaka. He also owns a large chunk of listed investment company Kingfish.
2005: $80 million
