. for other uses see warehouse disambiguation . the warehouse group 1 type public traded as nzx whs industry retail department & discount founded north shore new zealand 1982 store ; 34 years ago 1991 group ; 25 years ago headquarters north shore new zealand key people founder stephen tindall ceo simon turner revenue nz 1 735 030 000 2007 08 2 operating income nz 134 687 000 2007 08 2 profit nz 90 769 000 2007 08 2 total assets nz 654 937 000 2007 08 2 total equity nz 334 656 000 2007 08 2 owner sir stephen robert tindall 27.01 % the tindall foundation 21.31 % james pascoe limited 16.44 % 3 number of employees 12 000 4 divisions group sourcing support insight traders schooltex international brands ces big bucket deals third party sourcing sro & hk sourcing bargin sourcing 5 6 website www.thewarehouse.co.nz the warehouse group limited officially stylized as tw group 1 founded by stephen tindall in 1982 is the largest retail group operating in new zealand . the warehouse group tw group is a group that consists of the warehouse warehouse stationery noel leeming warehouse group financial services and torpedo7 group . contents 1 history 2 business 2.1 competition 2.2 criticism 2.3 return policy 2.4 australian operation 2.5 hypermarkets 2.6 the warehouse local 3 subsidiaries 3.1 the warehouse 3.2 warehouse stationery 3.3 torpedo7 group 3.4 the warehouse group financial services limited 3.5 noel leeming group limited 3.6 waikato valley chocolates 4 store counts 5 financial results 6 statistics 6.1 retail operations 7 board of directors 8 references 9 external links history edit the warehouse logo used up to 2006 . no stores in new zealand use this version anymore . all stores in australia used this logo until they were renamed in 2008 . this article contains embedded lists that may be better presented using prose . you can help by converting the list or lists to prose if appropriate . editing help is available . august 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message 1982 first store opens in takapuna auckland . 1988 second store opens in market st hastings 1990 first nationally distributed advertising mailer . 1991 sales exceed 100 million . 1991 first warehouse stationery store is opened . 1992 launch of the warehouse card . 1995 the warehouse added to the new zealand stock exchange under the symbol twh . 1996 opening of a north island distribution centre . 1996 the largest warehouse store at the time in invercargill opens and local businesses suffer creating a large amount of empty shops in the city . 1998 introduction of apparel as major department . 2000 the warehouse is added to the nzse 10 index . 2000 sales exceed 1 billion . 2002 the warehouse celebrates 20 years in operation . 2003 the warehouse australia brand is launched with a total of 126 stores . 2004 the warehouse signifies overall brand change and store format change . 2005 lab store launched in the hamilton suburb of te rapa . 2005 warehouse brand relaunched with new lower case logo and tv ads softened . 7 2005 the warehouse signifies its intention to enter the liquor market . 2005 the warehouse announces it will pull out of its australian operation by christmas . 8 2005 the warehouse australia sold for a 92 million nz 99m . 2006 the warehouse begins selling alcoholic beverages in selected stores . invercargill and gore stores are excluded from selling alcohol due to local licensing laws . 2006 the warehouse launches the first of its new format stores branded the warehouse extra at sylvia park auckland . the offer includes full grocery as well as a pharmacy bakery and photo processing . 2007 the warehouse celebrate their 25th birthday and to mark the occasion release 13 000 balloons causing concerns from environmentalists . 9 10 2008 the warehouse abandons its full scale grocery arm operating under the name the warehouse extra converting or reverting the few stores involved to the standard format . 11 2009 the first smaller concept store the warehouse local opens in mosgiel . 12 2010 the warehouse opens a brand new store now one of the country s largest in gisborne . it is the first large format store since the opening of the warehouse sylvia park in 2006 . 13 2012 the warehouse ceases its instore pharmacy offer . 2012 the warehouse in hastings is rebuilt as one of new zealand s largest . the old warehouse on market st goes up for sale . 2012 the warehouse announces it is buying electronics retailer the noel leeming group for 65 million . 14 15 2013 tw group hold click madness a one day online only sale across all brands in the group . 2013 tw group purchases torpedo7 no. 1 fitness shotgun supplements shop hq pet.co.nz & baby.co.nz and insight traders . 2014 tw group buys r & r sport and schooltex . 4 2014 tw group launches the warehouse group financial services after the takeover of diners club nz 6 16 business edit the warehouse operates discount retail department stores selling a broad range of non grocery and grocery products . as of january 2015 the warehouse employed over 12 000 people in new zealand . 4 the warehouse s corporate headquarters are located in north shore new zealand . apart from its 242 retail locations it operates 2 distribution centres located in wiri new zealand and in rolleston new zealand as well as 12 online stores . 4 in addition to its own operations it also owns various brand names that are located within the stores . it has gardening facilities located in auckland hamilton and in christchurch . along with its gardening brand just it also operates nearly 30 in company brands . the warehouse is publicly traded on the new zealand stock exchange with the security code whs twh was used previously . 17 competition edit the warehouse s chief competitors in the national retail scene include farmers lowscale department stores kmart discount department stores the briscoes group discounted sports and homeware store chains and super cheap auto automotive products . criticism edit the warehouse has been criticised for poor products and has had product recalls of items they exclusively sell . a recent example is a brand of cycle helmets sold at the warehouse that had the insulation detach from the shell of the helmet . as a result all helmets were recalled and customers who purchased these helmets asked to return for a refund . 18 19 more recently the warehouse was blamed for the closure of sounds music stores as well as illegal downloading of music . the management of the warehouse dispute these claims . citation needed in may 2007 to mark the 25th birthday of the warehouse the company released 13 000 balloons from dairy flat . this sparked concerns from the department of conservation and other environmentalists as the balloons have been known to endanger wildlife . 9 10 in december 2009 it was announced that the warehouse staff would be taking industrial action due to issues with staff having their hours extended to 50 hour weeks in the lead up to christmas and staff having to work late at night . 20 return policy edit the company operates a comprehensive returns policy . a money back guarantee policy returns accepted for any reason is available on most products excluding underwear pre recorded media and perishable products . this concept has not worked in australia particularly due to the fact that there are many other more well established department store chains k mart target big w . australian stores no longer advertise a money back guarantee . in late 2005 the warehouse group announced its decision to close its australian arm . 21 australian operation edit in 2000 the company entered the australian retail market . it acquired the clint s crazy bargains and silly solly s retail chains . at the time of purchase those chains had around 117 stores . 22 in 2003 the company built a 33 million aud distribution centre in queensland to service the country . later that year the company introduced its tui and tolas inventory management systems from new zealand . as of 2005 the australian arm was still under performing . sales for 2005 were at 518.8 million aud compared with 567.3 million aud in 2004 . the warehouse group limited announced in november 2005 that it had entered into a conditional agreement to sell the warehouse australia business to catalyst investment managers and its parent ppm capital limited together catalyst and castle harlan australian mezzanine partners acting on behalf of the champ i and champ ii funds champ for a 92 million nz 99m . the new entity was known as australian discount retail adr . as part of the transaction the warehouse australia s sydney head office would be sold to investec wentworth specialised property trust . while the effective date for the transaction was to be 27 november 2005 completion of the sale was expected in early 2006 and was subject to normal regulatory approvals . at its formation adr also purchased the discount store operations of miller s retail including the go lo crazy clark s and chickenfeed tasmania chains . there were 335 such stores at the time of sale . after the sale of the australian operation warehouse stores were renamed sam s warehouse . 23 hypermarkets edit in june 2006 the warehouse extra opened at sylvia park auckland . it was the first of a planned chain of hypermarkets at 135 000 sq ft 12 500 sq m . in a similar fashion to the wal mart supercenters of the united states the foodmarket department aisles are placed at a perpendicular angle to the general merchandise . it is the first store to feature an in store bakery pharmacy and cafe and instead of the usual tall industrial shelving a more conventional store shelving system has been used . the store also features a lot less red than in traditional stores but the familiar concrete floor still exists . the next branches of the warehouse extra were in whangarei and te rapa in hamilton . in october 2008 the warehouse announced that they will be canning the warehouse extra format with stores reverting to the more traditional style of store coming months . 11 there were four of the warehouse extra in auckland albany manukau sylvia park and westgate . today the warehouse extra brand is used on larger traditional stores nationwide with many existing large stores have taken on the warehouse extra branding such as those in lyall bay wellington riccarton christchurch south dunedin and palmerston north . stores carrying the warehouse extra brand are typically larger open later and carry a greater range than regular stores . street view of mosgiel s warehouse local store . the warehouse local edit on thursday 23 july 2009 the warehouse group opened the first of its smaller concept stores the warehouse local in mosgiel . these stores are approximately 2000 square metres in size compared with the usual 5000 square meters seen in larger locations . these stores also have single checkout counters doing without dedicated service jewellery and entertainment counters which are present in most other stores . another 3 stores are intended to be launched per year following this concept over the next five years . 12 this will give the warehouse a chance to have market domination in smaller towns as well as the larger towns and cities in new zealand . while the local naming is no longer used smaller stores in rolleston and st lukes have opened using the smaller format . subsidiaries edit the warehouse group currently owns five flagship subsidiaries . 6 the warehouse logo the warehouse edit the flagship store for the group ; founded in 1982 by sir stephen