Story: Shops

Carey’s drapery general manager Roger Carey enjoys a laugh with Ruth Williams, the shop’s longest-serving employee, as she holds up a pair of scanty briefs and some size-24 bloomers. The pair look cheerful enough, but the store was about to close after 84 years in business. The Carey family had run a draper’s store in the Hutt Valley since 1910, but by 1994 it was no longer a sound proposition.