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Story: Food shops

'Leasing' groceries

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'Leasing' groceries

Mrs A. Stephenson, one of the two owners of two Wellington dairies, holds up a sign telling customers that they are 'leasing' groceries rather than buying them. In 1971 the Labour Department would prosecute dairy owners if they sold certain goods when other shops were closed. This leasing system was a tongue-in-cheek way of circumventing the regulations which she and many others saw as ludicrous.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1971/3620/29

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Carl Walrond, Food shops – Dairies, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/25495/leasing-groceries (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Carl Walrond, published 6 April 2010, updated 1 September 2016.