When I hopped on my pushbike in 1999 for my first late-night shift at Woolworths Whanganui, ambition wasn't on my mind.
I was a 16-year-old high school kid pedalling through the evening chill for a three-hour night-fill shift, and my main concern wasn’t long-term career progression—it was finding a safe place to lock my bike in the dark.
Pedalling home at midnight in the pitch black, with tired shoulders and a few dollars earned, I saw the role as an after-school job. I never set out with a grand 25-year blueprint. I didn’t plot an inevitable climb from stocking tins to leading an entire supermarket team.
Recently, I had the privilege of being inducted into Woolworths 25 Year Club, standing alongside peers who represented decades of service to New Zealand grocery retail.
Looking back across a quarter of a century, what surprises me isn't just how fast time went, but how much room retail gives a person to grow if they’re willing to put in the work.
Over the years, I’ve seen this industry weather significant transformations. I've worked through major brand evolutions from Countdown back to Woolworths, watched supply chains modernise overnight, and stood alongside our team through the immense pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, when supermarket aisles became essential community lifelines.
But for all the logistical and operational shifts, retail remains all about people. Nobody builds a 25-year career alone. Early on, I was fortunate that experienced colleagues saw something in me that I hadn’t yet seen in myself.
People like my current Zone Manager, Wayne Law, someone I first worked alongside on the floor in Whanganui a quarter-century ago, offered steady guidance, trust, and mentorship. That kind of enduring workplace culture is rare, but it makes all the difference. When a business takes the time to back its people, loyalty becomes a two-way street.
For the past nine years, Masterton has been my home, and leading the local Woolworths store has anchored me to this community in ways I never anticipated.
In a place like Masterton, a supermarket isn’t just a retail unit; it’s a town hub. You know your customers, your team knows their neighbours, and the lines between work and community blur in the best possible way.
My own family’s milestones are woven into the very fabric of the store. Long-serving team members still remind me of the days when my son was carried through the aisles in nappies, or when my daughter was just a little girl popping in after school. Today, they’re teenagers. My family grew up alongside our team, reinforcing that deep-seated feeling that we aren’t just running a business; we’re sharing a life together.
When I meet young Kiwis starting out on the shop floor today, perhaps stacking cartons or scanning groceries after school just like I did, I often tell them: don’t look at the job as merely putting cans on a shelf.
Retail is vast. It encompasses logistics, supply chain management, data, human resources, and compliance. The shop floor is simply the front door. Once you step through it with curiosity and work ethic, the pathways open. All it takes is the willingness to grasp the opportunity.
Standing in Auckland and Palmerston North this year alongside colleagues celebrating 25, 30, and even 40-plus years with the company, I felt deep gratitude.
A lot of things come and go in your career, but what endures and what still gets me out of bed every morning—is simple: we look after our people. That’s why we do it.
Woolworths 25 Year Club Fact Box
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Across New Zealand, the Woolworths 25 Year Club boasts 1,875 total members.
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Among those, 905 are active staff members.
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An elite group of 77 Woolworths employees who have worked for 40 years or more.
by Adam Hall, Woolworths Masterton Store Manager
