R I P Dennis O’Brien – The Silver Fox From Rices

Sad news from the Death’s column with the passing of one of Invers most well known people in business and all round character, Dennis O’Brien of Rice’s Refrigeration fame, or just plain Rice’s.

According to a Wares New Zealand article by Mervyn Robertson, the Rices dynasty started in 1895 when Oswald Rice immigrated here from England and set up a confectionery factory on Dee St with his sons to succeed him.

Read the full article here – a fascinating read. http://www.wares.co.nz/articles/2017/june/13/dennis-obrien/

One thing has lead to another over the years including a long and prosperous relationship with national appliance manufacturer Fisher and Paykel.

Eventually Dennis and close friend Alan Baxter took control of the company and Rices ruled the electrical appliance appliance market for decades .

Dennis and his team pioneered the massive weekend Expo’s at the Ascot Park Hotel. When the other retailers closed their doors for the weekend, the Rices team marched on and made a killing.

Suppliers came from near and far to show off their latest wares big and small to an eagerly awaiting public. There were cues at the door waiting to be let in to see, and buy what was on offer. Remember the door buster specials ? Blank video cassettes, $2. each if I recall.

Rice’s had shops all over the show, Cambridge Pl Arcade, TrustBank Arcade and of course the Annex Store on Mersey Street which became the MegaStore. Yes, the flagship store was a figurative mile away from the foot traffic of the central city but shoppers beat a path to Rice’s door.

And there were more than a few characters behind the counters and in the offices too.

A fond memory I have from radio days is the Magic Balloon. We used to let this go on the Boggy Breakfast Show at a certain time, can’t recall exactly but if the sales team couldn’t get an advertiser to supply a $100 sponsorship to tag to the balloon it was quick call to Dennis and the deal was done.

Another fond memory is as part of Dennis’s wonderful radio patter was something to the effect “if you’re out in the country and need us, call us collect!!  Rice’s would pay the charge.

Dennis knew how to use radio advertising and spent plenty doing it . He also spent more than a pretty penny advertising in the local papers.

Sadly time marched on and Dennis and his fellow directors called it a day selling the business to the Smith City group.

In later days Dennis would come into The Warehouse where I work to do a spot of shopping and we would have a chat about this and that. He was always interested on how the local store was going and how the firm was going as a whole.

Invers and Mersey St without Rice’s and Invers without Dennis, it’s just not the same.

While we’re here, we should also acknowledge the recent passing of well known and longtime  Invercargill financial advisor Ken Swain of Swains Financial Services.  Ken passed away peacefully at his home in Queenstown last week.