Erwin Leonard Guy Abel

Erwin Leonard Guy Abel (23 October 1911 – 1 May 1995) was a New Zealand grocer, businessman, athlete and racehorse owner. He was born in Ohakune, Rotorua/Taupo, New Zealand on 23 October 1911. Onthey opened Abel opened New Zealand's first shopping mall, The Big A Plaza, at Glenview, Hamilton in October 1969.

On 23 October 1911, Erwin Leonard Guy Abel was born in Ohakune to a farm worker and bush contractor named Leonard Guy Abel, and his wife Rosa Hunt. He was the second of four children and was known as, Wynn. Abel grew up Waikato and the King Country, both regions in North-Western New Zealand; he did live for a few months on Banks Peninsula. In Cambridge, Abel worked as a grocery assistant at the Farmer's Trading Company store; he was fourteen and finished with school, he would work for eight years there.

On 16 March 1933, Abel married Jean Winifred Keene in Auckland. The couple would have five children together: Four daughters and one son. It was soon after Abel's wedding that he would get a promotion at the grocery store: Able was transferred to the Whangarei branch of farmers where he was to manage the grocery department of the store.

Abel was a very precocious young man who was constantly driven by self-improvement: He studied bookkeeping, grocery retailing and business management until he was well versed in all three subjects. In fact, Abel took up a second job, for some extra money, selling correspondence classes. In 1936, Abel had received a diploma from the London-based Fern Business Institute for management. It was soon after receiving this academic accolade that he purchased his own grocery business, the Wellworth While stores; it was located in central Whangarei.

Abel found success with his grocery business in central Whangarei, credit is likely due to his business philosophy: Combining the lowest prices with the highest quality and standards of personal services, both helping to ensure quality customers that had loyalty. His business had a catch phrase that it advertised to customers: "If Abels hasn’t got it … nobody has!". This catch phrase had really captured the essence of Abel's dedication to customer service and what his business was all about.

During the Second World War Abel and his family provided and packaged its own products at his grocery store; these products included pickled onions, bottled jam, and cream biscuits. By the 1950s, Abel purchased a second store in Whangarei and had his only son—Len—manage it.

...
Wikipedia