Night 'n Day

Denise and Andrew Lane opened the Regent Foodstore on Regent Street, in the University of Otago in Dunedin North, in 1984.[1] After hearing a BP across the road was planning to operate 24 hours a day, the Lanes decided to do the same, becoming the first New Zealand shop to open 24 hours a day.[4] Business started to pick up after six months, and local students and motel residents came to call the store "The Two Four".[3]

The store became the first Night 'n Day store. Additional 24-hour Night 'n Day stores were opened in Hagley Park, Christchurch and in Georgetown, Invercargill in 1985, and Sumner, Christchurch in 1986.[1] An Arrowtown store was added in 1990.[5]

The Lanes choose to franchise the brand in 1990,[1][6] on the advice of NightOwl Convenience Stores brand owner Rod Craig.[3] The move led to a growth in the chain's store numbers and revenue.[7]

By 2011, Night 'n Day had 46 stores.[1]

Three Night 'n Day stores were affected by the 2011 Canterbury earthquake. One relocated, while the other two closed permanently.[4] Night 'n Day has never restored its previous presence in Christchurch CBD.[8][4][3][9]

In late 2011, Night 'n Day took over the 21 Woolworths at Gull stores at Gull New Zealand service stations around the upper North Isalnd,[7] adding 21 North Island sites to its existing network of 25 South Island stores.[1] Foodstuffs South Island ended its supply agreement with Night 'n Day as a result, leading Night 'n Day to shift its focus to hot food and coffee.[2]

Founders Denise and Andrew Lane's nephew, Tony Allison, became the company's first chief executive in February 2012.[10]

By 2013, the chain had 46 stores around the country, including five company-owned stores. It had about 750 staff and was one of the fastest growing "mature" business in the lower South Island in 2013.[10][1]

One of the chain's stores on George Street, Dunedin closed in 2013.[11] However, the chain continued to grow to 50 stores in 2016, following the opening of stores in Lawrence, Wanaka and Nelson Central.[1]

Five former Star Mart stores in Wellington CBD were converted to Night 'n Day stores in 2017, becoming the chain's first standalone stores in the North Island.[1] These stores had high turnover, boosting the chain's national revenue.[8]

By the late 2010s, the company was regularly achieving high rankings in Deloitte's annual list of the fastest growing New Zealand companies by revenue.[4][3] The Lane family owned eight of the chain's 56 stores. Two to four new stores were being opened each year. Andrew Lane still hoped to open stores in 20 other locations in the South Island.[3]

Allison left the company in April, and Denise and Andrew's son Matthew Lane took over as general manager.[5]

By 2020, Night 'n Day was still being run by the Lane family. It had 26 support staff, 36 franchisees, 52 sites and about 600 staff across its national network.[4]

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on many Night 'n Day stores.[9] Under Alert Level Four, they were not allowed to sell major products like coffee, milkshakes and heated food.[12]

In late 2021, Night 'n Day was the third largest grocery retailer in New Zealand after Woolworths New Zealand and Foodstuffs. The company submitted to a Commerce Commission inquiry into the two companies' duopoly, calling for a separation between retailers and wholesalers.[2] Night 'n Day, along with The Warehouse and other retailers, expressed an interest in taking a greater role in the grocery market if the duopoly was broken up.[13][14]

As of 2022, Denise and Andrew Lane's three children were all still heavily involved in the business.[9]

A man attempted to murder another customer at the Wanaka store in May 2015.[26][27] He was jailed for 10 years, and unsuccessfully appealed the decision in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.[28][29] He was denied parole in 2020 and 2021.[30]

In July 2020, a drunk driver crashed her car into the planter box outside the store at Dunedin's Octagon, narrowly injuring a pedestrian.[31] In June 2020, a man crashed his car through the front doors of the shop.[32]

In July 2021, a man was trespassed from the store after becoming aggressive to a number of people in the area.[33] In August, a man was arrested for allegedly assaulting a staff member.[34] In October, a man was arrested outside the store for egging Police.[35]

Christchurch's Woolston Night n' Day was robbed seven times in seven months in 2016 and 2017.[36] The robbers used a range of weapons, including a pistols, machetes, knives and hammers.[37] During one incident, a staff member hid from a masked intruder in a locked safe room.[38] Police called the violence "unheard of" and advised the store owner to introduce more a stringent security system.[37]

Fifteen young gang members were arrested over the robberies.[39] They had been recruited in youth justice facilities and had boasted about the robberies on social media.[40]

Hagley Night 'n Day is one of Christchurch's two most robbed grocery stores between 2017 and 2020.[41] In one incident, a man threatened staff with a hammer and stole cigarettes.[42]

In April 2021, the Christchurch Hagley store was robbed two times in three days.[43]

In July 2021, a teenager allegedly abused Police and damaged Police vehicles in an incident that began outside Queenstown's Camp Street Night 'n Day.[44]

In December 2021, a man was knocked unconscious at the same store.[45]

Invercargill's Tay Street and Dee Street stores were both targeted by an armed man on one evening in November 2015.[46]

A man visited the Invercargill Sanson Street store shortly before murdering his partner in November 2019.[47] He was sentenced to a life sentence.[48] Night 'n Day supplied Police with a USB drive of security camera footage, which later turned out to be balnk.[49]

In July 2020, a man was stabbed intervening in the robbery of a store in Invercargill's Gladstone Road.[50] The two robbers were armed with a pistol and filleting knife,[51] distressing the young store worker.[52]

In May 2014, the Mornington, Dunedin store was robbed for the fourth time in two years.[53]

A man with a machete robbed the Stoke, Nelson store on Christmas Day in 2016.[54]

In 2018, the chain reported regular crimes targeting its Auckland stores including an attempted ram-raiding. In 2020, the owner of the store on Wellington's Cuba Street said he was dealing with shop-lifting on a daily basis.[55]

Police were called to the flagship store on Dunedin's Regent Street four times on St Patrick's Night 2021.[56]