16 Sep 2025
Family shoe business selling up after 140 years
After more than 140 years of making traditionally-crafted leather footware, the McKinlay family is looking for someone else to step into their hard-wearing shoes. The Dunedin-based business produces between 130 to 160 pairs each day, everything from roman sandals for the playground, to boots for the battlefield for Peter Jackson's film The Hobbit. Its fifth generation owners David and Graeme have put up a for sale sign and they're prepared to search high and low for the right fit to take over the family legacy. Graeme McKinlay spoke to Lisa Owen.