About 70 former staff of the national chain's flagship store, now occupied by the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, met in Dunedin on Saturday for a reunion, the first in 10 years.
Joan Knudson was among them and said her 16 years working at the store were "brilliant".
In her time, she worked in the hosiery, manchester and menswear departments and believed its closure, after it was bought by Arthur Barnett in the 1980s, changed the cityscape.
"It should never, ever, have closed because once it closed, other shops closed around it. It killed the whole area," she said.
Reunion organiser Brenda Ashwell described the store as "legendary".
At three storeys, it was the "biggest in Dunedin for a few years", had the city's first escalator, and it was the home of Pixie Town.
"You could get everything in there that you needed.
"It was just such a great place to work and we were all friends and family. A lot of us still stay in touch," she said.
She believed the shopping experience had changed since the store's time, and "quality" and attention to detail were missing.
