King of Knives does the right thing and puts staff safety first

The Christchurch earthquake, of 22 February 2011, was recorded as the most destructive earthquake in New Zealand’s history. The disaster left thousands of families and individuals homeless with a death toll of 182.

The tragic event had affected many retail businesses including King of Knives . The Palms Shopping Centre in Shirley, Christchurch had suffered detrimental damage with many shops remained closed in order for repairs to take place.

“In fact, it was closed for over six and half months”, says King of Knives CEO, Ron Baskin.

“The immediate concern was to ensure that all our staff in Christchurch, where King of Knives have 3 stores, were safe. Having confirmed that, the next step was to allow them time, where necessary, to deal with their personal problems.”

Many retail franchises were unable to open their stores due to the damage to their buildings. The Palms shopping Centre had columns shaken, tiles dislodged, plaster and paint dislodged and travelators needing major repairs.

“All of them had been affected, to greater or lesser extent, by the earthquake. There are some things that transcend the business imperative, and this definitely qualified as one of those, as did the flooding in Queensland,” said Baskin.

Two of the three King of Knives stores were able to open, but the Palms shopping Centre franchisee had to remain closed.

“We decided that our first priority must be to our staff. King of Knives is a people business. Our franchisees, staff and customers are our priority,” said Baskin.

“This made the decision to retain and continue to pay our staff over the period in which The Palms was closed, an easy one. Not only this, but King of Knives donated part of all their sales in their New Zealand stores, to the Earthquake fund”.

King of Knives promotes a people oriented approach to their business and is one of the key features that define their retail franchisees.  King of Knives franchises stands by doing the right thing by all stakeholders, conducting business competitively while compassionately encouraging the right balance.

For more information on the King of Knives retail franchises, call their contacts, visit their website or give them an e-mail.