The man who introduced retail deep-discounting into New Zealand has died. Albert Gubay founded the 3 Guys chain which ushered into New Zealand the era of competitive grocery retailing. Mr Gubay who has died at the age of 87 arrived in New Zealand at the cusp of the 1960s/70s, seemingly to retire.He got bored doing nothing, he said, and so devoted himself instead to his grocery chain which at one stage reached a 30 percent share.The 3 Guys chain Mr Gubay said was named after relatives in New Zealand and who had persuaded him to start the venture. In the event it was Mr Gubay’s name that became associated with the chain. He became the first multiples operator to intertwine his own persona with that of his chain.Sports star- voltage publicity surrounded Mr Gubay whose aura was also intertwined with that other ingredient of folk hero magic – great wealth.At one stage it was announced that Mr Gubay had been kidnapped. It was never spelled out if he had been abducted, or if it was just a stunt gone wrong.By the time his 3 Guys hit its straps Mr Gubay was already a tycoon through the sale in Great Britain of his Kwik Save chain.At this time in New Zealand the grocery chains here were dominated by two families, the McKenzies and the Sutherlands . The families had retired to philanthropy and the chains were now run by professional management.Then the modus operandi was centred on Friday night shopping preceded by barrages of evening newspaper advertising on the Wednesday and Thursday prior.Mr Gubay though did not rely on advertising but on free publicity from broadcasting. He seemed genuinely surprised by the amount of personal publicity that he attracted here. But he quickly channelled it into boosting his stores.Albert Gubay was born at Rhyl in North Wales on Apr 9 1928, the son of an Iraqi Jewish father who had migrated from Baghdad, and an Irish Catholic mother.After service in the Royal Navy, he started selling non-sugar sweets while sugar was still rationed and later seaside rock and other confectionery, from the back of a van and on market stalls.He opened the first of his Kwik Save stores at Colwyn Bay in 1965. It was floated on the stock market in 1970 with Mr Gubay retaining 45 per cent. Four years later he took the format to Ireland, where he eventually sold out to Tesco.In later years and back in the UK he applied his deep discount formula to gyms and operated the Total Fitness group.Eventually he too dedicated himself to philanthropy, notably in the Isle of Man where he now lived, and in his native North Wales

From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk