Mitre 10
New Zealand owned, locally operated, and built on people who started on the floor.
Mitre 10 is a co-operative: every store is owned and run by local operators, which is why the person who serves you in Timaru may well have grown up in Timaru. There are more than 80 stores nationwide, from small-town hardware shops to MEGA stores the size of a rugby field.
The work spans trade and retail. On any given day the team is helping a builder price up a job, showing a first-home owner how to fix a leaking tap, running the drive-through timber yard, or managing stock worth millions. Because stores are locally owned, good people get noticed quickly.
80+
Stores nationwide
1974
Trading in NZ since
NZQA
Qualifications on the job
Career pathways
Progression is not automatic, but these are the paths people actually follow at Mitre 10. The colour deepens as the roles get more senior.
In store
The most common path, and the one most store managers came up.
- Retail assistant6–18 monthsStart here
Serving customers, stocking shelves, learning a department inside out.
- Department 2IC1–2 years
Second in charge of a department — ordering, rosters, and covering the manager.
- Department manager2–4 years
Running a whole department: stock, margin, layout and a team of your own.
- Store manager
Accountable for the whole store — the numbers, the people and the community.
- Owner-operator
Buying into the co-operative and running your own Mitre 10 store.
Trade and yard
For people who would rather be outside than on a checkout.
- Trade or yard assistantStart here
Loading timber, picking orders, driving the forklift once you are ticketed.
- Trade sales representative
Looking after builder accounts and quoting whole jobs.
- Trade manager
Running the trade side of the store and its key customer relationships.
- Operations manager
Logistics, stock flow and health and safety across the site.
See it for yourself
Clip coming soon
Mitre 10 on the floor, filmed for 7 Jobs 7 Days.
7 Jobs 7 Days spent a shift with the Mitre 10 team. No script, no stock footage — just what the job actually looks like before you apply.