Episode Forty : Kilwell - Tails of 90 years in business

Reel Tails with Sweens - Podcast By Dwayne Sweeney

Episode Forty :

This episode I had the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with Amanda, Geoff and Jeremy Wells. Two of the three generations that have owned and operated Kilwell Sports.

Kilwell Sports that started out as Rotorua Sports 90 years ago by Jeremy’s late father John has grown into one of New Zealand’s most iconic distributors of Fishing, Hunting and Outdoors goods.

As you will hear in this podcast it’s not only the sporting goods where the Kilwell brand has become recognisable both here in New Zealand and round the world.

As you can imagine with 90 years of business there are many Tails to share,

From Jeremy moving to USA in the late 1960’s living off $19 a day and learning to produce fishing rod blanks, to Geoff becoming a New Zealand trap shooting champion and being fortunate enough to learn off the best to ever do it.

We also discuss Amanda never really having a passion for the outdoors but is now one of the key figures in one of New Zealand’s biggest outdoors distributors, the lasting impact the business has had on the Rotorua community and families, developing components for some of the worlds most successful businesses and so much more.

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Show Notes:

2:59 - Introductions, their journey’s into the business, the birth of Kilwell, the passion for the outdoors

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31:46 - Geoff becoming a national champion in trap shooting and being able to learn from the best to ever do it, the passion aspect of business, the importance making people feeling like they belong

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51:06 - The changes of day to day business over Jeremy’s time with the business, the loyalty and old fashioned way of business and how they still hold true to those values, the long service of staff in a very fluid modern day job market,

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58:48 - My journey of connection to the brand, the beautiful collection of antique fishing gear they have at Kilwell headquarters, Wells family Tails from Waihau Bay

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1:30:52 - The diverse range of products that have been produced in the factory over the years, the amazing companies they work with

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2:00:00 - What does the fourth generation of a family owned and operated business look like, the export vs domestic element of the business, how their outrigger market has grown

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2:08:52 - Jeremy’s adventures to Mayor Island when the fishing club was based there, the memories we hold on to and how the fishing memories seem to last longer than most

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2:17:49 - The difficulty of producing golf shafts and arrow shafts, diverse products continued

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2:27:51 - Their fishing rod industry by numbers, importance of buying paying for quality

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2:33:12 - Final thoughts