Pool, Max

Allen Max (Max) Pool was born in Tākaka on 1 January 1920, to parents John and Elizabeth (nee Smith). Soon afterwards, the family moved to Masterton, and it was there that Max grew up, attending Lansdowne School.

In the late 1930s, he moved to Taranaki and managed a drapery store in Hawera for a few years. Around the same time, his parents moved to New Plymouth and opened a store there.

In 1941, Max married Eileen Alldridge. The couple would go on to have three children. Max enlisted for service in World War Two in 1942, joining the New Zealand Medical Corps, and embarking, as part of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, the same year.
On his return to New Plymouth, he began working with his father in what was, by then, John’s new store. It was the beginning of one of the more significant retail stories in New Plymouth’s history.

In 1941, John, had bought the building at 18 Ariki Street. There, he started a new business, calling it ‘Army Stores’.

In the years after World War Two, John and Max did particularly well by importing and selling army clothing from the United States. For many years, into the 1960s, army-style clothing was a very common sight on the streets of New Plymouth.
Max eventually took over the business from his father and he became a respected New Plymouth retailer.

In his youth, Max was a talented sportsman. Before the war, he played cricket for Wairarapa and association football to Wairarapa B level. In New Plymouth, he played cricket for the New Plymouth Old Boys’ club, and Taranaki.

Eileen Pool died in 1992. Max, a colourful character in his older years, died on 12 January 2004.

Books

The Honours Board, by Brian Beer. Page 132, et al.