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W S Hickey & Son Ltd

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W. S. Hickey & Son Ltd has been operating for over fifty years in Omakau as private wool buyers and merchants. Wool buyers purchase the wool off farmers and either sells to established markets within New Zealand or exports the wool overseas, occasionally with the assistance of an agent, to be processed and turned into a useable end product.

W.S. Hickey & Son Ltd. specialises in shed clean outs, pricing main clips and marketing sellable lines; buying all wool form 14 to 40 microns. They also buy dags, cattle hides and alpaca fibre. Servicing the whole Central Otago area, W.S. Hickey & Son Ltd. have become well known and respected for their no-nonsense, fair trading.

‘Honest’ Bill Hickey started back in 1956 and ran the business out of an old garage. His son, ‘Nearly Honest’ Brent, took over the business and moved it into a larger commercial building as the business continued to expand. A more recent move has been required for further space. Today Brent’s son, Hayden Hickey, also works for the company.

In the early 1960’s and 1970’s, Hickey says 90% of the farmers sent their main lines of wool through stock firms. Since taking over the business from his father in the 1980’s, Hickey has offered the farmers a competitive and efficient alternative by encouraging his client to sell through him.

In moving with the times, Hickey’s sell most of their wool through Wool Connextions who have set up an online trading system.  Wool is sold by online tender, auction or buy now, similar to trade me.  The system provides competitive prices with very low overheads.