The 86-year-old Hill opened his first store in Whangārei in 1979 at 40, after spending nearly two decades working in his uncle’s jewellery store.
The chain now has 291 stores in New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
In 2019, Sir Michael told news.com.au he had big dreams of becoming a classical concert violinist, but as he explains, it “didn’t really work out”.
“My parents and uncle demanded I give up this folly and get a real job.”
He began working as a watchmaker before turning to sales.
Hill even met his future wife Christine Roe in the store.
In 2023, Hill told the Herald the inspiration started after a fire in which he and his wife lost everything.
“And as it burned down, I grabbed a card out of my pocket and wrote down, ‘I’m gonna own my uncle’s business, or I’m going to leave him and start alone’”, he told Paula Bennett’s NZ Herald podcast Ask Me Anything.
“That happened on that night. I had no money. I had nothing but what I stood in. And here’s me suddenly making a plan.”
In 2016, the company listed shares on the ASX, in addition to the listing on the NZX.
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