The company was originally the J. B. Clarkson bicycle importing firm in Palmerston North. which the Gibbons family took a 50% share in 1905, and then full ownership in 1921 renaming the company Hope Gibbons Ltd. The company was owned and run by the Gibbons family through until it closed in 1997.
Hope Gibbons also ganied a controlling share in the Colonial Motor Group in 1917, which operates to this day and at the time of writing was still largely in the hands of the Gibbons family.
Te Ara has a biography of Hope Gibbons written by Diana Beaglehole here: https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3g5/gibbons-hopeful
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