"Few family businesses survive for over one hundred and forty years with four generations of family ownership. The Lewis Eady story is the survival saga of a business involved in a very product-specific retail sector - the musical instrument industry. During its lifetime it has endured two world wars, the Depression of the early 1930s, a perpetual cycle of economic fluctuations and crises, changing government policies, variable interest rates and inflation, a multitude of dynamic social and cultural influences, and advances in technology. Lewis Eadys faced fierce competition in the music instrument marketplace, particularly from four other rivalrous Eady family-owned music businesses. The story begins with the factors that influenced the family to emigrate to New Zealand, describes how Lewis Eady became involved in the early music retail and entertainment scene in Auckland and the ways in which the company developed its ability to adapt in order to survive to the present time. Material gathered from newspaper articles and reports, media articles, census records, oral history accounts and family archives has informed the story. The companys own archives have ensured it is an accurate chronological account set in its environmental contexts over time. Some key historical events have been integrated into the story as points of reference and interest for the reader. The Lewis Eady name has become synonymous with the history of music and entertainment in New Zealand and remains so today."--Back cover.