From the Counter to the Keys: Sarang Gupta of Mister Minit Centre Place Joins NZ Business Connect

In 1957, Donald Hillsdon Ryan noticed that Brussels' cobblestone streets were destroying the stiletto heels fashionable at the time, and that a traditional cobbler took around ten days to fix them. He opened a small heel bar inside a Brussels department store and repaired heels while customers waited. Nearly seventy years later, that same promise, expert repairs done properly while you wait, is what brings customers through the door of Mister Minit at Centre Place Mall in Hamilton's CBD, run by owner-operator Sarang Gupta through his company Abhoya Limited.

Mister Minit has grown from that single Brussels heel bar into a global brand with more than 200 stores across Australia and New Zealand and around 1,100 across Europe. For Sarang, the connection to the brand began in 2018, when he joined as a team member in Nelson. He arrived in New Zealand with an MBA in Marketing, a background in Chemical Engineering and a career in sales management, business development and logistics behind him, and started learning the trade from the counter up. After moving to Hamilton and working across a series of roles, he took on the Centre Place franchise himself in October 2023.

"I like fixing things, an engineering habit that never left me. There is a particular satisfaction in a customer walking in frustrated with a broken zip, a dead watch or a snapped heel, and walking out ten minutes later with the problem solved," said Sarang.

The Centre Place store offers four trades under one roof: shoe repair and leather care, key cutting and duplication including transponder car keys, watch battery and strap service, and engraving and personalisation on metal, glass, wood and acrylic. The store also carries a national reputation in sharpening for hospitality and household blades. Most jobs are completed on site while the customer waits, usually within five to twenty minutes.

"There are fewer and fewer places where you can watch someone actually make or mend something in front of you. We cut, stitch, program and engrave on site, in minutes," said Sarang.

As a new member of NZ Business Connect, Mister Minit Centre Place is looking to build stronger local trade relationships and grow its profile within Hamilton's business community.

NZ Business Connect Founder Phillip Quay said Sarang's journey from the counter to franchise ownership reflects exactly the kind of story the organisation loves to champion.

"Sarang's story is a great one. He started as a team member and worked his way up to owning one of the top franchises in the Mister Minit network across four countries, and he still stands behind the counter himself every day. That kind of hands-on ownership and accountability is exactly what we love seeing in our members," said Phillip.

Since taking on the franchise, Sarang has built a strong track record within the Mister Minit network, including back-to-back wins in the brand's State of Origin competition in 2020 and 2021, a placing in the network's 2023 Masters Club among the top 20 franchises out of more than 400 across New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia, and a national runner-up placing for comparable sales in Sharpening in 2025.

"To be placed in the top 20 out of more than 400 franchises puts the store in roughly the top five per cent of the network internationally, and it happened in the same year I took on the franchise," said Sarang.

Mister Minit Centre Place serves a broad customer base including CBD workers and shoppers, homeowners and property managers, motorists, gift and occasion buyers, and local trade and business accounts. Sarang is also active in the Waikato community, volunteering with the Waikato Marathi Association Incorporated and serving customers in English, Marathi and Hindi.

Looking ahead, Sarang aims to grow trade accounts across hospitality, property management and schools, build toward a second trained technician at Centre Place, and ultimately operate more than one Mister Minit site across the Waikato.

Through its membership with NZ Business Connect, Mister Minit Centre Place hopes to build new trade relationships and connect with fellow members across the region.

To connect with Mister Minit Centre Place:

Store: Mister Minit, Centre Place Mall, Victoria Street, Hamilton Central
Phone: 07 839 3807
National website: misterminit.co

Media Contact:

Phillip Quay
Founder, NZ Business Connect
027 458 7724
info@nzbusinessconnect.co.nz