It was a New Zealand literature specialist and general titles publisher, releasing over 100 titles a year including a number of significant New Zealand authors such as Barry Crump, Janet Frame and Witi Ihimaera.
The Reed firm was founded in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1907 by Alfred Hamish Reed and his wife Isabel as a mail-order Sunday school supply business that became called Sunday School Supply Stores.
[4] Also in 1932 the firm expanded into publishing, an activity that grew quickly, taking advantage of the shortage of imported books during World War II.
[12][13] In 2006 it won the Thorpe Bowker Award for Outstanding Achievement in New Zealand Book Publishing.
Reed began producing records "to support the company's Maori language, physical education and folk-dancing school texts".
This division of Reed became known as "Kiwi Pacific Records International Limited" and is no longer part of the former company.