In 1988 L.D Nathan rebranded their General Merchandise business (MaxiMart, Big City, Mark II) to DEKA, which launched with 90 stores (branded as either DEKA or DEKA-Maximart) The launch was supported with a large advertising campaign of print and TV advertising with the "I Feel Good" slogan, using the James Brown I Got You song.

Its demise was due to fierce competition from The Warehouse and continual trading losses.

They announced half-year losses of NZ$3.3m, which were accelerating, and redundancies for 468 full-time and 947 part-time employees.

These job losses were partially offset by "almost 400" new roles within Farmers stores (including the 17 rebranded DEKAs).

[3] In 2013, local residents of Huntly requested that a DEKA sign that had stood alone for more than a decade since the store's closure stay as a national icon.