While I'm impressed by the strong following HLG has with ST advocates and appreciate HLG dividend yield is attractive for some, I personally don't invest unless unless I can see a trend of strong growth ahead for at least 5 yrs ( i.e. above average NZX top 50 growth.)
Articles like this which report on the closure of 15% of Macey's US stores and a Credit Suisse prediction that in 2017 there will be 8,600 store closures in the US versus 2,056 in 2016, make me think that retail in NZ will at some stage be caught by these US trends. Mr Market seems to be agreeing with this sentiment at the moment.
(Disc; not a HLG or WHS holder, nor likely to be anytime soon)