Inside the retailer's new distribution centre in Auckland. Photo / Cotton On
Inside the retailer's new distribution centre in Auckland. Photo / Cotton On
Australian-founded global retailer Cotton On is opening a new 1.7ha business and distribution hub for New Zealand after leasing the building from NZX-listed Goodman Property Trust at its new $250 million Roma Road logistics hub.
A Cotton On spokeswoman said the new base at Puketāpapa Mt Roskill wouldbring distribution and support operations in this country on to one site.
Retailer left offices at Takapuna and a distribution centre near the airport for the new Goodman Property Trust site at Puketepapa Mt Roskill. Photo / Cotton On
Michael Hardwick, chief financial officer and a board member, is here from Geelong, Australia, for the opening and said Cotton On had left Smales Farm at Takapuna where it had offices and a 1.2ha Māngere distribution centre to consolidate in the new premises.
The official opening is tomorrow but all operations began from the new hub on Monday, he said. The retail business has a 15-year lease on the premises.
Cotton On opened in this country in 2006 and now has more than 100 stores including Cotton On Kids, Cotton On Body and Typo.
Around 1000 staff work for the business in New Zealand, the spokeswoman in Geelong said.
James Spence (left) and Mike Gimblett in one of the new warehouses at Goodman Property Trust's new Roma Rd development in April when the Herald visited. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Hardwick said Cotton On had opened new distribution centres in the last two years in Australia, South Africa, Singapore, the United States, the United Kingdom and now here.
Around 2m items of clothing in 26,000 different styles were in the new Auckland distribution centre, he said.
Inside the retailer's new distribution centre in Auckland. Photo / Cotton On
Four new buildings at Goodman’s new Puketāpapa Mt Roskill estate are:
60 Roma Rd: Warehouse of 3855sq m for lease, with completion later this year. Designed by Jonathan Walker Architects. It has a 450sq m office on two levels and 515sq m of exterior canopy for loading undercover, along with an 886sq m yard and 28 car parks;
61 Roma Rd: 4000sq m warehouse for lighting specialists Signify, designed by Jonathan Walker Architects;
62 Roma Rd: 17,300sq m warehouse for Cotton On, designed by Williams Architects, completed and built by Aspec Construction;
63 Roma Rd: 17,700sq m warehouse as a parcel processing facility for New Zealand Post, designed by Williams Architects. Goodman has a 20-year lease in place, building and offices completed.
James Spence, Goodman Property Trust chief executive, said on a tour in April that all four warehouses have internal stud heights above a soaring 16m, enabling tall racking systems for maximum efficiencies.
The fourth warehouse at Goodman Property Trust's Roma Rd estate. Photo / Jason Oxenham
“It’s all about getting more out of your footprint and making it much more economical and at a location so close to the motorway,” Spence said.
Some tenants left warehouses of only 4000sq m to 5000sq m for the much larger footprint buildings the trust was offering, he said. That made a huge difference to their business.
Foodstuffs operated its headquarters from Roma Rd for many decades but left to move into New Zealand’s biggest new building with a 7.7ha warehouse, equivalent to eight rugby fields, at Māngere’s The Landings.
The Cotton On spokeswoman said the new hub had a gym, kitchen, large collaborative dining and breakout area and outdoor BBQ space for team functions.
Kerry Ashford, Cotton On New Zealand country manager, said the new base features included advanced lighting and cooling systems, an in-house embroidery centre, docks with ergonomic boom gates to support the handling of inbound and outbound shipments and stock management processes to underpin efficiency and stock integrity.
