Countdown out, Kmart in to half-hectare Sylvia Park store

Kmart will open a huge, new half-hectare store at Auckland mega-mall Sylvia Park in the Countdown area, after the supermarket chain said it would close because the location has proved inconvenient for shoppers.

Linda Trainer, general manager of Kiwi Property, which owns the Mt Wellington centre, said a 5000sq m space previously occupied by Countdown at the southern end of the property had been leased to Kmart.

A new store would open next year.

Ben Smith, Kmart's property head of the department stores division, said that would be seventh store in Auckland and the first opened in this city in more than 10 years.

"This continues our expansion in New Zealand. This financial year, we have announced four new locations across New Zealand," Smith said.

Kmart is at Albany, Henderson, St Lukes, Manukau, Botany and Papatoetoe.

Progressive said it was closing Countdown Sylvia Park because the store was not in the right location for convenience-driven shoppers.

A Kiwi spokesperson said: "Countdown left Sylvia Park on April 22, just over five months ago. Since that time we have been undertaking preparatory works to the site in readiness for Kmart's occupation."

Sylvia Park's expansion, the redevelopment of Westfield Newmarket and Commercial Bay's shopping centre in the CBD are defying the online shopping rise, with the three retail centres expanding to the tune of almost $2 billion.

By June, Kiwi Property had the form work structure up for the $223m Sylvia Park expansion, creating a new upper-level galleria for an 8100sq m Farmers, expanding car-parking to 5000 spaces and almost finishing a new 10-level, $80m office tower for 1000 people. That expanded shopping centre opens in 2020 as Sylvia Park "pops the roof" to move upstairs with its pedestrian-style main-street format mall which is almost 1km long.

At Newmarket, Scentre Group is spending nearly $800m, demolishing most of the buildings on two blocks at its 277 Westfield to create 7.3ha of indoor floor space. The project will bring Auckland's first David Jones, 230 speciality stores, a new Farmers, Countdown, cinemas and 2800 new carparks, all linked via a two-level air bridge over Mortimer Pass. That opens later next year.