New-look store leads Queen St changes

The familiar face of Dick Smith doesn't feature on the new Queen St store. Photo / Dean Purcell

The face of Auckland's Queen St is changing after Dick Smith Electronics this week opened the first of its new- format stores.

The 366sq m high-tech store takes up the ground floor of 21 Queen St. The large office block has had a $70 million upgrade and refurbishment.

And soon a string of luxury shops will open nearby on the ground floor of the new $200 million building at 80 Queen St.

Australia's True Alliance will have several shops below the tower selling goods from global brands such as Lacoste, Ben Sherman, Rockport, North Face, Reebok and Speedo.

New Zealand general manager James Cunnold said Dick Smith's new store differed from its forerunners.

He said the Queen St store was slicker, more streamlined and had many interactive features so customers could touch, feel and test the products. Gone from the shop's signs is the familiar bespectacled face of Dick Smith himself.

The store has been branded "Dick Smith - Talk to the Techxperts".

Nathan Male, a director of leasing specialists Metro Commercial, said he had negotiated the lease between Dick Smith and the building's owner, AMP NZ Office Trust. "This is probably the single largest retail leasing deal in Queen St in the last decade."

He said Queen St was changing and retailers were gradually moving towards the waterfront end of the stretch.

Last year, Louis Vuitton and Gucci moved into refurbished stores in the Imperial Building at 44-56 Queen St near Queen Elizabeth II Square.

Dick Smith, a trading division of Australian-headquartered Woolworths, has 70 New Zealand stores employing 1100 people and has been operating here for 30 years.