New store lifts Kathmandu's Newmarket profile

File photo / Natalie Slade

Outdoor retailer Kathmandu is preparing to move into a large, multi-level site in Auckland's Newmarket that has been vacant since teenage outfitter Supre moved out at the start of this year.

Chief executive Peter Halkett said the 1291sq m Broadway site, near the Rialto shopping centre, would become one of the NZX-listed firm's biggest stores in New Zealand.

The company plans to set up shop in time for a pre-Christmas opening.

Christchurch-based Kathmandu reported a 24.5 per cent lift in full-year consolidated sales to $306 million this week, while pre-tax earnings for the period were expected to be up by as much as 36 per cent.

Halkett said Kathmandu had spent years looking for a "more prime" Newmarket site than its present one upstairs near Broadway's intersection with Remuera Rd.

"It [the former Supre site] became available so we grabbed it," he said. "We want good space, good visibility - down by the footpath rather than upstairs."

A Supre spokesman said in February that the company had closed its Broadway store for "dozens of reasons" - the main one being a dispute over the rent.

"We're obviously happy [with the rent], otherwise we wouldn't have signed up," said Halkett, adding that the company did not usually disclose the amount it paid to lease sites.

The original Newmarket site will be kept open as an outlet store.