Smith & Caughey's Edward Caughey (left) and Kevin Broadfoot in the department store's temporary Christmas store on Auckland's Queen St. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Smith & Caughey's Edward Caughey (left) and Kevin Broadfoot in the department store's temporary Christmas store on Auckland's Queen St. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Retail institution Smith & Caughey's has opened a dedicated Christmas shop.
The Auckland department store retailer has decked out a vacant Queen St shop, the site which formerly housed liquidated STA travel, and will have the festive shop open for just under three months through to December 24.
Smith &Caughey's, which has shops in Auckland CBD and Newmarket, is known to make a big fuss of Christmas, each year putting on its Santa's Enchanted Forest attraction that is visited by tens of thousands of Kiwis, and its coveted animated Christmas window displays.
But the standalone Christmas shop, located a few shops along from its flagship site close to the corner of Wellesley and Queen Sts, is a first for the 140-year-old business.
Edward Caughey, Smith & Caughey's merchandise and executive director, and the great, great nephew of one of the store's original founders Marianne Smith, says the shop will only sell Christmas goods such as decorations, trees and festive foods.
The decision to open a dedicated Christmas shop was made somewhat on a whim about one month ago. It has taken 10 days to fit-out and stock. Smith & Caughey's owns the building it is located in and the corner block of shops called the Civic Tavern building.
Smith & Caughey's Edward Caughey (left) and Kevin Broadfoot in the department store's temporary Christmas store on Auckland's Queen St. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
All going well, the department store would look to open a temporary Christmas store in the lead-up to the big day each year, the company's resident Christmas guru and special projects manager, Kevin Broadfoot, said.
"We've always had a Christmas shop within the department store, but as a standalone store it is the first time we have done it so it will be really interesting [to see how it performs]," Broadfoot said.
Working on the Christmas offering is a year-long feat for the retailer - it already has plans under way for the occasion next year. The last two months of the year make up an all-important trading period for retailer and a big chunk of annual earnings.
Bookings for Smith & Caughey's Santa experience, which opens on November 21, have been strong already and Caughey said he expected the Christmas shop to be just as popular.
He said the new shop was another way for the business to continue to grow its sales following a period of 70 days closed under lockdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
"It's great for Queen St as well, having something positive like this to play into the feel-good aspect of Christmas. The city centre is going through a hard time at the moment, so it's a quite nice feature and we hope it brings a bit of cheer."
Smith & Caughey's Santa's Enchanted Forest experience and festive window displays have been running for more than 15 years.
