Stores vacant but retail 'feeling good'

Fashion store Supre has vacated Newmarket's Broadway. Also gone are Cue and Diesel. Photo / Richard Robinson

The Rialto precinct in Newmarket is looking even more gloomy in the wake of Supre's departure from the shopping strip with Cue also closing its doors.

But despite the empty windows, business in Newmarket is doing much better than a year ago, a local body says.

Fashion stores such as Cue and Supre have not renewed their lease agreements and those stores do not yet have new tenants.

Newmarket Business Association head Ashley Church said there are fewer empty shops in Newmarket now than there were 12 - 18 months ago.

Church said the feeling in Newmarket was better than it had been in months, and while shops such as Bendon and Freedom Furniture were offering competitive bargains, those deals were being offered around the country.

"Retailing is absolutely tough in New Zealand [at the moment]. This is not unique to Newmarket. It would be naive to say that Newmarket was suffering more. We are not different to the rest of New Zealand. I would not want to give that impression."

Church said those stores were vacant because the building's landlord was asking "unrealistic demands" for today's market.

Church, who represented 1800 businesses both in retail and hospitality along Broadway, on to Remuera Rd and Great South Rd, said the general attitude is that 2011 is going to be better than 2010.

"We are holding our own. Anecdotally businesses are saying they're having the best months they have had in recent years. We are focused on filling those [empty] stores."

He said the landlords were charging too much and when competitive rates were reached those shops would fill up.

New Zealand Retailers Association spokesperson Russell Sinclair said greater competition and the growing popularity of suburban malls was drawing traffic away from centrally-based high streets such as Newmarket.

"People today have so many options and with free parking, it's easier [for the consumer] in today's market. We need to consider what draws consumers together," Sinclair said.

"Whether Newmarket is meeting the requirements consumers need, is a question that needs to be asked."

This story has been corrected from a previous version that included an incorrect reference to a Diesel store.