Organic grocer Huckleberry in liquidation, three Auckland stores to close, up to 35 staff affected

Organic grocer Huckleberry, which has three stores in Auckland, is in liquidation.

The company behind organics grocery chain Huckleberry is in liquidation with three food stores in Auckland and approximately 35 staff affected.

The Herald has been told the three stores – Huckleberry New Lynn, Huckleberry Glen Innes and Harvest by Huckleberry in Grey Lynn – will close over the long weekend while liquidators prepare for a stock sale next week.

A process to sell the business will then follow.

Huckleberry director Darren Guo told the Herald he and his business partner had exhausted all options around obtaining additional capital before making the difficult decision to appoint liquidators.

“It’s been a really tough day. It’s heartbreaking,” Guo said.

“We had this vision to revitalise this long-standing business … and it’s very disappointing that it has come to this.”

Liquidators Steven Khov and Kieran Jones of Khov Jones were appointed to Huckleberry 2021 Limited today.

Khov said poor trading conditions combined with the aftermath of Covid-19 and the current poor economy had led to the liquidation.

BNZ is the first ranking secured creditor but it is unknown at this stage how much Huckleberry owes.

“There will be a lot of creditors, and of those quite a lot of suppliers that are small businesses,” Khov said.

“If creditors are unsure of their position, then they should get legal advice.”

Established in the early 1990s, Huckleberry evolved from a single specialty organic food store to a health and wellness business dedicated to helping Kiwis make “positive, healthful and sustainable lifestyle choices”.

Guo and business partner Mat Hughes invested in the supermarket brand in late 2021, at which point the company was racking up losses of about $120,000 per month.

Harvest by Huckleberry in Grey Lynn will close over the long weekend while liquidators prepare for a stock sale next week. Photo / NZME

In 2022, Huckleberry partnered with Woolworths in a wholesale agreement to offer a wider selection of goods at lower prices to its New Zealand customers.

The deal followed a Commerce Commission investigation into the grocery sector, with recommendations for the big two supermarket chains to sell wholesale goods to smaller competitors.

Guo said high interest rates, inflation and the cost of living crisis were a perfect storm for the business.

“For us, despite our best efforts, 2024 has been very rough in terms of trading. Coming off the back of the cost of living crisis from last year, we have rising interest rates, inflation and every time we’ve seen interest rates bump up we’ve almost seen a linear correlation to demand decreasing in Huckleberry. When times are tough people may not be able to afford organic or premium groceries,” he said.

“We were very optimistic and firmly believed in the potential for a successful turnaround, especially after seeing positive results in July and December last year. January we saw a big decrease in demand, we thought it was seasonality and we were holding out hope that trading would get better. Unfortunately, it just didn’t recover.”

Khov said the current economy was probably the final straw for Huckleberry, with people simply not spending as much.

“And when you operate in a very niche market in terms of organic and natural wholefoods, that would be classified as a luxury spend.

“We will keep trading today and we will likely close over the weekend and then run a sale next week.”

He said there were about 25-35 staff employed by the group.

Duncan Bridgeman is managing editor of NZME Business, which includes the Business Herald and BusinessDesk.