The Warehouse Group to close 28-year-old Milford store on Auckland’s North Shore

Come April, the popular Milford store won't be trading anymore and locals are upset. Photo / Stephen Parker

New Zealand’s biggest retailer is closing a popular North Shore store it has traded from for 28 years, saying it had no choice in the matter because it was unable to renew its lease.

Jonathan Waecker, The Warehouse chief customer and sales officer, today confirmed the worst for an upset local community that the big store would not continue at Milford.

“Recently, we’ve been in discussions with the landlord of our The Warehouse Milford store looking to negotiate a new lease for when our existing agreement ends in April 2024,” Waecker said.

The mall from which The Warehouse Milford trades is owned by Mark Gunton’s NZ Retail Property Group, which also owns the popular Westgate where giant American retailer Costco Wholesale has traded from since last year.

NZ Retail Property Group built new $150 million apartments beside the mall: Omana North has 42 luxury units, which sold for $2m to $3m each in the affluent suburb.

Comment has been sought from NZ Retail Property Group.

Waecker explained what had happened.

“Unfortunately, and despite ongoing negotiations, the landlord has decided not to grant us a new lease due to other plans for the space. This means we now need to propose closing our doors in line with the lease-end in April,” Waecker said.

“We’ve loved serving the Milford community over the last 28 years and are extremely disappointed to find ourselves in this situation.

A view from the Omana North apartments in Milford, developed beside the mall owned by NZ Retail Property Group. Photo / Michael Craig

“Our number one priority now is to provide our store teams with any support they need as we work through this process, and this includes considering all redeployment options available as needed,” he said.

Milford locals expressed great concern.

“That would be a big loss to the community,” one said.

Another hoped it was not true, saying she shopped there often.

“Goes from bad to worse in Auckland,” said another.

The Warehouse now features fresh produce at select stores around the country.

Speculation from some was that a big gym would shift into the popular space, which is an anchor tenant within the mall with basement parking.

Locals also recalled the loss of the Birkenhead store at Highbury, which shut before Covid, and worried the Glenfield store might shut too. But there was no truth to speculation Glenfield would shut, a spokeswoman said.

There would be no change to The Warehouse Glenfield, she said.

The Warehouse store in Milford was damaged in a big fire in 2007 and was closed for some time while repairs were made.

The Warehouse Birkenhead was shut three years ago and around 40 jobs were affected.

Many people in the area were shopping at the nearby Glenfield store - which includes a Warehouse Stationery store - just a few minutes away, or at its flagship store in Albany, the company stated in 2020.

It was also reported during the winter that The Warehouse was looking to close three Christchurch stores.

Margins at most of The Warehouse Group’s brands are being crushed under the weight of inflation, but its poor management of costs puts it at the bottom of the retail ranks, according to analysts.

The group owns The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, Noel Leeming and Torpedo7. It reported a 65.6 per cent drop in annual profit to $29.9m, the Herald reported in September.

That’s despite sales rising 3.2 per cent to $3.4 billion in the year to the end of July this year.

“It’s slightly worse than I was expecting,” Craigs Investment Partners equity research analyst Kieran Carling told the Herald at the time.

“They’re at the bottom in my preference for retail stocks. I think they’re making some mistakes.”

Carling pointed to Torpedo7 as “a real pain point” for the group.

The outdoor gear brand made an operating loss of $22.2m in the year ended July, with margins contracting by 13.7 per cent - The Warehouse Group’s worst-performing brand.

Chief executive Nick Grayston said the Torpedo7 brand was facing “a number of different issues”, including with costs and a drop in demand as consumers cut back on buying leisure items like bikes and snow gear.

Shares in The Warehouse Group are trading at $1.78, down 40 per cent annually.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.