Even if the train and toilets do have real pulling power, this decision will still harm local businesses at that time of the year when they can expect to do well.
The Warehouse obviously believes there is money to be made in Kawakawa over the summer, and that money can only be made at the expense of those who keep their doors open every day of the year, rain, hail and shine, the people who pay rates and wages, who support the community in all sorts of ways, from sponsoring children's sports teams to staging the Halloween Trail.
And most importantly just by being there when they are needed.
To its credit, The Warehouse has reportedly listened to local concerns and requests regarding what it will and will not stock.
The plan seems to be that only goods that are not available from local retailers will be offered. That remains to be seen.
The decision is further open to question given that The Warehouse already has permanent stores in Waipapa and Kaikohe; adding a temporary outlet in Kawakawa really does seem like a case of making as much hay as possible while the sun shines, and that can only be done at the expense of local retailers.
Whatever concessions are made to avoid competing directly against local retailers, it is hardly surprising that Kawakawa's business community won't be rolling out the red carpet.
It is equally unsurprising that some prospective Warehouse customers are reportedly delighted.
That's always been the problem for small communities when it comes to co-existing with big box stores - the latters' enormous advantage in terms of purchasing power is generally welcomed by customers who, understandably, will go where the prices are lowest, and often, just as importantly, the selection is greatest.
Any appreciation of the fact that by spending their money with an out-of-town competitor they are harming the businesses they depend upon to keep their towns alive doesn't seem to last long.
Even when locally-owned businesses do manage to hold their own, as with some notable exceptions has largely been the case in Kaitaia, cheaper doesn't always represent best value for a town in its entirety.
In Kaitaia The Warehouse has a large, comprehensively stocked, brand new store, with Noel Leeming immediately adjacent.
One cannot help but wonder how many locally-owned businesses would be doing better, or could establish themselves, without that competition.
Kaitaia's issue is exacerbated by the fact that The Warehouse has built on the northern edge of the town, well outside the traditional CBD (if that is not too grand a term), just across the road from the community's only supermarket, also built brand new a few years ago, and a brand new McDonald's.
There were clearly good reasons for all three shifting there, in terms of the space available in their former locations, but that conglomeration of big businesses has not done the town's main street any favours.
The Warehouse, Pak'nSave (locally-owned) and McDonald's all have the ability to take their customers with them though.
Their mission is to maximise patronage and profits, and all have invested heavily to do so, and effectively gutting the main street has not hurt them. Nor is it likely to bother them.
It has long been recognised, in Kaitaia's case, that the drawing of customers away from Commerce Street could actually offer the local businesses there the motivation to evolve by turning the street into some sort of mall.
That is an opportunity that the business community really should be considering now.
The other advantages that small businesses often have are product knowledge and the ability to provide a level of before- and after-sale service that big box stores might not be able to match.
That opportunity has been exploited by some in Kaitaia, not so much by others, but remains one of the few effective tools the local has with which to fight big opposition.
At the end of the day it's price and product range that make the difference though, and while some customers might be able to afford to assiduously support their local businesses, most will generally shop where their money goes furthest and the choice is best.
It's worth noting though that the big box stores don't always offer especially significant discounts, if at all.
The perception that a big store will always be cheaper than a small, locally-owned one is not necessarily well-founded; it still pays to shop around, as it always has.
None of that really applies to Kawakawa's situation.
There could be few complaints if The Warehouse was planning to open there permanently, but moving in to make the most of the busy season and getting out once the bonanza is over, as one Kawakawa businessman has described it, amounts to "plundering the place."
Will it result in more empty shops? Quite possibly.
It is difficult not to believe that at least some of the empty premises that are now sprinkled around Kaitaia's main street would still be open if it wasn't for big box opposition.
And how many of those empty shops would have found new tenants if prospective retailers had not come to the conclusion that they would not be able to compete against the opposition that decimated the previous operators' customer bases?
For example, it's unlikely that Kaitaia will ever be home to a locally-owned shoe shop again.
There used to be a couple of them, the last one standing calling it quits years ago after The Warehouse unveiled a container load or two of school shoes, costing it the one profitable week or two of the year that had enabled it to survive.
New Zealand's small towns might not have suffered to the same extent that some of its US counterparts have at the hands of Walmart, which in many cases dominates small business communities to the point where locally-owned enterprises have been driven to extinction, but there is no doubt that the sometimes cheaper prices, and perhaps more importantly greater choices, that big box stores are offering in this country have done more harm than good to many communities.
That has to be balanced against the fact that however loyal some customers might wish to be, the ability to acquire goods that would otherwise be beyond their means has real value to them, and arguably to their communities.
It's worth remembering though that short-term price and long-term value are not necessarily the same thing, and that as good as the shopping might be, not every purchase represents a bargain.
