'It's a tragedy': Battling Kiwi town of Greymouth loses CBD retailer Postie

By Chris Tobin of the Greymouth Star

The heart of the Greymouth retail centre has been dealt a major blow with one of the town's biggest retailers Postie confirming today they will not be renewing the lease on their Mackay Street premises at the end of February.

After three weeks of questions from the Greymouth Star, Postie head of marketing and e-commerce Rae Langley on Wednesday confirmed the news but gave no reason for the closure.

"Following a review of the business, we have made the difficult decision not to renew the lease at our Greymouth store location. We continue to offer West Coast customers everyday low prices in Westport, Hokitika and on-line," Langley said.

Co-owner of the building, Greymouth lawyer David Carruthers, said that as landlords they were extremely disappointed by Postie's decision.

"We spent nearly $1 million refurbishing the building and making it the best possible retail space in the CBD for Postie, who went into the building in 2008.

"Five years later, when Postie found themselves in financial difficulties and were taken over by South African retail company Pepkor, to keep them in the building we reduced the rent by a third," Carruthers said.

Pepkor acquired Postie Plus from voluntary liquidation.

When notified of Postie's intention to leave Greymouth this year, Carruthers said the landlords had offered a further reduction in rent, even though it was uneconomic for the owners to do so.

"We bent over backwards but apparently the issue had nothing to do with rent because they didn't even try to negotiate over the rent. The only assumption is that the store was not working for them.

"We're now left with a 1600 square metre refurbished building with a new roof, without anyone in it."

The building was brought up to 67% of the earthquake strengthening code - well above the 34% as now required by law.

"It's a blow to central Greymouth because Postie drags people into the CBD," Carruthers said.

He expected it would be difficult to find a new tenant given that the local economy had retracted with the loss of many mining jobs.

No expressions of interest by possible tenants had been received.

"I don't know what the building will be used for; it's a tragedy for it to be empty."

Postie originated in Westport early last century and was started by the Dellaca family. In 2003, Postie Plus Group Ltd listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange, ending the family company and the family's control.

- Greymouth Star