Crackerjack Whanganui opening pushed back by a month at least

CrackerJack chief executive Craig Faulker said the ongoing lockdown in Auckland has delayed the stores opening for at least a month. Photo / Logan Tutty

The opening of Crackerjack's Whanganui store has been delayed by at least a month due to the ongoing lockdown in Auckland.

The store was expected to open by this weekend after Crackerjack announced it would be opening a Whanganui site in August.

Just days after the announcement, the country went into an alert level 4 lockdown.

Chief executive Craig Faulkner said stock and equipment for the store is expected to be here in the coming days.

A small team made up of workers from Hastings and Palmerston North have been working to get the store prepared as Faulkner and his team in Auckland have been stuck in lockdown.

He said he has secured a travel exemption to leave Auckland and is hoping to be in Whanganui during the next week to keep the ball rolling.

"I'll be there right through until opening. We aren't exactly sure when it will be as we can only get limited resources out of Auckland. It's looking like the end of November.

"Everything that is going into the store is in Auckland, including the people setting it up. We have been trying to get border crossings for the last month but MBIE (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) has been hard to deal with."

All the contractors that will be working on the store, from flooring and painting to air conditioning, are local Whanganui contractors.

Faulkner said it had been a frustrating process trying to secure travel exemptions, and while they have had the wage subsidy to ensure they could keep all their staff, that was all it covered.

"The good news is we have been able to keep everyone nationwide in Crackerjack employed, which is fantastic."

Faulkner was confident the shop would be open by Christmas, with the end of November looking most likely.