Powerco building in new lease of life

Furniture Zone is to set up shop in the old Powerco building.

A retail presence is returning to one of Wanganui's busiest inner-city intersections.

Local businessman Peter Huijs is opening a furniture store on the ground floor of the former Powerco building on the corner of Guyton St and St Hill St. Mr Huijs, owner of Ginza Bargains, is opening a branch of Furniture Zone on the site.

The Furniture Zone franchise has branches around the country and manufactures, distributes and retails furniture.

The Wanganui store will also bring Wanganui Bedding Specialists under its roof, relocating that outlet from its site at 222 Victoria Ave.

Mr Huijs said he had signed a lease for the ground floor of the old Powerco building and would take it over later this month and plans to open the new store in November.

He said the lease was "open-ended" at this stage.

"The building's owner is still contemplating his options for the future but, hopefully, we're there for the long haul.

"It's a most beautiful building and it's very structurally sound. We're really excited about moving in there."

The building was opened in 1957 as headquarters for the then Wanganui-Rangitikei Electric-Power Board, and is recognised as one of the most significant buildings of that era in the city. In 1990, the board became Midwestern Powerco and the name was changed again in 1993, when Powerco was formed. A retail outlet operated from the ground floor until August 1999.

Opus International Consultants now occupies the upper floors of the building and Winz occupied the ground floor before it moved out last year.

Mr Huijs operates a Furniture Zone outlet in Palmerston North and the Wanganui opening would give the brand two stores in the lower North Island "but we have plans to grow".

The Ginza Bargains store in Maria Pl extension will stay where it is and he will use existing staff in the new store. However, he said, there was potential to increase staff numbers later on.

He had been looking around for some time for a suitable location but getting buildings of a suitable size in Wanganui and for a reasonable rental was "not easy".

Mr Huijs' business interests have picked up in another area of the city, too, with his decision to buy the old BNZ building in the Bridge Block currently tenanted by Element Cafe and Restaurant.

"The purchase brings to an end a lot of unsettlement for the cafe owners, because the future ownership of the old bank building was uncertain.

"And I'm happy that its ownership stays local."

Mr Huijs said the retail space in the front of the building, which had been home to Poppy's Bookshop, would be tenanted short-term by the Christmas Heirloom Company.