New Mitre10 Mega Store Taking Shape

Wanaka's new Mitre 10 Mega regional store is taking shape on the eastern side of the Three Parks business centre.

The development, costing more than $25 million, is being undertaken by Allan and Martin Dippie, who own the Mitre 10 store in the town.

Comprising a 9000sqm building on a 2.8ha site, it includes a retail hall, drive-through trade yard, garden centre and cafe.

The "green" build was designed to conserve energy.

Yesterday, Martin Dippie said the outbreak of Covid-19 meant the build was about eight weeks behind and the opening date was likely to be November-December.

A lot of big projects were going on in the area and there was now a "real sense of back to business as usual", he said. The Mega store was going to be a "fantastic" store and, with such a busy time in the existing store and running out of space, he was looking forward to the opening.

The Dippies’ core business centred on home renovation and construction and they were positive about the outlook, in the wake of Covid-19.

They believed that people would be spending more time in New Zealand, shopping locally and renovating and tidying up their houses.

Globally, home improvement always went "quite well" in times of recession.

Mr Dippie felt for those businesses that had been "completely" affected, such as those in the tourism industry.

The challenge was for New Zealanders to travel domestically and for domestic tourism to substitute for international tourists until the borders re-opened, and he was positive about the suggestion of an Australian "bubble".

In the initial part of lockdown, Mitre 10 was an essential service, but that eventuated with very little sales; once it went to Alert Level 3 and online sales were possible, 70% of what it would normally do in its Dunedin store had been done online which was "unbelievable", he said.

Staff, who had been "amazing" and "absolutely flat tack", had been paid 100% throughout the period; one trade manager walked 25km on a Sunday inside the drive-through, making up trade orders for the following day.

Source: Insight DIY & New Zealand Press

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