Smell the Coffee – and more – Brewing at Mitre10

10 March 2011

News release

You can Smell the Coffee – and more – Brewing at Mitre10

Kiwi icons Mitre 10 and Columbus Coffee have brewed up a deal which will see Columbus coffee available in Mitre 10 Mega stores nationwide.

Mitre 10 New Zealand Limited, the central organisation supporting the country’s 164 Mitre 10 stores, today announced a strategic co-branding agreement between its Mega stores and Columbus Coffee owner Cafe Brands Limited.

David Elliott, General Manager Marketing at Mitre 10, said: “The initiative between Mitre 10 and Cafe Brands is significant for both organisations and will lead to the creation of one of the nation’s biggest café chains inside our Mitre 10 Mega stores.”

The agreement follows the successful pilot of a new cafe concept featuring Columbus brand elements and systems inside the newly opened Mitre 10 Mega store in Lunn Avenue, Mount Wellington, Auckland.

“The success of the Columbus Coffee offer inside our Lunn Avenue Mitre 10 Mega store has been both immediate and indelible with more customers visiting our Columbus co-branded café and loving the experience,” Elliott said. “While we guarantee the lowest Home Improvement prices every day we also understand that we owe our customers more than just fair prices. Our customers are asking us to provide great coffee too! ”

While Mitre 10 is significantly bigger than its nearest rival, it isn’t taking its competitive advantage for granted.

“The Mitre 10 brand is really important to New Zealanders because it is a piece of New Zealand history that belongs to all of us. That’s why we choose to partner with Cafe Brands,” Elliott said.

“Mitre 10 is an amazing Kiwi success story and Columbus Coffee is too. We have shared values because neither Mitre 10 nor Columbus Coffee is an off-shoot of an international retailer run from offshore, or a major corporate. For these reasons, local communities and the distinctiveness of New Zealand are very important to both Mitre 10 and Cafe Brands.”

There is even more growth brewing at the home improvement retailer, despite the adverse economic conditions in recent years.

Mitre 10 CEO John Hartmann is bullish on the future of the Mitre 10 group, while understanding the reason for its success so far.

“To continue as the market leader we must never forget the reason we are in business is the customer and the importance of serving them,” he said.

“While our competitors talk of the stores they are renovating or going to open, we’ve already opened four Megas in the past few months – Mt. Wellington, Timaru, Pukekohe and Cambridge.”

Hartmann said Mitre 10 would expand even more during 2011 with a further ten MEGA stores open or under construction.

“This will provide a huge benefit to the consumer with great products and guaranteed low prices, hundreds of new jobs in the communities the stores will serve, and millions of dollars of investment in the New Zealand economy,” Hartmann said.

ends

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