Newmarket rejects 'low sales, high rent' article

Media release

Newmarket Business Association

Monday, 7 July 2011

Newmarket rejects 'low sales, high rent' article

Newmarket Business Association Chief Executive, Ashley Church, has hit back at a Herald article claiming that Newmarket Shops are closing because of 'low sales and high rents' calling it 'the same old nonsense in different wrapping'.

Mr Church, who was interviewed for the original story, says the Herald chose to ignore pertinent facts that he supplied to them in relation to store vacancies in Newmarket, 'choosing, instead, to cobble together a few quotes from the terminally disgruntled'.

The Herald story referred to the closure of Starbucks on Broadway, and empty stores which were previously tenanted by Supre and Kimberley, also on Broadway.

"However, they chose not to print the other side of those stories. The Starbucks closure is a reassignment of that lease and the new tenant, opening soon, is an international brand who are opening their first New Zealand store and making a significant investment in Newmarket. Likewise, the former Supre site has already been leased to a multi-national retailer and I understand that an announcement on the Kimberleys site is also due soon".

Mr Church has accused the Herald of 'trotting out the same story once every few months' without actually checking the facts. He says the latest story, like those before it, contains no formal research and doesn't even attempt to compare Newmarket with other centres to see how the comparison stacks up.

"The reality is, businesses come and go - but the measure of the strength of a shopping centre is not whether a business has closed, but how quickly its premises are snapped up by a new tenant. By that measure Newmarket is in very good shape".

Mr Church says that, like most centres, Newmarket struggled a little during the worst of the downturn, but says the centre turned the corner about a year ago. He says good locations now fill very quickly and this sometimes puts pressure on rent pricing. However, he also notes that most Newmarket Landlords acted extremely responsibly during the downturn and worked, with tenants, to keep people in business when times were tough.

Mr Church has also reacted to claims, by the Retailers Association, that Newmarket lacks parking as 'complete nonsense'.

"Unfortunately this ridiculous myth refuses to die - mainly because it's trotted out by people who don't know what they're talking about - but it has absolutely no basis in fact".

Mr Church says that, with over 4,000 car parks, Newmarket is probably better served for parking than most other centres in Auckland and he has invited the Retailers Association to 'refrain from further comment until they're in possession of the facts'.

Ends

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