The Plaza’s new acquisitions set to fill busy shopping mall

Acquisitions, a go-to for Palmerston North shoppers stuck for a gift, has ditched The Square to reopen in the Plaza Shopping Centre.

The store is one of several moving to the busy city mall.

Acquisitions managing director Richard Thomson said the move was all about foot traffic and he hoped to get more people into the store in its new location. ‘‘That’s sad in a way... [retail] got so spread out it’s killed the main street and the mall has taken over. But, I’m a realist, so I have to go where the people are.’’

The Palmerston North shop almost ended up in the Plaza when Thomson opened three years ago. There wasn’t a big enough store available in the mall at the time. But, a larger store was vacated recently, just as the Acquisitions lease was expiring for its Square store, he said.

Plaza manager Andrew Heaphy said it was the first of several new arrivals over the next couple of months. Menswear store Tarocash was set to open in mid-november, next door to JB Hi-fi. Heaphy said the former Valley Girl site it will occupy has been vacant for just over a year, after the fashion store’s parent company collapsed in July 2016.

Beauty and health care product parallel importers Price Wise will open next to Graemes Cafe at the end of November. Heaphy said Price Wise had considered taking over the old Specsaver, which has been empty for six months, but it hadn’t been large enough. ‘‘With Millers Fashion looking to exit, we offered them the two sites [to combine] and they jumped on it.’’

And the food court was also getting a new addition, an Asian eatery called Ramen Ippin, Heaphy said. It will take over the former Bread Loafer kiosk, near clothing store Amazon.