Connings taking first step into Nelson
Connings Food Market is taking a first step into Nelson, with a pop-up fruit and vegetable store opening in Wakatu Square later this year.
Connings, which has a flagship store on Old Factory Corner in Appleby, will set up shop in the building currently occupied by Community Art Works.
The grocery business will lease the site from the Nelson City Council, with the option to buy the building – and the land beside it, comprising 69 to 101 Achilles Ave – to build a food market.
Part of the property includes the building formerly occupied by the 4 Seasons outdoor furniture store.
Refillery store GoodFor will also make the shift with Connings, opening in the former Remax building around August.
The announcement comes three weeks after housing provider Kainga Ora said it would not be viable to build its planned mixed social and affordable housing development on the Achilles Ave site.
Connings co-director Simon Conning said the pop-up store would stock fruit and vegetables, harvested from the Connings Market Gardens on the Waimea Plains.
No opening date is confirmed for the new store, but it will likely be towards the end of the year, Conning said.
Once the pop-up was under way, the business would work on plans for a new store that would include the grocery products and artisan foods offered by its flagship store, he said.
Connings, a 45-year-old family business with its roots in market gardening, opened its food market in Old Factory Corner in 2019.
The store’s emphasis was on providing low food-mile produce, Conning said.
“Because we are the growers, selling directly to customers, we can keep the costs down and offer great value for families.”
Good For managing director James Denton was also enthused about opening a branch of his popular refillery near the Connings grocery store, probably around August, he said.
“I think it will be so good for the area,” Denton said.
Nelson Mayor Nick Smith said the new store was an “exciting investment” that would help revitalise the central city.
“We know that Connings’ products and services are popular with Nelsonians, with 30% of their current business coming from people living in the city,” he said.
“It’s better to bring Connings to town than having thousands of us travelling to and from Appleby.”
The council bought the Achilles
Ave properties in 2011, and they need redevelopment after “years of uncertainty,” Smith said.
“Council has moved quickly on this opportunity with Connings because times are tough, and the city urgently needs to attract new businesses and investment.”
Council chief executive Nigel Philpott says market valuations would be completed for the site as part of the commercial negotiations between the council and Connings to finalise the agreement.
The store’s location was a boost for the Bridge to Better project, which aims to revitalise Bridge St and add hundreds of homes and businesses, Philpott said.
The council will be helping Community Art Works, which has been in the square for the last eight years, find a new home, he said.