Fearful dairy owners want to sell up

As violent dairy robberies become the norm, more store owners are ready to pack up and call it quits.

But a lack of buyers willing to take on the tobacco targets means that for many there’s no way out.

In February, Trade Me saw a 42 per cent increase in listings of dairies and convenience businesses for sale from the previous year. At present the online buy and sell site has 260 listings for dairies and convenience stores, with 26 listed in the Waikato, which is a hotbed of robberies.

Hamilton dairy owner Chandrika Patel has been trying to sell her business for nearly a year.

‘‘Hamilton people want to sell because people get robbed so many times,’’ Patel said.

‘‘But there’s no one interested.’’ After a spate of violent robberies near the beginning of last year, the mum-of-two felt compelled to sell her own store, which Stuff agreed not to name, before it was targeted. It would be harder to sell after it had been hit.

‘‘It was getting worse and worse,’’ Patel, who has owned the store with her sister for five years, said. ‘‘When we bought the business it was not like that.’’

But since then, the store has been robbed three times. In September, the store fell victim to two armed robberies within 10 days.

The business is profitable and her customers are kind and supportive, Patel said.

But there hasn’t been much interest, despite her lowering the price.

And while she’s glad the problem of tobacco robberies is getting more attention, Patel doesn’t think funded cigarette vending machines would stop her wanting to sell up.

‘‘Definitely, I’m not. I’ve had enough now. The damage is done. ‘‘Too many bad memories.’’ Jay Randhawa, co-founder of IAMHE(R) Charitable Trust, an ethnic advocacy group, said the asset value of convenience stores has taken a hit.

‘‘It’s definitely dropped the value down, dropped the valuation of the convenience stores very, very badly. Because no one wants to get into that.

‘‘It’s basically killing someone’s livelihood.

‘‘It’s not a high pay off job either is it? That you would risk your life for it?’’

Change needs to come from the Government, Randhawa said. And some want out, now. ‘‘Mentally – if you talk to them personally – they say you just wake up in the middle of the night and scream. Psychologically – it’s huge.

‘‘They don’t want to lose their lives.’’

Jitendra Hirani, owner of Five Star Minimart has never been robbed, but he put his store up for sale last year after a spike in violent robberies in Hamilton.

His wife had just had a baby girl and it just seemed like a matter of time before his store was hit.

But offers were too low and Hirani has since decided to stick it out and make his store safer, instead.

‘‘Quite a lot of businesses are giving up and just selling. But my plan B is to just stop selling tobacco.’’

Stores in other countries have started selling other products like coffee, something Hirani has been contemplating.

Many dairies change hands privately.

Glorianne Campbell, a director of business brokers Clyth MacLeod Business Sales, said there was a slowdown in business sales around November 2017. But this may have been partially due to uncertainty around immigration after last year’s election.

It perked up again around March, Campbell said.

‘‘We have not found a noticeable downturn of interest to purchase this type of business or an influx of people wishing to sell due to fearing robbery of their business.’’

ABC Business Sales business partner Scott Laurence said the company didn’t sell many dairies.

‘‘We’re quite busy with other stuff and sometimes convenience stores and dairies can be quite difficult to sell.