Retailer says landlords must face reality
WELLINGTON: Landlords unwilling to renegotiate leases, fewer locals coming into Queenstown's town centre and the economic effects of Covid are making it harder for businesses to survive in the resort town, according to a departing retailer.
After nearly 30 years in business David Anderson is shutting up shop, saying without the steady flow of international tourists, especially Australians, and with no sign of the border reopening, staying in business was not viable for another year.
Mr Anderson, who is the owner operator of men's clothes shop Anderson Outfitters, will close the business when his lease ends at the end of March, after 28 years.
While his was not a tourist business, Mr Anderson said Covid's decimation of the country's international tourist industry had had a big impact and so had negotiating his lease.
‘‘The agent that works for the landlord seems to think nothing has really happened in the town and everything is fine and it's just not that way. Queenstown has been built to handle overseas tourists and we need them to actually make it work.’’
Mr Anderson said many landlords in Queenstown had been good to their businesses and had given 50% rent reductions.
‘‘Those guys have been very good and will have the support of their tenants. But there are others out there who think they can tap us and think the money will flow out.
‘‘They need to have a decent look at what they're doing to the town and to businesses because, quite frankly, I don't think there will be that many people lining up to start a new business in Queenstown.
‘‘They need to realise if we're taking a cut, they need to take a cut. They've had it pretty good and perhaps they just need to have a good hard look at themselves.’’
Mr Anderson said that the border closure was not the only factor in Queenstown trying to survive. Large retail hubs built in recent years near the airport and Frankton meant that locals do not need to go into town that often anymore, so incidental spending went elsewhere, too.
There is also the debate about the overreliance on international tourists in the town and how to change that.
‘‘I know a lot of locals are saying ‘we're over tourists and there's too many internationals' and that may have been true, but we still need them. They are the people coming that have actually facilitated the development of the bars and activities in town that people love to come to Queenstown for.’’
He said while the domestic market had been good, it was not enough to sustain the rents and costs in the town.
He said the next several months, normally a very busy period for the town, would be crunch time for many other businesses.
‘‘There's been a few businesses that have gone already. Queenstown does make a lot of money through tourism from January to April and if it's not there, they're going to face a pretty long winter. There's going to be some tough decisionmaking then.’’
Mr Anderson said calling for more financial assistance from the Government was not the silver bullet either.
‘‘The only solution is getting that Australian border open and not having to quarantine.’’
Mr Anderson, who with his wife Diane, plans to stay in the town, said he will miss the conversations with regular customers who had shopped with him for years, especially the Australian tourists.
‘‘We might like to give the Aussies a bit of stick but at the end of the day they are very good people to have a yarn to, they're good tourists. We really are missing the Aussies.’’