Homeware giant Nido to shut, 60 jobs to go

AUCKLAND: Nido, New Zealand's biggest homeware store, has announced it will shut after attempts to find buyers failed.

A statement from receivers of trading business Magsons Hardware said 60 jobs will be lost.

McGrathNicol said trading had continued at the Henderson bigbox outlet while parties explored a possible sale of the business as a going concern.

‘‘Unfortunately, despite initial positive interest from a number of parties, a sale of Nido as a going concern is unable to be achieved. As a result, the receivers will now commence a closingdown sale of Nido and the stock, with the store expected to close in as little as three weeks,’’ McGrathNicol said.

Kare Johnstone, a receiver, said: ‘‘We are incredibly grateful for the support of staff during this difficult time, with all of the team working hard to preserve the business while options for the business were explored. Unfortunately, as a sale of Nido as a going concern was unable to be achieved, we have commenced a closing down sale of stock and, as a result, redundancies will need to be made with the doors closing.

‘‘However, customers will benefit from the closingdown phase, which will include significant discounts instore, with new stock being put on the shelves. Customers should get in quickly, as stock is limited,’’ she said.

‘‘The intention is to trade the Nido store for approximately a further two to three weeks and sell the remaining stock at significant discounts. The closingdown sale has commenced with immediate effect and separate advertising with further details for customers will follow shortly and be provided throughout the closingdown period. There are approximately 60 staff affected,’’ the statement said.

The announcement follows the liquidation of Nido's builder Vijay Holdings in November, leaving creditors crying out for money from the business which built the giant store and only partly finished its 650space car park.

Vinod Kumar of Lynfield is a director of Magsons and Vijay and he founded the Nido concept, set to rival Ikea as this country's largest homeware store.

But the financial trouble at the store and its builder endangers a $62 million funding arrangement behind the property's $59 million development.

Retired farmers contributed some of the $59 million poured into a proportional share ownership scheme to buy the homeware store. Last month they were worried after the shop's builder went into liquidation. — The New Zealand Herald