Countdowns sprout in northwest
Expansion plans in Westgate development are just part of supermarket giant’s ambitions in New Zealand
At Westgate, two Countdown supermarkets will soon stand just 500m or so apart — one of the best indicators, says Progressive Enterprises property general manager Adrian Walker, of growth and demand for new stores throughout New Zealand.
A Countdown has operated from Westgate’s existing bulk retail area since the 1990s but Walker says DNZ Property Group is to develop a new store in a mall in the expanding retail zone just across the road.
“Both will be the same, almost mirror images of each other,” Walker said, standing on Hobsonville’s Clarkes Lane, where earthworks are also under way for a big new Countdown just a few kilometres from the hub in northwest Auckland.
New Westgate and Hobsonville projects are on land which was once on Auckland’s outskirts — rural sites, like at Beachlands to the southeast where a Countdown is also planned.
As for the proximity of the two Countdowns at Westgate, Walker says different shoppers make different choices. “Some people will like to go and shop in the bulk retail or older area and some in the new mall. This area out west is under-serviced by retail in grocery and there’s 60 per cent leakage in the western zone — that means people go out of the area, maybe to where they work.
“They’re having to go back to Lincoln Rd at Henderson or to Albany.”
And for Countdown, that means delivering customers into the enemy’s hands: rival Foodstuffs controls Albany with its Pak’n Save and a New World and not a Countdown in sight, despite Progressive’s promises last year to build there.
Australian-owned Progressive will open 14 new stores over two financial years to next June, as well as many new Fresh Choice and Supervalue outlets, Walker says. Each new store is about $20 million but Progressive owns only about 20 of its 170, leasing the rest.
But during last decade’s financial crisis when developers went under, Progressive was forced to buy land and develop.
Countdown Hobsonville is to be 3850sq m, “slightly smaller than the Countdown at Westgate”, and will have 300 carparks, all in the middle of the traditional town opposite the hall and across the road from Hobsonville War Memorial Park.
As well, an extra 2000sq m or 18 separate shops will be developed on the site, but not by Progressive. A Wanaka-based investor owns the land and is developing the buildings, including the supermarket which Countdown will lease after Progressive sold him the site. suppliers. The investigation will involve seeking a wide range of information from a variety of sources, including organisations from all areas of the supermarket sector, and is expected to take several months.
At Beachlands, locals fought Progressive’s plans: the Pohutukawa Coast Community Association tried, but failed, to stop the Countdown and creation of a new commercial hub.
Progressive sees New Zealand as a huge growth market. In 2009 it committed to spending $1 billion over five years and Walker says areas such as the Wynyard Quarter are of interest. “The population is growing and we also provide new stores in localities where the consumer doesn’t have choice,” he says.
Countdown’s first Auckland CBD supermarket on Victoria St was far more successful than envisaged but expansion was limited, one of the few options being to go up a level to offer more products. Walker says that was rejected.