‘Mad scramble’ on golden mile
Menswear company Rodd & Gunn is leaving its store in the Stewart Dawsons corner building to new premises on Willis St next month.
Rodd & Gunn managing director Mike Beagley said the company had received two months’ notice from landlord Argosy Property, though he had hoped to stay on Lambton Quay until Christmas.
Beagley said it was a ‘‘mad scramble’’ to find a new store after being given notice to vacate.
‘‘There’s quite a few other people in a similar circumstance.’’
Argosy chief executive Peter Mence said earthquake strengthening work on the building’s facade would begin in December and hopefully finish in March. He would not comment on which tenants would return once the strengthening work was completed.
Rodd & Gunn has taken an 11-year lease at 46 Willis St, brokered by Colliers International director Ty Dallas. It will open on October 31.
Its Stewart Dawsons retail store will close the day before, meaning there would be ‘‘virtually zero downtime’’, Beagley said.
He doesn’t expect his business to suffer from moving further down Wellington’s ‘‘golden mile’’.
‘‘I think Lambton Quay is one of the great shopping streets of New Zealand and to move off it was a concern,’’ Beagley said.
‘‘But I spent a long time looking at the site and seeing the traffic flow and I’m really confident that we won’t drop too many dollars and we’re not paying Lambton Quay rent and there’s an
"We're not paying Lambton Quay rent and there's an advantage in that." Mike Beagley, Rodd & Gunn
advantage in that.’’
He said maintaining the flagship store in Wellington was important for sales. The lastminute fitout for the new store, formerly home to retailer Temt, would cost ‘‘well over half a million’’, Beagley said.
The store would have the ‘‘New Zealand lodge feel’’ the brand is known for, which entails high ceilings, and natural materials like timber and stone, he said.
‘‘It’s an expensive fitout but you get a really unique experience.’’
The brand has recently opened outlets in David Jones department stores in Australia, and Christchurch will get its first Rodd & Gunn store in two weeks.
It has also opened new stores in the United States, including in Los Angeles and Newport Beach, both in California, as well as in Brooklyn, New York.
It will open in Greenwich, New York, next week and in Dallas, Texas, next year.
The brand has managed to do what Ivanka Trump could not: maintain a presence in 55 Nordstrom retailers across the US.
Rodd & Gunn employs 600 staff worldwide.
Beagley’s advice to other retailers hoping to expand to the US: ‘‘Have very, very, very deep pockets’’. The brand began wholesaling there five years ago, and then started in e-commerce before opening physical stores.