Mayor urges H&J Smith to reconsider closures
Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins is urging retailer H&J Smith to consider help from the Government before closing its department store in the city.
H&J Smith Group announced on Monday a proposal to close six stores, including its H&J Smith department stores in Te Anau, Mosgiel, Balclutha and Dunedin.
Its flagship store in Invercargill and its Queenstown store will remain open, while its Gore store will downsize under the proposal.
The company was also proposing to close its Armoury store in Dunedin and Outdoor World in Queenstown.
The proposal would affect 175 staff members across its stores.
Hawkins urged the business to reconsider the proposal and make use of government support that was available for struggling businesses.
Although H&J Smith did not have the same history in Dunedin as it did in Invercargill, there had been a department store on the George St site for almost 100 years and a closure would mark the end of significant chapter, Hawkins said.
However, it was difficult time for staff and their families, and they had to be at the centre of the discussion, he said.
H&J Smith had to delay the opening of its Dunedin store at Meridian Mall after the Government
moved to Covid-19 alert level 2, because of seismic concerns about the building.
Hawkins hoped the company could work with its landlord to get its Dunedin store through the other side of the hardship.
He also urged other struggling retailers to take on the support the Government could offer them. There was now greater help available for people who had lost their jobs, and retailers needed to continue to reach out for it, he said.
There was not a lot the Dunedin City Council could do to support H&J Smith as it was not in the business of propping up struggling enterprises, he said.
The council’s focus was to continue to invest in the city centre in a way that made it attractive for businesses in the future, he said.
H&J Smith managing director Jason Smith said yesterday that the group had applied for all the government support that was available to it.
It had applied for the wage subsidy and the wage subsidy extension but wages comprised only one cost of running a business, he said.
The proposed closures were not based solely on the economic effects of Covid-19, he said.
Smith would be having further discussions with the landlord at Meridian Mall today.
H&J Smith Te Anau store manager Shayne Mercer said the news that his store would be closing was not unexpected, but the size of the closure at the other stores was a surprise.
‘‘This will certainly be a big blow for the Te Anau township itself, along with all the other businesses that are going through the same thing.’’
Customers had been very supportive, with one dropping off a bouquet of flowers for him this morning, Mercer said.
A final decision will be made on the proposal in early June.
‘‘This will certainly be a big blow for the Te Anau township itself, along with all the other businesses that are going through the same thing.’’
Shayne Mercer
H&J Smith Te Anau store manager