Second hand indoor market to revive CBD
The biggest ‘self-serve flea supermarket’ in New Zealand is about to open in Hamilton.
Re:Circle is coming to 313 Victoria St on May 1, a space that has been vacant since the Ministry of Social Development left the building in 2019.
And the central city players are calling it the rejuvenation of city centre.
The indoor market will hold about 600 to 800 stalls, founder Henrik Stovring estimates.
Stovring describes the business as an offline Facebook Marketplace, where buyers can sell their goods from a bricks and mortar indoor market.
Sellers can rent a stall, bring in their preloved items - clothing, household, records, and more - price it, add a description, leave it in their stall, and get paid when the item sells. It’s designed to avoid the hassle of selling goods on Facebook Marketplace.
And buyers can touch and feel the product instead of making a blind purchase.
Stovring opened Re-Circle in Auckland just before Christmas last year and is set to open a second outlet in Victoria St, where he’s “got lot bigger expectations”.
Sellers are in charge of their products, minus the efforts of selling, as opposed to other second hand shops where the business sets the price, Stovring said.
They can book a slot online or directly at the shop.
The idea of ‘self-serve’ flea markets has been a thing for over 15 years in Finland, and was brought to Denmark about seven or eight years ago.
Denmark-born Stovring wanted to do something similar after seeing an explosion in the Danish market.
About 400 shops - 100 in last one year - have opened in Denmark, a country the same size as New Zealand, he said.
“The concept is basically that you have a stall and we sell on your behalf - an offline Facebook Marketplace.”
The business will take 20% of the sale price plus stall rent - starting at $20 per week - which depends on the size.
Stovring said he’d be able to “squeeze in up to 800 stalls”, given the size of the shop. His ultimate goal was to open a Re:Cricle store every four months.
Landlords Kevin and Allan Mark were excited for the new tenant to move in.
The space was vacant for over four years and the owners said a big space was a hard sell in this economy.
“The big retailers want to go out to The Base because of parking and there’s no rear access here.”
Allan said a big exodus of retailers left the CBD when The Base mall opened in Te Rapa and were offered many incentives.
However, now it had “grown and reached this critical mass, the rentals are quite high,” Allan said.
“So it's actually driving people back into the city,” where rents had either dropped substantially or remained still, he added.
“There’s good stuff happening in CBD, but it’s going to be more focused on entertainment and food.”
The CBD retail vacancy rate increased from 7.9% in June 2023 to 8.9% in December, according to a report by NAI Harcourts and CBRE.
The 1% overall change was driven by more shops moving out from prime locations than shops taking them up, leading to a 5% jump in vacancy in top locales.
Vanessa Williams, Central Business Association general manager, said Re:Circle would be a “fantastic addition” to the central city.
“It's something that we haven't got, a new style of shopping, and going into what is a very prominent site on our front doorstep of Victoria Street.”
The move signalled a shift of renewed interest in the city centre, she said.
“So seeing that big space filled with what would be considered traditional retail, we'll start that renewal of confidence in the central city and we need it.” Williams said Hamiltonians were either becoming or trying to become more sustainable and be more conscious consumers.