Fashion retailer EziBuy is closing its downtown Tauranga store because it didn't meet business budgets.
Founder and director Gerard Gillespie has sent a letter to valued customers saying the store in Elizabeth St will close its doors tomorrow afternoon.
He said in the letter: "After trading for over three years, regrettably this store didn't meet business expectations, so we've had to make this difficult decision."
But Mr Gillespie, who founded the mushrooming business with his brother Peter in Palmerston North in 1978, headed the letter: "It's not goodbye ..."
Tauranga customers will still be able to purchase Ezibuy's affordable and latest women's and men's clothing online and through its catalogues. Or they can visit the Hamilton store.
"Remember, there's more than one way to shop with EziBuy," Mr Gillespie reminded the customers in the letter.
Over the past 30 years, EziBuy has become the "largest fashion clothing and home decor multi-channel retailer in Australasia," according to its website.
EziBuy also sells homeware and gift cards. Its women's brands include Capture, Emerge, Grace Hill, Urban and Sara, and the range appeals to a wide group, from teenagers to the elderly.
Tauranga's closure leaves EziBuy with six stores in Albany, Sylvia Park Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch, plus a Sara store in the Westfield Queensgate shopping centre in Lower Hutt.
Ezibuy, employing a total of 1000 staff, produces more than 40 catalogues each year and mails them out to half a million people in New Zealand and Australia, dispatching an average of 9000 parcels a day.
New Zealand customers can expect delivery within five days of receipt of payment and in Australia 10 days.
The Gillespies expanded to Australia in 1992 and this market makes up 50 per cent of the business.
Over the past week, the EziBuy Tauranga store has been running a closing day sale with "25 per cent off everything".
Customers can also make the trip over the Kaimais and present the letter to the Hamilton store, getting $20 off their purchase.
The Bay of Plenty Times made several calls to Mr Gillespie but he referred comment to his chief executive who was in Australia.
