Big blaze forces island folk to shop in city

Waiheke residents are having to take a ferry ride to Auckland to do their supermarket shopping after a fire closed the island's Woolworths store.

Foodtown has been providing a free shuttle service to Waiheke shoppers from the downtown ferry terminal to its central Auckland store since the closure following the Saturday night blaze.

Waiheke resident Denise Stevens made the trip to Auckland to do her shopping yesterday, and said she missed the convenience of having a supermarket on the island. "It's just like the old days on Waiheke," she said.

The closure of the supermarket has been particularly tough on the island's elderly population. One elderly Waiheke resident - who preferred not to be named - said she made the ferry crossing on Thursday to get her groceries and was left exhausted by the journey.

Another resident, Greg Treadwell, said that although the closure of the supermarket was inconvenient, he did not miss the store as he thought its range of products was limited and overpriced.

"To wake up on a Sunday morning and find that there had been a fire and the supermarket was closed raised my spirits."

Mr Treadwell said he and his wife now did their grocery shopping online - something they never did before the fire.

But he said he was concerned about elderly Waiheke residents who might not have internet access.

"A large proportion of the island's population is over 60," he said.

Fullers has been providing shoppers with a reduced fare to Auckland between 10am and 3pm.

"Fullers understands that this is a difficult time for both Woolworths and their customers and hopes that this small gesture to the Waiheke community will relieve part of the inconvenience and frustration," said Fullers' general manager of support services, Michael Fitchett.

SeaLink ferries are also offering special fares for shoppers heading to the mainland.

Progressive Enterprises, the group that owns Waiheke Woolworths, has announced plans to open a new supermarket on the island within 24 months.

A spokesman for the group said 13,000 square metres of land had been purchased for the construction of a new store that would be three times the size of the existing one.

In the meantime, Progressive hopes to have the fire-damaged Woolworths back up and running for the sale of non-perishable items within 10 days.

The owner-operator of Four Square Oneroa, Sarah Aston, said her store had received an unexpected windfall from the Woolworths closure.

Mrs Aston said business was usually slow at this time of year, but her current sales were equal to the Christmas/New Year period.

She said she had taken on three extra staff members to cope with customer demand.