New Papamoa plaza spoiled for choice

Papamoa Plaza manager David Hill is pleased with the new-look shopping centre and excited about what is to come. Photo / Andrew Warner

Two more new stores are set to open in the new-look Papamoa Plaza in February before work begins to build space for another 20.

Plaza manager David Hill said the first stage of the upgrade had gone "exactly to plan".

United Video opened late last year and Cutz 4 U and Enchanted Nails are due to open in February. My Pharmacy, Paper Plus and New Zealand Post have also expanded their stores.

Stage One of the $20 million redevelopment also included a glass entrance.

Mr Hill said the next stage would begin early this year with a view to being open by October or November.

"This year's a big year for us carrying on from where we finished at the pharmacy and going along and covering in the whole carpark outside The Warehouse entrance with new retail."

A food court with about six vendors was also planned for the new area and was expected to open about the same time.

Mr Hill said he had received more expressions of interest from retailers than there was space, although he refused to reveal the names of any of the companies.

"We've got more interest then we've got spaces to fill. If we've got 20 spaces that we've got to fill, we've got about double the interest," he said.

"We're in the delightful situation of getting to pick the right retailers."

Extensive research had been carried out to determine what Papamoa residents wanted and to ensure the centre was different to the city's other main shopping areas.

"The feature of the Papamoa Plaza is that it's a fully enclosed shopping centre. We want a good mix of retailers rather than just the same old, same old," he said.

The third stage would be to build space for a number of large format stores on the grass area beside the mall.

Mr Hill said each shop would be 400-500sqm and would have parking in front to allow customers to load large purchases into their car easily.

Rumours of a movie theatre in the mall were unfounded but Mr Hill said he would gauge interest from those in the industry when building the larger format area.

The development should be complete by the end of 2016.