Smiths City to star in Bethlehem

One of the country's oldest appliance and furniture retailers, Smiths City, is joining a host of new tenants at the Bethlehem Town Centre.
Smiths City, which was founded by Henry Cooper Smith in Christchurch in 1918, is taking 2000 sq m and will become one of the anchor tenants _ with Countdown supermarket _ at the modern shopping centre.
Opening by mid-July, it will be the public-listed Smiths City Group's 25th store in the country.
"We have a large presence in the Bay with stores at Whakatane and Rotorua, and smaller ones at Kawerau and Opotiki _ and it was a good opportunity to get a foothold in the growing area of Tauranga," said Smiths City chief executive Richard Hellings.
"We are a destination store and the customer counts at Bethlehem are increasing. We believe the centre is going ahead now."
Smiths City is similar to Harvey Norman, selling furniture, home appliances, kitchenware, linen, flooring, and sporting and camping goods.
Based in Christchurch, Smiths City has been making a big push in to the North Island over the past three years, establishing operations in Wellington (buying L V Martin and Son), Palmerston North, Gisborne _ and now Tauranga.
The group is presently looking for a site in Hamilton.
Smiths City is moving in to the retail block at the northern end of the Bethlehem centre _ and will be joined by Living Quarters, run by two former partners of Twelfth Avenue Furniture, Ray and Jill Stewart.
Twelfth Avenue closed at the end of March when the lease expired and the other two partners Rob and Carolyn Port decided to retire from the retail furniture business.
The Stewarts are presently stocking their new 1000 sq m store at Bethlehem and will be opening on May 1.
They are happy that Smiths City is moving in.
"They unashamedly operate at the lower end and will attract customers; hopefully they will also pop in and see us," said Mr Stewart.
"We are going top-end _ one step above Twelfth Avenue _ and will mainly sell quality New Zealand-made furniture." When the AMP Capital Investors-owned Bethlehem Town Centre opened over Labour Weekend in October, it was 40 per cent full. The centre has total retail space of 14,500 sq m and with the rush of new tenants it will be 70 per cent full within the next few months.
Also signed up are two new fashion stores, Heaven womenswear and Bambi childrenswear.
Heaven, which will feature New Zealand and Australian labels for women aged between 30-45, is being established by Katikati-born Julie Bourke, who spent 16 years overseas designing handbags and knitwear for retailers in South American and Spain.
She has been living in Bethlehem for two years.
"The store will be fitted out for `yummy mummies'; it will be a bit of an experience, an oasis where ladies can go and feel like girls again," said Ms Bourke.
A former Army officer Allan Skinner, and his wife Bojana _ who moved to Tauranga two months ago _ are setting up Bambi, in their first retail venture.
"We will be catering for the medium to high end of the market, and for newly-borns to children aged between six and eight," Mr Skinner said.
Duncan Woodhouse, commercial saleman for Colliers International, said the town centre had a strong lineup of quality tenants.
"The owners have not deviated on their objective of making the centre a desirable place to shop, and we have really turned the corner this year. The centre will be able to look after itself," he said.