Katie Morris, the owner of florist store Blooms on Cameron, says the Cameron Rd upgrade works has had a drastic impact on her walk-in sales. Photo / Mead Norton
Some retailers say they are taking a massive financial hit from constant roadworks on Cameron Rd - with one saying the project is “killing” businesses in the area.
One Cameron Rd retailer is set to close his doors next month as a result of the financial impact on his business, while another is claiming a financial loss of 70 per cent arising from the continuous disruption.
But city authorities say they are doing as much as possible to mitigate the impact on businesses.
The Cameron Rd upgrades - part of the $45 million infrastructure upgrade project - have been turning sections of the busy arterial route into construction zones since September 2021.
Recently, the works have been focused on a section of road between 11th and 12th Avenues.
Lenz Superette store manager Davi Singh, speaking on behalf of the store’s owner, said the project had drastically affected the store and neighbouring businesses.
Singh said he and the owner were unaware of the project when the business was bought in February 2020 and “it’s been a real struggle”.
Business takings were down about 70 per cent, he said.
“It’s been a really tough time for us and my boss has had to dip into his savings to pay the rent and other expenses just to keep the business going.
“They’re calling this project Futureproofing Cameron Rd but it’s killing present-day businesses and the council hasn’t even offered any compensation.
“So many of the intersections have been closed off... when people cannot access businesses on this side of the road they just keep on driving. And there are only three or four parking spaces further down the road but none outside the front of our store.
“We’re a convenience store and if it’s too inconvenient for people they’re not going to stop and they’ll go somewhere else.”
Singh said moving the bus stop from outside Countdown to near their row of shops had removed much-needed parking spaces.
He feared there would soon be more empty shops in the area.
Micro Computers & Electronics owner Garry Nanra said he and his wife Baljit would close their store next month as they were not making enough sales to cover rent and power.
“Having these barriers up for months... is having a very big, dramatic impact on our business. They even put some of the barriers up right next to our front door so many people think we shut already,” Nanra said.
“We’ve been operating here for 10 years and reluctantly have had to make this hard decision because these works have killed our business.”
Nanra said he had picked up extra work to try and keep regular money coming in. His wife was starting a fulltime job in the new year after the business was closed.
“This isn’t just impacting our business, it’s everyone in this block who is also struggling,” he said.
Blooms on Cameron owner Katie Morris said she was told the works would take about two months but it had been at least five-and-a-half, with no on-street parking spaces and traffic management blocking the view of the store.
“It has drastically affected our walk-in sales which in turn is seeing us experience a loss of about 40 per cent in takings,” Morris said.
“The issue of some form of compensation was discussed at a meeting that I and some other business owners in our block had with a [project representative] two weeks ago, but so far nothing has been done,” she said.
“We have asked for the sake of our businesses that we have some parking to survive and also asked that the bus stop being located outside our shops be moved.”
Morris said they were told that moving the bus stop was not possible because of the space required and the repositioning was intended to get “more even spacing” of stops across the network to serve more people.
“In an ideal world, I would like to see the council give us back parking and take into consideration the financial impact this is having on many small businesses along Cameron Rd.”
Make it Sew owner Graeme Philp said he moved his business to his 12th Ave home in July last year, two months before the works started.
“If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be in business today. I could see what was going to happen and I really feel for the other Cameron Rd business owners having to put up with all these barriers in front of their stores for months.”
He said he was trying to regularly support local businesses along the stretch.
A spokesperson from The Cheesecake Shop said the past six months were “pretty tough”, especially after the impacts of Covid-19 and the increased costs of running his business.
“Our sales are down probably 30 to 40 per cent and while we’ve been grinding on the last three months, we really need to have a better idea when the works in this area will be finished,” he said.
“We are a destination business and if people cannot find a parking space close to our store, some will probably say ‘bugger it, I’ll go to Pak’nSave or another supermarket instead where there is plenty of free parking’.”
The spokesperson said he and other business owners in areas were dealing with a lot of abuse from customers struggling to find carparks.
“The big issue for us is communication. We have had a number of talks with the council, but do need some more certainty,” he said.
In a written statement, Tauranga City Council’s director of transport Brendan Bisley said the council and the Cameron Rd Joint Venture contractors worked closely with business owners and residents to mitigate the impacts as much as possible.
Bisley said the council was “doing its best” and arranged signage to let the people know businesses were open as usual. He said Cameron Rd was one of Tauranga’s “most critical infrastructure projects” aimed to enable future growth across the city.
“We do appreciate that the past few years have been very challenging for many of Tauranga’s businesses for a number of reasons, and we recognise that a period during construction work outside a business can be difficult for all those businesses directly affected.”
Bisley ruled out any chance of compensation, citing the Public Works Act.
He said typically these works only happened once in a 20- to 30-year window and like many industries, the Cameron Rd Joint Venture was affected by the ongoing challenges presented by Covid-19, “very wet” weather and the lack of available skilled staff, who usually come from overseas.
“Communications with business owners [between 11th and 12th Ave] that council had met with continues, as we work to address their concerns, including those about parking, the positioning of bus stops and the duration of construction,” Bisley said.
He said the road safety barriers between 11th Ave and 12th Ave east were to be removed last week, weather permitting.
Since these retailers spoke to the Bay of Plenty Times last week, most of the barriers had been removed, apart from around the temporary bus stop near the Blossom on Cameron florist store, freeing up a number of car parking spaces over the holiday break.
- Construction work will stop from December 23 to January 9, with traffic management barriers removed.
- Works will resume and barriers reinstated after that, including at 15th Ave and 12th Ave before returning to the Elizabeth St intersection.
- Stage one is expected to be completed by late 2023, with planning for stage two to be finalised.
- Early next year, the community will get to provide feedback on the shortlist of options.
- Stage two preliminary works are expected to start in late 2023/early 2024 (subject to approvals and funding)
Source: Tauranga City Council
He founded Kiwi Can in Ōpōtiki and Tauranga, reaching over 3700 youth weekly.