Mark Gunton, managing director of NZ Retail Property Group. Photo / Nick Reed
Mark Gunton, managing director of NZ Retail Property Group. Photo / Nick Reed
Owners of large-format DIY stores, shopping centres, bars and restaurants expect bumper trading after the lockdown is relaxed.
Mark Gunton, founder and head of NZ Retail Property Group, which is developing Westgate, and Ben Cook, of Cook Property, which owns bars, restaurants and large-format stores, expect a surge of activitypost-lockdown.
Gunton has malls at Milford and Fraser Cove in Tauranga and he expects people to be greatly relieved to leave their homes once they are allowed to.
"People think life will be different. It won't. I've been through the '87 crash, the GFC and now this and it will be the same. Life will return to normal. People are creatures of habit," Gunton said.
"All of us who've travelled the journey before know that," he said of previous economic shocks and how quickly life could return to normal.
New Zealand could be coming out of lockdown next week and moving back to alert level 3. The four-week lockdown officially ends next Wednesday night, at 11.59pm, but the Government won't announce whether we move down a level until next week
Pubs and food courts would still be closed although takeaways might be allowed if safety practices are met.
Gunton sold nearly 3ha of Westgate land to the world's second-largest retailer, Costco, which plans a $100 million-plus, large-format store there.
He expects site works to start this year, and cited the world's largest retailer, Walmart, in the United States, announcing mid-March it would employ an extra 100,000 staff to keep up with surging retail demand.
Walmart has cut store hours, limited in-store shopper numbers, is directing store traffic in one-way patterns, marked floors to show appropriate distances, erected sneeze guards and is temperature-checking staff.
NZRPG Management got $268,000 for 39 staff as part of the Government's Covid-19 wage Work and Income wage subsidy. Campbell Barbour, of the business, said designers, construction experts, centre management staff and many others were employed by NZRPG.
"I don't think we're any different to any other business. Support is helpful. It's all hands to the tiller to get through this together," Barbour said.
Cook anticipates strong activity once the "stay home, save lives" alert level 4 moves to level 3.
His portfolio includes the historic Ponsonby Post Office, Bunnings Warehouse in Grey Lynn, Shortland St's General Building in the city centre, Placemakers at Westgate, Mitre 10 MEGA in New Lynn and Brew on Quay in the Britomart.
"I think the majority of New Zealand businesses are finding it difficult to operate in lockdown. But I think a number of my tenants might enjoy bumper trading conditions after lockdown.
"For example Bunnings, Mitre 10 and Placemakers will benefit from people doing jobs around their houses, instead of travelling. And I think my food and beverage tenants will experience a good rebound when social distancing mellows. People are social creatures and like to eat and drink outside their homes," Cook said.
Cook Property received $21,000 for three employees from the Covid-19 Work and Income wage subsidy scheme.
