Outdoor retailer Kathmandu is preparing to move into a large, multi-level site in Auckland's Newmarket that has been vacant since teenage outfitter Supre moved out at the start of this year.
Chief executive Peter Halkett said the 1291sq m Broadway site, near the Rialto shopping centre, would become one ofthe NZX-listed firm's biggest stores in New Zealand.
The company plans to set up shop in time for a pre-Christmas opening.
Christchurch-based Kathmandu reported a 24.5 per cent lift in full-year consolidated sales to $306 million this week, while pre-tax earnings for the period were expected to be up by as much as 36 per cent.
Halkett said Kathmandu had spent years looking for a "more prime" Newmarket site than its present one upstairs near Broadway's intersection with Remuera Rd.
"It [the former Supre site] became available so we grabbed it," he said. "We want good space, good visibility - down by the footpath rather than upstairs."
A Supre spokesman said in February that the company had closed its Broadway store for "dozens of reasons" - the main one being a dispute over the rent.
"We're obviously happy [with the rent], otherwise we wouldn't have signed up," said Halkett, adding that the company did not usually disclose the amount it paid to lease sites.
