Sale mentality rules Queen St shoppers

Many fashion stores are having sales - with between 30-80 per cent off - which staff say are reductions to sell winter stock. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Shoppers on Auckland's Queen St are still spending - but it's taking sales to lure them in.

Retailers on the city's main street said yesterday that while times were tough their situation was not as stressful as Newmarket's.

At least 15 stores in Newmarket, the country's fashion capital, have closed or are in the process of closing down.

A walk along Auckland's Queen St from Customs St to Wellesley St yesterday revealed just three empty shops but no closing down sales.

However, Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney said the central city was different to Newmarket because it was more stable with 85,000 workers, 70,000 plus students and 25,000 residents.

Cruise ships, hotels, concerts and Vector Arena also meant there was a regular influx of customers, he said. "[Newmarket's] got a very singular proposition of fashion ... if a recession blows through town and discretionary spending's cut back it hurts.

"You stretch the rubber band, it snaps."

He said the shopping precinct was quite different to the inner city.

"[The inner city] is like a big cruise liner. It takes a lot to slow down but it also takes a lot to speed up." This year's turnover was "not down" and the city had "10 times" the pedestrian count of Newmarket, he said.

Mr Swney said shoppers were expecting sales and were reluctant to part with money until they found one.

"There's a very heavy-duty bargain mentality in New Zealand, it's very price-driven."

Many fashion stores are having sales - with between 30-80 per cent off stock - which staff said were seasonal reductions to sell winter stock.

Seba Farry, managing director of Farrys menswear, who has a store in High St and a store he is closing in Newmarket, said retail was harder than last year.

He has taken to discounting stock up to 80 per cent which is "as high as we've gone" in 35 years in business.

"We are being a bit more aggressive this winter. We have to be," he said.

"In tougher times people will wait for a sale and there certainly have been more of them, and more aggressive, and lasting for longer."

He said his Newmarket store was always meant to be temporary but he said the suburb was "absolutely dead".

"High St certainly has more life than Newmarket, for us anyway.

"I do believe the rents are quite high in High St, and I presume Queen St, for the amount of customers that are attracted to the street. Things are still tough in retail, that's all there is to it. I think personally people are a little bit more cautious with their money."

Other central city retailers who were struggling were reluctant to speak, fearing that any negative publicity would make tight times even tougher.

Souvenir stores were struggling the most, noting that winter usually saw a lull in customer numbers, which were propped up by cruise ship visits that dropped off in the cooler months.

Queen St souvenir store employee Nicole Liu, who asked to keep her store's name anonymous, said business was quieter than last year.

"It's terrible, winter time ... there's not many travellers here, is probably the reason why. I think less people are travelling here.

"I think next year will be good because of the Rugby World Cup."