Rotorua Kmart opening date announced

Inside the soon to be open Rotorua Kmart. Photo/Alice Guy

Kmart Rotorua has announced it will officially be open three weeks from today.

A Facebook event post for the big day - March 16 - already has more than 1700 people interested in attending.

Kmart said in the post the 4400m2 store's layout would focus on three main areas: Kids, Home and Clothing, a new store layout being rolled out nationally.

The store will be open from 8am with free gift bags for the first 250 customers who make a purchase, free cupcakes for the first 300 customers and free balloons for kids.

Kmart Rotorua is the first store to have been opened by the retailer in New Zealand for 2018 with more store announcements to follow later this year.

#LIVE A sneak peek inside Rotorua's brand new Kmart store..

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The store will have central self-serve checkouts, wider aisles for easy wheelchair and pram access, as well as bolder graphics for navigation.

Construction works are well under way with the store fixtures having been completed and filling of product to begin the next stages.

Kmart Rotorua store manager Forrest Worthen said the completion of this site would be a huge achievement for the whole Kmart team and he was eager to open his doors to the community.

Alongside his management team Worthen has had a large task of sorting through applications – having employed more than 100 new team members locally with two existing Kmart employees transferring from other stores.

All team members are undertaking training at surrounding Kmart stores.