Cycleway upgrades hurts St Albans business

Customers are few and far between while cycleway upgrades continue on Rutland St, St Albans.

A St Albans business made $40 a day while cycleway upgrades removed parking from outside the shop.

Rutland St Dairy owner Jackson Zhuang said he made only 20 per cent of his usual takings over several days in February.

Zhuang said the $40 daily take would not cover wages, rent, insurance, rates, orders for the shop or the power bill, let alone the mortgage on his home and supporting his family.

A post on Facebook from Zhuang's regular customers was shared more than 100 times and generated a boost in customers over the weekend.

He said his takings were up for a few days and he was happy with the way the community rallied to support local businesses.

The roadworks had moved from directly outside the shop, but Zhuang said the afternoons were still very quiet.

"Before 3pm is fine, but after three we are very quiet and after three is usually our main selling time," he said.

The Papanui Parallel cycleway upgrades began outside the shop three weeks ago as part of the city council's wider cycleway programme and will continue until May.

The cycleway will cut parking to one side of Rutland St, but after local businesses complained to the city council, its has tried to limit their losses.

Zhuang said the city council should be spending the money on harder hit areas of Christchurch like New Brighton or the central city.

"I hope the cycleway improves business when it's finished, but it's not helping the whole community now."

Zhuang said he wants things to return to normal so he can carry on doing the best by his customers and community.

He said before the roadworks began, Christchurch Central MP Nicky Wagner came into the shop and assured him work would be completed as quickly as possible.

Neighbouring store, Cocoa Gifts, has also seen a drop in walk-in customers since the work began.

Cocoa Gifts owner Liz van Montfort said, while it has been very disruptive to business, she has been supported by a very loyal community.

Papanui-Innes Community Board chairwoman Ali Jones said she would look into how many people are working on the cycleway upgrade so they can get it finished as soon as possible.

"It seems underdone in terms of workers, but I'm no expert," she said.

The board has been in contact with Fulton Hogan which is undertaking the work. It has been liaising with business owners regularly about the effects of the cycleway upgrade work.