LAWRENCE GULLERY
Seven-day trading could come to Hastings if a new campaign signalling the city's retail prowess is proved true.
Hastings City Marketing today launched its new "Hastings Alive!" brand which will be used to kick-start its first retail campaign, "Big Spender", a six-month promotion to bring more shoppers into town.
The
retail group presented its new brand for the central business district (CBD) to the Hastings District Council's community services committee yesterday.
It included a logo representing Hastings as the heart of Hawke's Bay and flags which will soon appear around the city centre.
The committee supported the initiative and was told the new brand would not conflict with the council's efforts to find a brand/theme for the district.
Hastings Alive! would be specifically for the CBD, the committee was told.
Hastings City Marketing manager, Natalie Stevens said work on the CBD brand was under way when the council decided to push forward work on a district-wide brand earlier this year.
She said Hastings Alive! was a retailing brand, like the one started in Wellington over 10 years ago, "Absolutely, Positively" which was later adopted by the capital's city council as its slogan.
Councillor Mick Lester asked if seven-day trading was part of the plan. "If you are going to say Hastings Alive! and it's (the city) deserted for the weekend, you are contradicting your brand," Cr Lester said. But councillor Henare O'Keefe said he was worried seven-day trading would take retail staff away from their families.
Hastings City Marketing's chairman, Sandra Hazelhurst, said initially it could be national retailers who would be interested in seven-day trading but others would be encouraged as the brand was rolled out.
She said the opportunities for extended Saturday and Sunday trading were there for the taking.
"You look at the carpark at K-Mart, you can't get in there on a Sunday," she said.
The brand would be used long-term in all CBD marketing, Mrs Hazelhurst said.
