Onekawa shop lets neighbour trade in store after floods

Christina McClusky of Wool'N'Things in Onekawa has invited bookseller Chris Abrehamsen to use half of her shop after both stores were damaged in the Napier flood. Photo / Warren Buckland

An Onekawa shop has opened its doors for the first time since last month's Napier floods, allowing a neighbouring store to share its trading space.

Wool'n'things owner Christina McClusky invited Onekawa Books and Gifts to trade alongside, as they began their brave new post-flood world late last week.

Book shop owner Chris Abrehamsen had to evacuate his space because of flood damage and suspected asbestos.

"We've been totally financially devastated just about. Christina said they had a small area in her shop available to us so we can do some trade," he said.

Abrehamsen said his store had 12cm of water throughout on the evening of the November 10 flood, and all buildings at the Onekawa Shopping Centre suffered water damage.

McClusky said she had to walk away from her shop when it began to flood because there was nothing she or her husband Paul could do.

Struggling to drive through the water on Taradale Rd, she parked and waited until 11.30pm for the water to subside.

When McClusky returned the following morning to the shop, which has been in the family for almost 30 years, she was forced to strip everything out.

"We knew we needed to get the stock off the floor to then be able to take the carpet and get all the stands. They needed to go," McClusky said.

"We were really lucky that our loss assessors came on day three and told us we had to strip all the walls off that weren't concrete. We'd already started doing that anyway."

She said they've filled three skips so far, but still have a lot of ruined stock at the back of their store.

"I haven't even had a chance to add up the amount of damage, I've been trying to get the building up and running again. Everything that was low down was lost," she said.

McClusky said Abrehamsen's shop was in the same condition.

"But the advice they got about the building was slower coming through. They're a little bit behind," she said.

"I offered somewhere to trade and to share some of our space - that's why we've done this."

Since reopening, McClusky said the pace has been steady as people find out they're back up and running - albeit a little differently to normal.

McClusky said Wool'n'things will be back to normal after Christmas as she can't get any shop fittings made.

"I've still got my house and my personal possessions. I can go home, whereas there are people who haven't got their home and that's worse," she added.