$13m hardware store to open in Waipapa as economy surges

Debbie and Ben Leduc are opening New Zealand's biggest Mitre 10 store at Waipapa, in the Bay of Islands, next week. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The country's biggest Mitre 10 hardware store is due to open in the Bay of Islands next week with 60 new jobs and an investment of more than $13 million.

The Waipapa store another sign of surging business confidence in the Bay of Islands and around the North, following hot on the heels of last week's revelations of plans for a $200m hotel in Whangarei and Seeka's $18m investment in fruit-packing and coolstores in Kerikeri.

The new store will open on Friday and have a floor area of 6400sq m, making it the size of some Mitre 10 Mega outlets and the biggest of the 41 regular Mitre 10 stores around the country.

It will employ about 52 people in a mix of full- and part-time positions and include a café with another 10 jobs. Around 50 people have been hired already. It will also have an undercover garden centre, a playground and more than 200 parking spaces.

Ben Leduc, who co-owns the new store with his wife Debbie, said total investment in land and the business was more than $13m.

Mitre 10 had owned much of the land for several years but had been waiting until the time was right.

''The organisation has been waiting for a good moment in time, when the economy was favourable, to re-establish in the area and do so in a significant way,'' he said.

The Kerikeri-Waipapa area is already home to Bunnings, Placemakers and Carters, with an ITM at nearby Haruru Falls, but Leduc was confident there was room for another hardware and building supplies store.

The idea was to give people the kind of experience they could previously get only by driving more than an hour to Whangārei.

Leduc, who was on the Mitre 10 executive for 16 years before becoming a store owner, said factors which had helped convince him the time was right included government investments in infrastructure such as a long-awaited roundabout at the Waipapa Rd-SH10 intersection.

That project will cost up to $9m and is likely to be built next year.

Another part of the economic seachange was the ''huge domestic migration'' of young families and retirees from the main centres to the provinces.

Waikato had been the first region to benefit from the Auckland exodus, followed by the Bay of Plenty — which had itself become virtually unaffordable — and now Whangārei and wider Northland. The Leducs were themselves part of that exodus, having moved recently from Auckland to Kerikeri.

Once Mitre 10 was established in the centre of Waipapa he believed more national retailers would follow.

Leduc said Mitre 10 was keen to be part of the community. The business was working with local hapū Ngāti Rehia, and would offer targeted, meaningful sponsorships.

Mitre 10 vanished from the Bay of Islands in 2012 when its building on Fairway Dr in central Kerikeri was leased to its arch-rival Bunnings. Part of the new site in Waipapa had previously been earmarked for a bowling alley.

Kerikeri Business Association chairman Jason Vokes says population growth is driving the business boom. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Big-box retail isn't the only sector of the Bay of Islands economy which is booming.

The retirement sector is struggling to keep up with demand, with Kerikeri Retirement Village about to construct a two-storey apartment building and homes selling as fast as they can be built at Oakridge Villas and Quail Ridge, while a major office, retail and restaurant development is being built at the corner of Kerikeri Rd and Hobson Ave.

Kerikeri Business Association chairman Jason Vokes said the growth wasn't just from new businesses moving in.

''Established businesses are bigger than they were a few years ago. Everyone's had a lift,'' he said.

Promax, which manufactured plastic tanks at its Waipapa Rd factory, had expanded significantly while avocado oil producer Olivado, which was based just north of Kerikeri, now had a turnover of more than $15m.

There had also been an influx of professional services such as accountants, insurance brokers and lawyers.

Artist's impression of a new restaurant, office and retail development being built opposite Countdown in Kerikeri. Photo / supplied

Business growth was driven by a growing population, Vokes said.

''People want to come and live here. The frustration is that infrastructure, and urban planning, isn't keeping up with demand.''

Fast-food franchises are also expanding, with pizza chain Domino's opening a store in long-vacant premises next to Kerikeri BP and Pizza Hut eyeing up Kaitaia.

Restaurant Brands has, however, scotched rumours of a KFC outlet opening in Waipapa.

The Colonel's secret recipe has been absent from the Mid North since Kaikohe KFC closed in 2015.