Countdown back in business on site

A drone's eye view of the reopened Countdown supermarket.

The only supermarket in the Paihia/Waitangi area has re-opened after a nine-month closure sparked by a dispute between the Countdown chain and the building's former owner.

The revamped Countdown, on Puketona Rd in Waitangi, was blessed at dawn on Thursday, June 18, and back in business at 8.30am. Bouncy castles and stalls added to the festive atmosphere.

The supermarket's return was made possible by the Te Tii (Waitangi) B3 Trust, which owns the land. The trust bought the building earlier this year after lengthy negotiations and offered Countdown's parent company, Progressive Enterprises, a long-term lease.

Countdown managing director Steve Donohue reopens the Waitangi store.

Store manager Mark Kippenberger said he and his team were "really excited" to be back.

"Our business has a great relationship with the trust and many of our team either have close connections to the local community or are part of the local iwi, so this is a positive result for all parties," he said.

Countdown's national managing director, Steve Donohue, who cut the ribbon, said the re-opening would not have been possible without the trust's efforts. They had done a "tremendous job" bringing the parties together, negotiating the new lease and helping the company get the store back up and running, he said.

Trust chairman Wiremu Tane said it was fitting that the store had reopened in the month of the Maori New Year, Matariki, named after a cluster of stars.

The opening was the dawning of "a new and sustainable relationship between parties, the cluster of stars being our many local communities that surround us here in Waitangi", he said.

Neither Progressive nor the building's former owner, Kerikeri businessman Ian Blakeman, have been willing to comment on the dispute that saw the store closed by court order last September.

The company has yet todecide on the future of a temporary Countdown set up in the old fire station in central Paihia.