Town's supermarket may go as lease runs out

The lease at the Countdown in Paihia has run out.

Paihia could lose its only supermarket - in the short term at least - when its lease expires at the end of next month.

Paihia Countdown has operated out of a leased building on Puketona Rd, near the Waitangi roundabout, for the past 20 years.

However, the company's Bay of Islands area manager, Joanne McNaught, said the building's lease was due to expire at the end of July with no right of renewal.

"Unfortunately, despite our desire to stay on the site, at this stage the landlord has asked us to leave when the lease is up," she said.

"We want to stay and service our Paihia and Waitangi customers and we're working hard to find a solution. We've been part of this community for 20 years and we're 100 per cent committed to having a store here."

Ms McNaught said the company was considering its options and would update the community as soon as it had some certainty.

The company would not comment on what might happen to its staff while it was still trying to remain on site. When other stores had close staff had been offered jobs nearby or, if they were happy to move, relocated.

"Our team is hugely important to us and we're keeping them as informed as we can," she said.

First Union, which represents most supermarket workers, could not be contacted yesterday.

The town also has dairies and a sizeable Four Square on Williams Rd, but Countdown is its only supermarket. It is not clear what will happen to the building if Countdown has to move out.

Countdown is built on land leased from the Te Tii (Waitangi) B3 Trust. The expiring lease, however, is for the building, not the land.