Letter to the Editor, Tuesday December 9, 2014

The exception

I am not normally one to respond to letters to the editor that throw bricks at people without having the courage of their convictions to publish their name. However, the letter to the editor by hoarder in the December 4 edition was so full on vitriol and inaccuracies it deserves a response.

Not sure what I have actually done to hoarder to justify their obvious anger.

Anne and I buy wherever we can locally, and have always done so, because more than most we understand the importance of keeping wealth in our community. Those that actually know us understand that we have injected millions into Kaitaia over the years, far outweighing anything spent outside our community.

We also recognise that we have many great local businesses owned by local people who work extremely hard in very difficult market conditions, and fully deserve our support as local customers. However, none of us should take community loyalty for granted, and must deliver what our customers want or need at a competitive price, along with a great service, if we are to expect local support.

References to my decision to purchase supermarket products online way back in 2003 was due to poor shopping experiences locally at the time. We returned to our local supermarket years ago, and are very happy with the current service we receive.

I am a little stunned our choice of clothes has also made a mention, but the same philosophy applies, and hoarder may be surprised how much is purchased locally. I am not sure what 'local' clothes look like compared to 'non-local', but like many of the TV fashion reality shows demonstrate it is often what you wear and how it is accessorised that makes your appearance look great or dowdy rather than the purchase location or how much it cost.

And about the nonsense of us not being competitive, most customers in Kaitaia that have visited and purchased from us would disagree. I actually encourage people to shop around and check options and prices. We will do it in store for you if you want. Our policy is to provide a range of products our customers want at a competitive price and we have a price, guarantee sign on the new building to that effect.

Finally, I would like to thank the people of Kaitaia for their amazing and positive support of our new Folders store, next to Mitre 10 at North Park Drive. It made all our efforts worthwhile. Over a thousand people visited us on our opening weekend, and many purchased products at prices significantly better than they could get down the line.

We received nothing but compliments about the new store. The new shop is not perfect, and there will be improvements as we go along, but anyone who does not believe the new store is an improvement and an asset for the town has sand in their heads.

Maybe hoarder should come down, have a chat with me about their concerns, and at the same time have a look at the new store. Any time, because it is our desire and policy that Folders is always worth the visit.

IAN WALKER

Kaitaia