Letter to the Editor Tuesday November 4, 2014

The reality in Kaitaia

As a retail business owner in Kaitaia, I can only support and reiterate the editorial 'Shop till they Drop' (October 28).

Many have complained about our decision to move the two Folders stores out of town to a combined new site on North Park Drive. The reality is we had two choices; keep operating until we followed Specsavers and closed our doors, or take a more aggressive approach and provide the big box option that most appear to want.

Retail in Kaitaia struggles to remain profitable. That's a fact. Every day we experience people coming into our store for advice on electronic products they purchased down the line. They get extremely grumpy if we appear reluctant to provide a free advice service to those that do not support us.

We have family members and friends of staff that purchase products in Whangarei and Auckland without even giving a second thought to buying local. They do not think about supporting businesses that are actually providing much-needed jobs to their kinsfolk.

We have many local organisations and charities that request, and often expect, our financial support, but then refuse to use our services even though we provide the service at often better pricing. It is incorrectly assumed we don't have the range or the ability to compete. We can and do.

Every $100 spent outside our community means our local economy loses the equivalent of $700. Of every dollar spent with a large corporate located in Kaitaia over 70% of the wealth leaves our community.

Every time you spend unnecessarily outside our town you reduce wage rates, risk jobs, and lose support for much-needed local amenities and services.

The new Folders store will be the largest showroom of its type in Northland, with only Harvey Norman in Whangarei larger. The store will range well in excess of $1 million dollars' worth of stock, and prices will be competitive with all the big box corporates. We have taken a huge commercial risk because we are committed to Kaitaia and optimistic about our town's future. All we ask is you consider local first before going elsewhere.

Kaitaia can turn itself around. We can attract shoe shops and optometrists back to town, but there needs to be a concerted effort by all to make Kaitaia a viable business option.

As well as customers supporting local, we need local government to stop making it difficult for anybody other than the big corporates to invest by removing unnecessary development levies and compliance.

We need a regulatory framework that attracts investment rather than making life more difficult than it already is. We need our central government representatives to understand the impact of government decision-making on rural communities, and do something about it. And, as important, local businesses need to do their part and continually review what they do to ensure they provide for the ever-changing needs and desires of local customers.

As long as local businesses provide range, price and service we should support local. There is no reason not to. A vibrant town creates much-needed jobs, increases wage rates, and we help create greater choice and diversity.

Local businesses donate at twice the rate as the big box corporates and together we can build much-needed colour and variety in our town.

See you all at our Folders new store opening on Saturday November 22. It'll be worth the visit!

IAN WALKER

Owner Operator

Folders/Marston Moor