About 40 Tauranga Warehouse staff to find new roles as Cameron Rd site closes

The Warehouse building on Cameron Road has been sold to Tauranga City Council. Photo / Alex Cairns

About 40 staff from The Warehouse are expected to be absorbed into other parts of the retail chain’s Bay of Plenty businesses after the sale of its central Tauranga store.

Tauranga City Council bought the property, which went unconditional on January 31, and href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/tauranga-council-buys-cameron-rd-building-to-create-new-indoor-basketball-courts-for-25-million/BOSXDZGY55HF5ME4PN7ZKINNH4/" target="_blank">plans to build a multi-sport facility. It proposes to create four new indoor basketball courts as part of the Memorial Park redevelopment plans.

The council would not say how much it spent on the purchase, citing commercial sensitivity, but the agent who led negotiations said it was a good deal and the council had saved millions.

The Warehouse regional manager Daniel Prew said closing the doors on the Cameron Road store was not an easy decision “but after looking at things like how the store’s been doing and how our customers shop, we had to make the tough call”.

It was hoped The Warehouse staff who had been based at the store would be moved to other Warehouse stores in the Bay of Plenty or the business’ other brands such as Noel Leeming and Warehouse Stationary.

“Our team at Tauranga Central is like family – it was my first store at The Warehouse, with many of the team remaining from my time there 20 years ago. Our main focus right now is making sure they’re taken care of.

“We’re exploring all options to help them find new opportunities within our Fraser Cove and Tauranga Crossing stores in the city or wider Bay of Plenty,” Prew said.

The Cameron Rd store will close for the last time on April 24.

The Warehouse remained “committed” to serving Tauranga and the wider Bay of Plenty through its other locations and online channels, Prew said.

“It’s great that the site will continue to be a big part of the community with new indoor courts as part of the Memorial Park redevelopment.”

In December, the council confirmed the park would undergo a $128 million upgrade that included a new aquatic centre and three hydroslides.

The new indoor courts were expected to cost $25m.

At a December 11 council meeting, city commissioners approved $153.25m for the upgrades, citing seismic concerns for the park’s existing pool and buildings.

Colliers Tauranga managing director Simon Clark said negotiations took about four months since the council showed interest and “there was a lot of due diligence”.

“It’s a very smart play, to buy a piece of land on Cameron Rd. A building like that would cost $30 to $40m to replace. But repurposing an existing commercial building, they bought it at much less than what it would’ve cost to replace it.”

Clark said the building was “unique” and would work well as a sports venue, especially due to the more than 200 car parks that were expected to stay.