The owner of a 20-year-old business closing its doors 18 months after moving to the Tauranga CBD says roadworks and parking issues have left it “sinking into a black hole”.
Other businesses on First Ave blame the same issues for lower customer numbers, with one cafe owner saying it is out of reserves and “running on dry” after months of construction disruption.
They are the latest in a series of businesses to raise concerns since construction started in April 2021 on the major council-led project to update aging pipes and utilities, and improve travel options along Cameron Rd.
Tauranga City Council says it and its contractors are trying to reduce the impacts of the project as much as possible, and it is “committed to ensuring a variety of parking options are available for city centre workers and visitors”.
Kaysi Fredericks told the Bay of Plenty Times she started her family variety store Kaysams in her garage 20 years ago, moving to town when it grew too big to run online.
But after 18 months in First Ave, she said the roadworks on Cameron Rd and lack of CBD parking had forced her to close.
Fredericks said she used to bring in about $36,000 a month. “Now, I would be lucky to bring in $3000 a month.”
That only really covered rent and she had not been able to afford to pay herself wages for months.
“I just can’t do it anymore ... I am sinking into a black hole.”
She described the CBD as a “ghost town”.
“I have put everything down to $1 or less and still can’t get [customers] in.”
Opening seven days a week had not helped either, she said.
“I am here from 9am to 5pm. I sit here waiting for somebody to turn up. It is heartbreaking seeing a business you have worked 20 years on go bust.
“I keep thinking if I had opened the shop in the Mount or Greerton, if things would be different.”
Co-owner of Alimento Eatery on First Ave, Jeannie Overington, said the business had trouble finding staff because parking fees could cost them $14 to $17 a day.
“That is quite a big chunk out of their wages.”
Customers struggled to find parking, too, and the business had seen “a decline” since the free on-street parking trial ended late last year.
“People don’t really want to pay the minimum $2 just to pop in for a cup of coffee.”
No longer being able to turn right into First Ave from Cameron Rd was also frustrating customers, she said.
She and husband James took over the business in September, anticipating a “big business boost” from the new apartments opening at Thirty-Eight Elizabeth, above Farmers.
“But that hasn’t happened yet.”
James Overington said the CBD needed to be convenient and attractive for customers and businesses so it could bounce back from the “significant” impact of construction around First Ave.
“I am really concerned for our CBD. We are just not getting the customers the facilities once were.
“Financially, it has just knocked us. We no longer have any reserves, we are running on dry.”
He urged customers to keep supporting businesses to ensure the ratepayer money going into developing the CBD did not “go to waste”.
Me & You Cafe front-of-house supervisor Tamara Bates said: “We are all in the same boat.
“It is not bringing in customers for us. We are getting less customers because of parking as well.”
Bates said foot traffic started to drop when construction on the Farmers building opposite the First Ave cafe began, and car parks directly outside the cafe were closed off.
Bates said she believed it would be better to have the roadworks done “one bit at a time” instead of all at once.
Sonshine Bookcentre owner John Tennent said customers were “frustrated” by the roadworks but the biggest problem was First Ave not being signposted. He said changes to the entrance of the street had created confusion.
First Ave businesses had been dealing with construction and roadworks for more than 12 months, he said.
“We keep saying it will be better in 10 years’ time. It is a problem but … we do try to cope and just get on with life.”
Council director of transport Brendan Bisley said First Ave was one of the side roads becoming left-turn only as part of the Cameron Rd upgrade, to help improve safety and minimise dangerous manoeuvres.
Bisley said the street sign on the east side of Cameron Rd was removed in August last year when the footpath was upgraded.
A new sign would be installed in the centre median on Cameron Rd in about six weeks, once drainage works were finished.
The Cameron Rd Joint Venture team regularly contacted businesses in the area but had not received any feedback about the sign removal, he said.
Bisley said the temporary closure of First Ave for works between August and October 2022 was well communicated to all affected stakeholders and detours were in place.
Below-ground wastewater and stormwater work needed to be completed before the team could return to sections to work on streetscaping and cycleways.
He said to save construction time overall there were multiple work sites on Cameron Rd.
The council was working with contractors to finish sections “as quickly as is achievable and reduce the impacts as much as possible”.
Bisley said CBD paid parking was reintroduced to support retailers and customers concerned about workers using on-street parking spaces all day.
June monitoring data on parking availability showed an average of 50 to 60 per cent of on-street parks used Monday to Friday, with parking buildings no more than 70 per cent full during peak hours.
The council had also brought back free weekend parking, changed leases in parking buildings and freed up previously leased and unused spaces, among other steps. This month, 100 of the eventual 150 spaces in the Dive Crescent car park opened, and the council had a short-term plan for a temporary car park on Devonport Rd.
“We are committed to ensuring a variety of parking options are available for city centre workers and visitors,” Bisley said.
Thirty Eight Elizabeth project manager Brett Nicholls said the development had required very little disruption from roadworks and most happened at the beginning of the project.
Nicholls said more than $200 million had been invested as a “show of faith” in Tauranga city and to fast-track progress after Covid disruptions.
“This is already proving to be a game-changer for the city, providing a business boost, and acting as the catalyst for its revitalisation via other major investments.”
Zoe Hunter is an assistant news director covering business and property news for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She also writes for NZME’s regional business publication Money and has worked for NZME since 2017.