A multi-million dollar supermarket complex is to be built in Featherston, promising to dramatically change the business landscape in the town centre. Trust House is in the throes of determining final plans for a complex taking up the entire block from Chung's building on Fitzherbert Street to the Johnston Street corner. Althoughit is yet to go out to tender, a ball-park figure of $4m is being touted as a likely cost for the new supermarket expected to be up-and-running by the end of this year. Trust House chairman Brian Burke said the concept has been agreed on by the trust board, but the final design and costings are not yet set in concrete. The old Featherston Post Office, that in more recent times has been an antique shop will be demolished, but other shops in the block could either be moved away, or relocated into the new complex. These include a cafe and bakery, a liquor outlet and a post shop and Lotto outlet. The existing Featherston Community Supermarket on the Johnston Street corner is to be wrecked as the trust considers it has outlived its usefulness. Mr Burke said the new supermarket will be a measure of the trust's confidence in the future of Featherston, a town he feels has a unique history it could build on to stamp its mark on the country. "Its military connections are unique. "Featherston had the military camp and the prisoner-of-war camp and its Anzac Hall is one-of-a kind." He said the new supermarket would take shopping in Featherston "to a higher level". Although all details have not been decided, it is possible the complex could incorporate public toilets and a facility where shoppers could buy a "coffee on the go". Trust House needs to obtain the necessary consents from South Wairarapa District Council for the building and is planning to get alongside the council to work through those. Mr Burke said the consents would require land to be set aside for car-parks and some landscaping. Commenting on the scale of the investment during an economic recession, Mr Burke said although there is "a bit of doom and gloom about" the board realised good times would come round again. "When they do businesses who have been bold enough to take things on do well."
