Last chance to shop at Trade Aid Tairāwhiti before June closure

Trade Aid Tairāwhiti's shop is known for its beautiful quality products made by talented artisans from around the world.

Trade Aid Tairāwhiti will close its doors at the end of June as it moves to an online sales-only business model.

The Gisborne shop was bursting at the seams but after a busy week last week, stock is starting to thin out.

Store manager Jo Brown and the four volunteers working there are passionate about the brand and disappointed the Gisborne store is closing.

Ms Brown said she loved that the products they sold were all hand-crafted, ethically sourced and environmentally sustainable.

“It’s such a good model with all producers being paid a fair price for their work,” she said.

The shop is expecting one more delivery of stock early next week and Ms Brown said people needed to be quick because it was selling really fast.

“The product is beautiful and of high quality, so it’s been incredibly busy since we went on sale.”

Trade Aid Tairāwhiti is one of the 24 Trade Aid stores nationwide that will be progressively closing from the end of June.

In a statement, Trade Aid said it had faced a challenging environment in the past two years. The cost-of-living crisis has led to rising costs and diminishing sales, which has significantly impacted the organisation’s financial performance.

To ensure its ongoing sustainability, the difficult decision was made to begin the process of progressively closing its stores.

People will still be able to purchase Trade Aid products - just in a different way.

Trade Aid’s business model is adapting to focus on online retail sales and wholesale craft, food, and coffee.

It is going to be easier for anyone, anywhere in New Zealand to purchase fair trade products, the statement said.

Trade Aid aims to make fair trade products more accessible to Kiwis by inspiring more New Zealand retailers and manufacturers to buy fair trade guaranteed products.

Trade Aid said its volunteers had made a huge contribution to the fair trade movement in New Zealand by educating Kiwis about the importance of fair trade practice and why they should buy better, as well as helping sell products to better the lives of its partners in countries like Bangladesh, Mexico, India, Vietnam and many more countries.

The Trade Aid Tairāwhiti store has been an integral part of the community. People can help support Trade Aid by heading into Trade Aid Tairāwhiti to shop.

The 40 per cent-off-everything sale (excluding food and beverage) will remain until the stores close at the end of June, or while stocks last.

Trade Aid stressed that all goods in the sale had been paid for at same fair price as always. Its partners never have to compromise on price, regardless of a sale.

Trade Aid’s purpose continues to be educating and inspiring others to support fair trade and to improve producers and farmers’ lives by providing them with an income through fair trade.