Earthmoving work has started on the multi-million dollar Mitre 10 Mega store development in Masterton.
Managing director Rex Slight said yesterday that heavy machines this week moved on to the Ngaumutawa Rd site that borders the existing Mitre 10 premises and construction work was expected to be complete on the 6600sq
m building by November.
He said the Mega store would almost double the number of retail, trade and administration staff at the site to 70 full-time workers and part-timers.
The entire development runs across about 9000sq m and will feature a retail space, trade sales space, an outdoor garden, drive-through area, a café and amenities, a storage workshop and offices.
The almost 3ha lot where the premises will stand was previously occupied by David Pope Transport, which shifted to land at Waingawa. The development stretches from the existing 1200sq m operation and the Vehicle Testing New Zealand station.
Plans for the industrial zoned site also include a significant number of parking spaces.
Mr Slight said the start of work came four years after the scheme was first set in motion by himself and Masterton Mayor and then co-director Garry Daniell.
Mr Slight said Masterton company Rigg-Zschokke were the major contractors on the project, which was the latest in a Mitre 10 rapid expansion plan driving the construction of 10 Mega stores throughout New Zealand.
The original Mitre 10 retail operation at the Ngaumutawa Rd site, which complemented a larger retail premises in Queen St, comprised a 36sq m shop that sold "nails and a bit of paint" after first opening its doors 28 years ago.
He said the humble business had steadily attracted a significantly greater share of retail custom while still retaining the loyalty of professional traders.
"I would never have imagined back then that a development on this scale would ever happen," Mr Slight said.
"There have been a lot of sleepless nights but I'm confident, without a doubt, that the Mega store will be successful."
Mitre 10 had 162 franchise operations nationwide which were all locally owned and operated "not off-shoots of an international retailer run from offshore", Mr Slight said.
"I believe that's what makes the difference."
