Wendy Morrell is one of the few remaining retailers in what was once touted as Auckland's centrepiece shopping plaza - and she is desperate to get out.
The owner of Meganails, a nail salon, has been a tenant in the former Chase Plaza, renamed the Finance Plaza and nowTelstra House, for seven years.
She has watched retailers move out and go bust.
McDonald's was the last to leave the food court last year and foot traffic became obsolete, she said.
"It's a bit like a morgue.
"When there was a food hall there was traffic going through. Now if we get a handful of people up here it's a really good day."
When the then Mayor of Auckland, Dame Catherine Tizard, opened the Chase Plaza in 1988 it was New Zealand's biggest commercial development project.
It was described as a virtual park in the middle of Auckland and linked the huge multi-tower office and retail centre bordered by Queen St, Victoria St and Albert St.
Among its features were floors of Italian granite, an outside lift and an impressive space-frame ceiling with acrylic glazing.
The escalators from Queen St which once carried visitors past retail stores and bars to the fourth-floor plaza are now still.
The shops gathering dust are a sad reminder that even when the escalators were running, people were not inclined to make the effort to hunt out their wares.
Wendy Morrell, who has never had her rent reduced despite the dying trade, has tried unsuccessfully to get out of her lease and fears she will have to stay until next April.
She also faces the prospect of a car park at the foot of her business, as the plaza's owner makes plans for extra parking.
The centre houses legal firms, recruitment agencies, a dentist and other commercial companies.
"It's an office complex. It wasn't retail, not really," said Ross Blackman, general manager of New Zealand Growth Property Trust, which owns the centre.
"There was a food court just to service the offices and that has gradually wound down. What you see is what you get."
