Owner of Wellington's Gubb's Shoes considering shutting up shop

Wellington City. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Long-time Wellington retailer and owner of Gubb's Shoes Julie Gubb says she's not going to hang around if foot traffic in the CBD doesn't pick up.

"Quite frankly I don't want to stand around in the shop twiddling my thumbs half the time when I could be helping with grandchildren and doing something else."

The iconic family store was established in 1946 by Laurie Gubb with the help of a rehabilitation loan on his return from World War II.

But the shop on Wakefield St is suffering in the aftermath of Covid-19, as are many retailers in the capital.

Gubb told Newstalk ZB Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills that she has started thinking over the past few months about whether to call time on the shop.

"We're lucky that we have the choice because obviously if we were young and we had a mortgage and we were building ourselves up, we wouldn't have that option."

"I'm prepared to wait another year to see what happens but if it stays like this, we're definitely not going to hang around."

Gubb said she sometimes dreamed of working for someone else, having holidays, and weekends off, instead of jumping through small business owner "compliance hoops".

She said business hasn't been above 70 per cent of what it was pre-Covid and people coming back into the city to work was a bottom line for many retailers and lunch places.

Gubb said she felt the Government has "no idea" what it was like to be on the street-front and Wellington City Council was "useless, living in a la la land".