KEY POINTS:
Upmarket homeware store Eon Design closed its doors at the Britomart precinct in central Auckland this week after going into receivership.
The store was founded and developed by designer Angela Roper, who started out in a basement gallery in Kingsland in 1999 and expanded the furniture and homeware
business into a leading outlet for New Zealand designers.
Accountancy firm Staples Rodway said Eon Design's receivership on November 25 was just the tip of the iceberg for the retail sector.
The company has also been appointed as liquidators for Garlands Design, a Remuera furniture shop that has been in business for 50 years.
Receiver Gareth Hoole said retailers were struggling across the board but retailers of big ticket items, such as designer furniture and niche products, were really feeling the pinch as people spent less on non-essential items.
Mr Hoole said Eon had been experiencing financial difficulties and was overburdened with debt. A secured creditor, Blackbird Finance, was owed between $400,000 and $450,000, there were other creditors and Angela Roper had put a considerable amount of her own money in the business, he said.
The closure is also a setback for the new retail zone at Britomart where the developer, Cooper and Company, has set out to mix the best of New Zealand fashion and culture with international brands in a series of heritage buildings.
Murray Crane, who opened the fashionwear store Gubb & Mackie along the road from Eon on Customs St 16 months ago, is planning to move the store to High St next year as part of a retrenchment of his boutique brands, Crane Brothers, Little Brother and Gubb & Mackie. His two Little Brother stores will close and the label will be sold through the Barkers menswear chain.
Mr Crane said the Britomart vision was fantastic but low foot traffic, roadworks, nowhere to park and the difficult retailing environment made it "definitely tough down there".
"High St has got a strong retail presence and it makes good sense for me to retrench back to an area I know. I think next year is going to be carnage [for the retail sector]," he said.
Cooper and Company chief executive Matthew Cockram said Eon was a great business and it was sad to see it close, "but we are not worried at all". There were several prospects to replace Eon at the old Sofrano House and he hoped to have the "lights back on in the next week or so".
Mr Cockram said the company had other new retailers moving into the precinct between now and February, and 600 Westpac staff had started moving into the bank's new $140 million headquarters at the refitted historic Charter House on Customs St.
Mr Hoole said there was a glimmer of hope for Eon. A former customer and Auckland businessman had expressed interest in buying it.
Heart of the City chief executive Alex Sweeney said it was tragic for a quality iconic brand like Eon to fall victim to the economic downturn.
