CBD gets new blood, old shops move on

Rotorua's central business district is getting an injection of new blood with several new businesses opening.
But as fast as the new businesses are arriving, gaps and empty shops are appearing - making for an ever-changing retail scene that is proving difficult to keep track of, local business leaders say.
Among the newcomers to the central city are cycle and car audio maintenance store Bike Fix, giftware store Mowbray Maxwell and power equipment retailer Stihl Shop.
Retail Rotorua spokesman Graham Brownrigg said the good news was that the transition of big name stores to the nearby Rotorua Central shopping mall was nearing its end. In recent months Farmers, Noel Leeming, Bond & Bond and Dick Smith Electronics have moved to the mall.
"It looks like we have lost all that we are going to lose to the mall but things are still tough out there," Mr Brownrigg said. "Tutanekai St is doing really well, but Hinemoa St down by Pollards is not looking too good. I'm confident that the gaps there will have all filled up within a couple of years though."
There are many other gaps in the central city. The recently refurbished State Insurance building on Hinemoa St, now known as Hinemoa House, is yet to find tenants, as is the two-storey office and retail building on the corner of Tutanekai and Pukuatua Sts owned by Graeme Barker.
He said he was still looking for "the right combination" of tenants.
"At the moment I am talking to three different people. I know from experience that it pays to get the right combination of businesses together, otherwise it can turn around and bite you."
One of the biggest gaps in the central city, the old Farmers building between Hinemoa and Eruera Sts, is soon to be filled.
Rotorua construction firm Larkin Bros are busy outfitting the 4600sq m site and PSIS, currently based further down Hinemoa St, will be the first tenants.
PSIS property manager Tim Goodson said the business had outgrown its current premises and would be making the shift "some time" in the first quarter of next year. The move was likely to see an increase in staff numbers, he said.


Further down Hinemoa St, Pharmacy 44 has shifted directly across the road, partly because it was on the sunnier side, pharmacist Ian Edward said. The new location was also closer to two nearby doctors' surgeries.
Bike Fix on Old Taupo Rd is shifting into the old Doyles Outdoors store on Eruera St this weekend. Owner Peter Calnan said customer demand had prompted the shift.

Being near the city's other cycling specialists such as Cycle Centre and Bike Vegas was not a factor, he said.

Meanwhile, the old Zodiac Club building on Fenton St, which until a few years ago was one of Rotorua's three main sex industry premises, is being partially torn down.