Discount grocery chain opens local store

Rotorua residents will soon be able to get cheap grocery deals with the opening of a grocery clearance store this month.

The Daily Post can reveal one of the two new national businesses which are setting themselves up in Rotorua's Lake Rd is Reduced To Clear, which bills itself as New Zealand's Number 1 Grocery Clearance Store. Reduced To Clear, which sells clearance grocery items, will open in Rotorua this month.

Last month The Daily Post announced two businesses, national chains that are not currently in the city, were set to move into a building in Lake Rd near the Gull service station this year.

At the time, Paul Sanford from NAI Harcourts could not confirm which businesses had been confirmed for the site.

However, he said he could now reveal Reduced To Clear, owned by Sean Hills, would open its doors in less than three weeks with the grand opening set for August 18.

Reduced To Clear has stores in Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Hamilton, Whangarei and Palmerston North.

According to the Reduced to Clear website, the company's grocery products are sourced from wholesale suppliers looking to clear their food, health and cleaning products for a variety of reasons. Deleted lines, excess stock, changes to packaging, and products being close to or past best before dates account for the company's stock.

The products are still fine to consume and in many instances are okay months or even years past their best-before dates, the website says.

Suppliers include Cadbury, Eta, Griffins, Tip Top, Goodman Fielder, GlaxoSmithKline, Coca-Cola, Sanitarium and Colgate-Palmolive.

Mr Sanford said the business was growing fast and they decided to open a store in Rotorua after they had a lot of inquiries from the city's residents.

"They're employing up to six staff," Mr Sanford said.

He said Reduced to Clear would have some good opening deals and would provide Rotorua residents with cheap food items.

Mr Sanford said the second business confirmed for the Lake Rd site was a major national tenancy.