Whanganui & Partners working to fill empty business premises

Bin Inn is opening a shop on the corner of Victoria Ave and Ingestre St.

A chunk of central Whanganui real estate has been sold to "a major player" with tenants set to fill some currently empty premises.

Whanganui & Partners strategic lead business Rhonda Morris says details of the real estate deals are still confidential but will mean employment opportunities for local people.

Mrs Morris said the number of empty shops in the central city "isn't as dire as you first think".

"Several empty shops have been sold in the last seven weeks, including in Ridgway St, and there's interest from out of town to purchase more shops," Mrs Morris said.

"Some of those purchased are just waiting on tradies to have capacity to get into action. I expect it to get real traction around February next year."

Whanganui & Partners has been working with wholefood and specialty groceries chain Bin Inn which will open a Whanganui store on February 1.

"The people who own Bin Inn in Napier and some other stores in the franchise are opening a store at 200A Victoria Ave," Mrs Morris said.

"They'll be stocking lots of specialty products including vegan, gluten free, organics, superfoods, paleo and special dietary foods. The owners love Whanganui so much that they've decided to move here from Napier."

Another well-known franchise is set to announce a Whanganui outlet soon.

Mrs Morris says the Business Friendly Group she chairs is making a difference to businesses interested in establishing or expanding in Whanganui. The group works between the businesses and the Whanganui District Council to facilitate the consents process.

"When a new business comes to town and says what they want to do, I get hold of the town-planning experts, building experts and enviro-health experts at the council and we walk through the process," Mrs Morris said.

"We facilitate the consents process all the way through, whether it's one consent to put in another hand basin or multiple consents for a new development. We're facilitating ease around the process because it can be fairly daunting, particularly when there are multiple agencies involved."

Mrs Morris believes the "cutting the red tape" approach is paying off, with some major projects on the horizon for early next year.