Christchurch & Canterbury

220 textile workers are to lose their jobs, as Godfrey Hirst subsidiary Canterbury Spinners announces the closure of its plant in Bromley, Christchurch, following last month’s earthquake.

The National Distribution Union, which represents many of the workers, said that although there were satisfactory union negotiated redundancy provisions, the announcement came as a heavy blow for workers already reeling from the effects of the earthquake.

TVNZ Business, Tuesday September 7, 2010. 

TVNZ speaks with National Distribution Union General Secretary Robert Reid, about the likely upsurge in demand for building and construction, following Saturday's Earthquake in Christchurch.

Watch the video here: http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/nzi-business-issues-workers-post-quake-3...

If that link doesn't work, it is also here: http://au.video.yahoo.com/network/101142668?v=8199129&l=5427156

The best thing to have in business, South Island hotels entrepreneur Earl Hagaman once mused, is a monopoly. At the time he was intent on buying the Christchurch Casino because of its protected monopoly status. Compared with owning and running hotels in a highly competitive market, owning a monopoly like the casino was a business dream, Mr Hagaman reasoned.

By that logic, the next best thing must be a duopoly, where two big players have the market sewn up. This is the case in the New Zealand grocery market, where home-grown co-operative Foodstuffs and Australian-owned Progressive Enterprises dominate. Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show the giants are enjoying a very happy duopoly.

According to the OECD, grocery prices have risen 42 per cent in New Zealand in the past decade, while those in Australia, which also has a market dominated by two players, have risen 41 per cent. By comparison countries with more competition – Britain and the United States – have experienced more moderate rates of grocery price rises.

On the face of it there appears to be no shortage of competition between our big two. Both advertise extensively, constantly refreshing their offerings and rethinking their approach. The owner of Timaru's New World, under the Foodstuffs banner, has spent a small fortune redeveloping the Highfield supermarket and its mall and is taking on another 75 staff. You don't do that if you're not sitting pretty in a comfortable duopoly.

Likewise Progressive is spending up large to rebrand its Woolworths stores and its Church Street supermarket has just had a makeover.

While the big two argue their competition is cut-throat the suspicion is that it's become more of a handbags-at-dawn affair than a pitched battle. Critics believe they are going through the routine while protecting established positions which see the consumer lose out.

That is what the Australian Government believes and there has been a lot of jumping up and down about the OECD figures, and talk of bringing the "blowtorch" of competition to the incumbents.

In New Zealand The Warehouse had a crack at the duopoly and failed miserably. Supermarkets do have competition in the form of alternative meat and fruit and vegetable outlets, but there is precious little competition in terms of groceries.

In Timaru consumers have the option of a farmers' market. If the success of the first one, last weekend, is anything to go by, the supermarkets' traditional market is being nibbled around the edges. But until The Warehouse gets its act together, or someone else arrives, there seems precious little consumers or the Government can do.

A further 42 workers have been made redundant this afternoon from Lane Walker Rudkin in Christchurch, the National Distribution Union (NDU) said today.  This brings the total redundancies at LWR since it went into receivership in mid-May to 228. There are now only 87 workers left at the Christchurch site.
 
“Workers at the Christchurch LWR plant were called to three meetings this afternoon, “says Robert Reid, National Secretary of the NDU.
 

MITRE 10 has put its New Plymouth and Kaikoura bulk retail hardware stores up for sale to investors looking for a long-term income stream.

Nick Howe-Smith of Bayleys North Shore Commercial and Industrial said the Mitre 10 Solutions at 107 Beach Road, Kaikoura and Mega Mitre 10 on the corner of Vickers and Rifle Range Roads in New Plymouth could appeal to investors wanting to add modern, purpose-built facilities with long-term leases locked in.

The Kaikoura retail warehouse was built in 2007 on a 5842 square metre site close to State Highway 1. It has a total lettable building area of 1048 sq m, a garden centre of 615 sq m, landscape yard of 406 sq m and parking for 37 cars. The head lease to Mitre 10 NZ Limited is renewable in 2019 with a net rental of $152,234 plus GST per year.

The New Plymouth Mega Store is close to New Plymouth's Valley Mega Centre, a new Countdown Supermarket (under construction) and VTNZ testing station.

Opened in 2007 it has bulk retail, cafe, garden centre, inwards goods, and covered drive-through warehouse and mezzanine offices. The site is strategically located given the substantial development in this area over the last decade, said agent Daryl Devereux. It also had convenient access to State Highway 3, the route to New Plymouth CBD from the airport and the north.

The 1.7 hectare property has extensive car parking adjacent to the Countdown Supermarket, a total lettable area of 11,109 sq m and generates an annual rental of $1,220,000 plus GST.

The head lease is to Mitre 10 NZ Limited and expires on September 1, 2019 with cost price index rent reviews every three years. Tenders for both the New Plymouth and Kaikoura properties close on 28 May.

Mitre 10 general manager commercial Ray Clarke said nearly all of the 100 stores in the co- operative chain were owner- operated. The Kaikoura and New Plymouth stores were developed to expand the chain and were being sold so it could build more stores.

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Big deal: The Kaikoura (above) and New Plymouth (below) Mitre 10 bulk retail hardware stores which have been put on the market.