Stuff Digital Edition

Changes loom as businesses move into Stafford St

Lauren Pattemore

Changes are afoot in Timaru’s main street, with two businesses setting up shop, while another is adding Sunday to its open hours.

In early September, New Zealand surf shop, Backdoor, will open a Stafford St store – its fourth in the South Island.

The company’s managing director Geoff Hutchison said he was excited to break into Timaru’s market, saying Backdoor was a ‘‘shop for surfing and skating, with a streetwear aspect’’.

‘‘We’ve had good results in provincial cities, they work well for us,’’ Hutchison said.

Since the first Covid-19 lockdown, he has also opened a store in Nelson, in 2021, and more recently, in Blenheim.

He said the closure of longrunning Timaru business Camerons Clothing in March had caught the company’s attention.

‘‘Once we became aware of that we saw an opportunity to come to Timaru.’’

Backdoor had been doing well after the first lockdown, because ‘‘individual sports that were Covid-19 safe, that you can do outside by yourself’’ rose in popularity, he said.

‘‘During the pandemic, for us the initial lockdown put a halt on production.

‘‘But when the first lockdown ended we went into full speed, the bounce back was huge.’’

Hutchison said a year ago, there had been very large wait times for items, but things were mostly back to normal now, and during the supply shortages, he had overstocked on supplies.

‘‘We have two years worth of skateboards now.’’

Hutchison had advertised for staff in Timaru, and already had ‘‘quite a good list of people to interview’’.

Meanwhile, Timaru business Dead2b announced on social media yesterday it would move from Church St to 299 Stafford St. ‘‘This move will bring some exciting new changes and we can’t wait to share the shop with everyone this weekend,’’ the post says.

The small independent home and giftware business opened in October. Further along Stafford St, Replenish Cafe will now open on Sundays. .

Owner Malcolm Burns said the cafe used to open on a Sunday, but more than a year ago moved to a six-day operation after he had ‘‘burnt himself out’’.

But now he was ready to try again.

‘‘It’s [opening on Sundays] something my partner and I have been talking about for a while.’’

Burns was aware opening an extra day might make things tougher, but had noticed ‘‘there is 100% a hunger for it in the market, we’re really excited for it’’.

‘‘It’s a survival thing. We’re doing everything we can to survive.

Burns said the business was also launching a new website to allow for catering, online ordering and purchasing vouchers.

‘‘There are people who need to isolate, and we need to find a way to get to them.’’

News

en-nz

2022-08-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://stuff.pressreader.com/article/281586654385793

Stuff Limited