The small town with a new $17m supermarket – صحيفة الصوت

A new $17 million supermarket in Wairoa has given locals much more choice but what some community advocates say is needed is more competition.

The new New World replaces the old store down the road which served residents for close to 40 years and is the only supermarket in the northern Hawke’s Bay town.

Built by a Hawke’s Bay company, it’s almost double the size of the previous store and features the latest design and technology. It’s also created eight new full-time jobs.

Foodstuffs North Island chief executive Chris Quin​​ said the new supermarket would offer customers a local shopping experience that was “right up there” with the best city stores.

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Each store was designed, configured and stocked based on its local community and its needs, he said. The new supermarket offered a wider product range, with more fresh fruit and vegetables.

But despite the store offering more than 1300 items not previously available, what some locals want is more competition.

“We are dealing with people daily who have insufficient funds to purchase the basic food needs. If you can’t access goods at a reasonable cost it’s still going to be tough,” Wairoa Financial Literacy Service’s secretary manager, Ngaio Bell, said.

She agreed it was nice to see the new store, but said two – preferably of different brands – would be better. “It’s a pretty supermarket, but it’s not going to meet the needs of our community that are struggling to manage with day to day living.”

New World was found to be more expensive than its Pak’nSave and Countdown counterparts in a 2020 Consumer supermarket price survey.

If Wairoa residents want to shop at other supermarkets, they face travelling either 94km to Gisborne or 117km to Napier. Some order food from Gisborne supermarkets and have it delivered, but Bell said this was not always affordable or worthwhile.

“We’d like to see another supermarket just for a bit of competition.”

Affordability is something Foodstuffs NZ, of which New World and Pak’nSave are brands, is conscious of. Head of public relations Emma Wooster​​ said the company had introduced “inflation busting initiatives” like the price rollback which reduces the price of 110 of the most purchased grocery items by an average of 10%

“The team at New World Wairoa are extremely focussed on helping customers find value in these inflationary times,” Wooster said.

Last month grocery food prices were 7.6% higher nationally compared to the year before. The average cost price increases to Foodstuffs from suppliers was 6.8%. Wooster said retail prices to its customers on the same products increased 5.5%.

While the New World co-op had paid for the bulk of the upgrade, the Wairoa-based owner operator had invested $7.7m into the new store fitout.

Wairoa mayor Craig Little​​ said the new store had been “a long time coming”.

The town had two supermarkets about 10 years back but was now limited to the one New World and a handful of local grocers not much bigger than a standard dairy.

He said it was no secret Wairoa residents looked for cheaper prices at other supermarkets out of town, but with the nearest alternative supermarkets in Napier or Gisborne a more than 1.5 hour drive, options were limited.

“It’s a fact so many Wairoa people tell me they can’t wait to go shopping elsewhere. If the supermarket picks up on this and has better buying power they can hopefully help Wairoa people.”

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the 7.6% increase in grocery prices is an annual increase, rather than monthly. Story amended July 23, 2022.