Growth in Tauranga Retail

Walking around some of Tauranga’s retail areas, one may get the impression that there are a lot of vacant stores. Is this because of the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) or is there some other reason?

We like to think it’s not a negative reason like an economic problem, but maybe it is more because of a rationalisation of the retail sector in Tauranga.

Some businesses are moving out of a bricks and mortar location and opting for the online, home based model.

Other retail businesses are moving to shopping centres without infrastructure problems, such as parking restrictions, bad access, building refurbishment etc. In the last 18 months new shopping centres have opened in the Tauranga area and some other centres have expanded at the expense of older centres in the region.

According to an economics report on Tauranga’s retail sector, released by Infometrics, cash register card transactions within our retail stores experienced 5.2% growth in the March quarter of this year, compared to the national average of 2.8%.

So just because you see a vacant store, don't think that its because times are bad - its more likely we are experiencing some changes which should lead to a brighter future! 

See the full report at: http://static.infometrics.co.nz/files/Tauranga-quarterly-economic-monitor-March-2015.pdf

(Big Bake Bakery has recently added Te Puke Bakery to our store locations. We are thankful to our customers for their support)