Smith & Caughey's closure: What's really to blame?
Retail nostalgia fades as Smith & Caughey's exits the changing face of Queen Street. Photo / Michael Craig
THREE KEY FACTS
Like all OG Aucklanders, I'm upset that Smith and Caughey's in Queen St is to close up shop.
An expedition to the old girl was part of my history. Late night Friday, we'd troop in to Q Street and pay a visit to the glittering store and
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
1News
6 hours ago
- 1News
Are you paying too much for parking in NZ's big centres?
You might be paying too much for your parking, new research suggests. Vanessa Rader, head of research at Ray White Group, said she was inspired to look at how New Zealand's car park prices compared, after conducting similar research in Australia. She found what New Zealanders pay for parking can vary dramatically, even within cities. She said, on average, the daily fee being paid in CBDs was $39.53 in Auckland, $37.83 in Wellington, and $32.60 in Christchurch. But Aucklanders could be paying anything from $12 to $80, Wellington from $15 to $50, and Christchurch $10 to $98. She said that the range within cities suggested that markets were "highly fragmented" and location, quality, and convenience made a big difference to price. ADVERTISEMENT In Australia, the difference between cities was much more pronounced than within them, she said. "People always think of Auckland as being the most expensive, but it's not wildly more expensive. "It's really location sensitive… if people want to be in certain locations, they're willing to pay that extra.. but if you're just someone that's commuting and you're happy to walk a couple of blocks you can get a much cheaper price and you're still definitely within the CBD." Rader said Christchurch had the most aggressive "early bird" discounts, at 48.97%. She said that suggested an oversupply or weaker demand fundamentals. "This mirrors strategies seen in other struggling markets where operators prioritise volume over margin to maintain cash flow. "Wellington's more moderate 43.44% early bird discount indicates a more balanced supply-demand dynamic, while Auckland's 43.95% discount suggests healthy competition without desperation." ADVERTISEMENT Book online for savings She said booking online would give people good savings on their car parking. A generic carpark. (file photo). (Source: Operators had improved their offerings and made it easier to access charging facilities and parking via apps, she said. "You don't need to book days in advance or anything, it's all making it very seamless. Those car parking facilities that have a really easy way of being able to book their parking seem to be doing better." Some people who had access to or owned carpark spaces were using platforms to offer car parks to other people when they were not in use, she said. "There seems to be a lot of that happening in Auckland, not anywhere else that I can see." Christchurch had a 28.2% online discount, Auckland 19.9%, and Wellington 12.8%. ADVERTISEMENT She said the shift to hybrid working had affected parking operators. In Auckland, some car parks had additional discounts on Mondays and Fridays. "A clear acknowledgement that these have become the preferred work from home days in many offices… that really shows there's acceptance that the middle days of the week are when parking is more expensive." Few car parks changed hands in New Zealand. "The standout transaction being Downtown Carpark in Auckland's reported sale of $122 million for 2000 spaces at $61,000 per unit, though notably involves redevelopment for mixed-use purposes rather than pure parking investment." Smaller transactions in Wellington (24 Tory Street at $56,610 per unit) suggest varied pricing across different market tiers, however, limited data does make it difficult to benchmark results. "This transaction scarcity reflects the unique nature of parking assets, which are often tightly held by long-term owners or integrated within broader property portfolios. "However, the limited liquidity also creates repositioning opportunities for astute investors who recognise that prime CBD parking sites may hold more value as development land than as income-generating parking facilities."
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
Inside Leigh Hart's bonkers quest to hand-deliver a SnackaChangi chip to every Kiwi
Imagine one man trudging across New Zealand with a singular, absurd mission: to personally hand-deliver one SnackaChangi chip to each and every one of the country's 5.31 million residents. Not a bag, not a handful, but a singular crisp per person. That man is Leigh Hart, and his unhinged campaign for SnackaChangi is just as hilarious as it is utterly impractical. Chatting with Hart about this logistical nightmare, it's clear he's approaching it with the kind of Kiwi grit that might make Sir Edmund Hillary nod approvingly (or more likely take on Everest as the easier mountain to climb). Hart, known for his comedic antics on Sports Cafe and for spawning the SnackaChangi brand (loosely inspired by a whimsical moment in Bali), is no stranger to bold ideas. 'The chips are pretty good, you know,' he says with a grin. 'We think once you try one, you'll never go back. So why not get one to every Kiwi?' A noble sentiment perhaps, but the reality is a gloriously chaotic mess. The plan is to package each single chip in tiny individual packets and physically deliver them door-to-door. Sure enough, Hart quickly realised he'd bitten off more than he could crunch. 'I wish I never started,' he laughs. The first hurdle? Data. He tried accessing census information, only to find it less reliable than a 1987 telephone directory he scavenged from MOTAT. 'Have you ever tried to find a phone book?' he demands, exasperated. 'Took me two weeks!' Then there's the sheer scale of it. New Zealand's population is growing faster than Hart can keep up. 'Every time I deliver one, someone else is born,' he says. His initial alphabetical approach – delivering to an Auckland Smith before jetting to a Dunedin Smythe – was a disaster. 'I'd deliver two chips and spend a day travelling,' he groans. But then switching to a geographical strategy didn't help. 'People don't immigrate alphabetically, and they don't stay put like a census day.' Jolly inconsiderate of them, certainly by Hart's measure. The result? A comical inequity crisis. Some lucky Kiwis have received multiple chips, while others remain chip-less. 'I've had heated discussions at doorsteps,' Hart confesses. 'A guy wants chips for his wife and kids, but if they're not on my list, I have to plan a return in three weeks.' It's not an exact science, he concedes, and there can be collateral damage which, as in the above example, Hart has directly encountered. 'When Dad gets a chip but Mum's left in the cold… let's just say there can be familial discontent!' Hart's record-keeping is as old-school as his tattered telephone directory. He's crossing names off a list and tracking progress on an Auckland billboard that 'clicks over' with each delivery – though he suspects a disconnect between his vision and execution. 'Sometimes the number goes down,' he says, baffled. Undaunted, the quest rolls on, racking up some impressive wins. As of June 18, he'd delivered a whopping total of 17 chips. For a campaign that launched two days earlier, that's… a start. The logistics are mind-boggling. Hart's crisscrossing the country on motorbikes, steam trains, and anything else he can commandeer, meeting 'real Kiwis' along the way. 'I've been on a journey of personal discovery,' he says. 'To find myself, I need to lose myself – and maybe lose myself again.' But the physical toll is real. He's trekked kilometres into the bush only to find empty huts or, worse, learn the intended recipient has passed away. 'I have to take that chip back to the printers, repackage it, new name, reassign it,' he sighs. 'That's not really fully in my skillset.' Desperate for efficiency, drastic measures are making their way onto his personal whiteboard. 'I might get in an airplane, give a crop-dusting approach a go. Sort of a chip bomber,' he muses. Where history tells us frogs and even fish have occasionally rained down from the heavens, chips are lighter. Offering a better consistency, he nevertheless observes that wind direction could make accuracy a nightmare. 'I could drop them here, and they'll land there – probably on someone who's already had one.' Logistics may fail Hart, but optimism never does. 'We do these things not because they're easy, but because they're hard,' he says. With a 96% chance of 'something' happening (he won't specify what), Hart's pressing on, fuelled by the hope of connecting with Kiwis and maybe, just maybe, converting a nation to SnackaChangi. For now, he's back on the road, chip in hand, ready to meet the next Kiwi on his list. We suggest a chip to the moon may be easier.
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
Controversial Kiwi start-up Kiki, once worth $38m, folds in New York
Kiki co-founders Jack Montgomerie (left) and Toby Thomas-Smith, pictured in New York in 2023. Auckland-founded 'peer-to-peer subletting' start-up Kiki (formerly EasyRent) is pulling out of its only market – New York. The firm – valued at US$23 million ($38m) during a 2023 funding round – says it's been collateral damage in the city's war on Airbnb, a service it accused of pushing up rents.
