Mayor launches "Pride in your Premises" initiative

Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult has launched an initiative to encourage businesses and commercial property owners to smarten up the presentation of their buildings.

He said the concept came about after he reflected on what he had seen during recent strolls in downtown Queenstown, Wanaka and Arrowtown.

“For every business that is immaculately and proudly presented in line with our status as a leading visitor destination, I noticed another that would benefit from some attention to its appearance.

With support from the Wanaka and Queenstown Chambers, Downtown Queenstown and the Arrowtown Business Promotion Association, Mr Boult said he was launching a “Pride in your Premises” initiative.

“Our hope is that this campaign will engage the business sector, trigger some healthy competition and influence businesses and property owners to put some fresh thought into how they are presenting their investment.”

Based on what he noticed while walking around the district’s town centres, improvements to how businesses were presented would not necessarily require a large expense.

“It may be as simple as ensuring shop fronts are clear of rubbish during the day, giving shopfronts a lift through a damn good clean, and being a bit creative. At the end of the day it’s got to be good for business and will set us up well for the busy winter season that’s just ahead.”

Mr Boult added a personal plea to locals to show a good example to visitors and avoid littering our streets. “Our town custodians do a great job of keeping the streets clean; we can make their job so much easier by being conscientious about putting our litter in the bin.”

“I understand from the Police that there is an established link between town pride and lower crime rates, so this initiative will be good for our whole community.”

The entry process for the Pride in your Premises initiative was simple and Mr Boult will be judging the entries himself. “I’ll be looking for a couple of “before and after” photos and a description of what a business has done to improve their street frontage.”

The top entries from across the district will be awarded a gold “Pride in your Premises” award to display in their shopfronts. All entries will go into a draw for an Air New Zealand Mystery Break for two.

Entries are open now through the QLDC website www.qldc.govt.nz and close on Friday 2 June.

ENDS

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