House Full At Botany Town Centre

The house full sign is out at Auckland’s newest shopping centre only three months after the final stage of Botany Town Centre was handed over by the construction team.

And it has been a hectic 90 days for both tenants and management alike at the $185 million shopping precinct in East Auckland.

A number of new retail stores in the centre represent New Zealand firsts, a tenant has won a major regional business award and – to cap it all off – the Prime Minister yesterday officially opened Botany Town Centre.

Manager Gale Wieland says Botany Town Centre now has ‘a great mix of stores covering a huge range of retail and service industries and providing the people of East Auckland with a superior mix of shopping’.

“I’m really pleased we are the location of choice for some of New Zealand’s best established retailers,” Ms Wieland says. “It’s also very exciting that many new businesses have chosen Botany Town Centre to launch new store concepts.”

Botany Town Centre has a number of national retailers as tenants and is home to Farmers biggest New Zealand store. But it also hosts a wide range of specialty shops – from flowers to cuisine and gifts to boutique clothing.

New shops opened since the end of May include Organic Kitchen, the City Cake Shop, Pagani women’s fashion, Sanctuary, Origins, Esprit and LV Martin.

Esprit’s store is the first in New Zealand for the Hong Kong brand – and it will be the only one until the concept is rolled out throughout New Zealand later in the year according to Tony Jacka of Red Earth International.

“Botany Town Centre provided the ideal location to launch the new Esprit concept because it is so different to ‘run of the mall’ shopping centres – it’s a new look for New Zealand and has a great positive image,” Mr Jacka said.

“And that suits Esprit which stocks some very different merchandise and, for New Zealand, an extended range of casual wear for the entire family,” he said.

Origins is a US skin care brand and its shop at Botany Town Centre represents the brand’s first stand-alone store. Origins was previously found only within bigger departments stores.

Sanctuary is the first of well known lingerie label Bendon’s new concept stores.

Organic Kitchen owner Patrick McCarthy says he chose Botany Town Centre because of its superior layout.

“It’s only a second shop and we wanted it to fit with a streetscape layout where we can throw open the windows. It’s a new concept – the Espresso Food Store – we are trying it out at Botany Town Centre. We love the feel and atmosphere here,” Mr McCarthy says.

Pub and brewing company Cock & Bull operations manager Charmaine Borland thought someone was telling a porky when told the pub had pulled the supreme award of the Manukau Business Excellence Awards in July.

The company began brewing handcrafted ales and lagers in 1995 and has always invested heavily in Manukau employing local staff and providing ongoing training for locals.

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