Te Omanga Hospice revamps retail operation

Te Omanga Hospice revamps retail operation – signs lease for Fitzherbert Street warehouse

Te Omanga Hospice, the Hutt Valley specialist palliative care provider, today announced that it had signed a lease for a warehouse and would be closing its shop on Petone’s Jackson Street.

The announcement follows a review of the hospice’s retail operation that currently comprises three shops: 50 Queens Drive, Lower Hutt; 226 Main Street, Upper Hutt; and 374 Jackson Street, Petone. The hospice plans to move into the warehouse at 41 Fitzherbert Street, Petone in August, once improvements have been made to the building.

The hospice’s Chief Executive Biddy Harford said, “We have long sought a centrally located warehouse from which we could manage our retail operation. With the lease term ending for our Petone Shop, we took the opportunity to secure this warehouse and as a result will cease to have a presence on Jackson Street from 30 September. For a period of two months, there will be an overlap of operating both the shop at 374 Jackson in order to clear stock, and the warehouse, as part of this new transition.

“The Jackson Street shop had a number of limitations, it was some distance from the centre of Petone and no longer fits our purposes. In contrast, the new warehouse is in a high profile location on a road just off the railway station/new Bunnings end of Jackson Street and has on-site parking.”

The hospice says the warehouse will act as a depot for receiving stock. The hospice truck will continue to collect donated goods and take them to the warehouse, where they will be sorted and priced.

“This means shop staff will spend less time sorting and pricing goods and more time on the shop floor serving and helping customers. Having a dedicated warehouse also means we can close our two storage facilities that are currently incurring cost. As well as collecting donations, the warehouse is also a new central drop-off location for donors right throughout the Hutt Valley.”

“Premises of this type in the area are very much in demand as development in Petone is increasingly taking place around the western end of Jackson Street and surrounding area. Had we waited, we could have been locked out of this area at a price the hospice could afford.”

The majority of hospices nationwide run retail charity shops. Mary Potter Hospice already has a warehouse in Porirua to service their retail outlets across Wellington and the Kapiti coast.

Biddy Harford says, “From modest beginnings in the late 1990s, Te Omanga Hospice’s retail operation has grown to be a significant enterprise. We are very focused on ensuring our retail operation is the best it can be. The funds raised from retail represent a significant component of our fundraising programme amounting to 37% of fundraising revenue.”

The hospice needs to raise over $2.5 million every year from the community to keep the doors open and to be able to continue to provide comprehensive palliative care free-of-charge to those who need its services.

ENDS

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