Woodville businesses holding on in post-gorge world

Wednesday, 18 July 2018

Business owners in Woodville speak about the effect of the Manawatū Gorge highway closure on the town. (First published, July 2018)

More than a year after the road through the Manawatū Gorge was shut, surviving business owners in the town that's borne the brunt of the resulting economic hard times are starting to cautiously plan for the future.

Some Woodville business owners reported as much as 70 per cent drop in revenue in the immediate aftermath of the rock fall-induced road closure in April last year.

The closure meant commuters travelling between Manawatū and Hawke's Bay could bypass the town – Saddle Rd, the main alternative route, doesn't take motorists into Woodville like State Highway 3 did.

In July 2017, there was worse news when roading officials announced the closure was indefinite and the financial strain forced several businesses to close, including Oosh La La and Frocks for Sale.

Woodville Masonic Hotel owner Bert Macfarlane says it's been a hard year and he is holding on to his business by his fingernails.

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Remaining business owners were faced with waiting years until the gorge replacement route opens, with attitudes ranging from dogged determination to a guarded optimism that Woodville's fortunes were turning around.

Woodville Masonic Hotel owner Bert Macfarlane said it's been a hard year and he was holding on to his business by his fingernails.

'I relied on the gorge. Now, I'm borrowing money from the whānau to keep afloat.'

It hasn't been the best of times for Woodville since the road through the Manawatū Gorge closed.

A little over a year ago, the hotel's bar was booming after it was featured in a book called the Great Kiwi Pub Crawl in 2016. People – mostly students – were coming over the ranges by the busload every weekend to prop up the bar, but that stopped when the gorge closed.

Macfarlane hoped he'd be able to recover some of his losses providing accommodation to workers once construction started on the replacement route.

Chances restaurant and takeaways owner Georgina Wilson said some people thought she was nuts to open a new business in post-gorge closure Woodville.

The 2017 slips in the Manawatū Gorge heralded bad news for Woodville businesses.

'We just took the chance and I think we're proving them wrong.'

The restaurant was doing well and even if there wasn't as much traffic as there used to be, there were still plenty of people keen to stop for a good meal.

John Preston, owner of Antique Fabric and Lace, said times were tough after the gorge closed, but Woodville was turning a corner as the population grew and more investment was attracted by the promised work on the replacement route.

Preston said he wasn't going anywhere, either way, because Woodville was a good fit for his business.

Niche and speciality businesses like his weren't surviving in the cities any more because the rents were too high. But since their customers are willing to come to them they can find a place in smaller towns, he said.

Preston wouldn't be surprised if similar stores started replacing the shops Woodville had lost.

Woodville Mart owner Kevin Ashwell was more pessimistic.

Ashwell said the shop's revenue was still down by 30 per cent, with little improvement in the past year.

But the shop was s still there and like many other business owners, Ashwell was determined to tough it out until the replacement route opened, he said.

'You know it's going to be a long time, so you make the decisions to keep things yourself going. It's just about being cautious.'

Ashwell has cut back on his expenses to give himself breathing room.