First dairies, now a supermarket? Fears crime has claimed a Hamilton Countdown

Wednesday, 5 April 2023

Countdown Nawton is set to close after 35 years in operation, in part because theft has made future operations untenable.

First it was the city’s dairies, now there are fears crime has claimed a branch of a major supermarket chain.

Countdown Nawton, the sole supermarket in one of Hamilton’s most deprived communities, will shut likely in August, but the company declined to comment on reports that retail crime in the store had become too much to bear.

On Tuesday afternoon the supermarket, tucked in the corner of the Nawton shopping precinct, was busy. The adjacent pharmacy administered flu shots while high schoolers clocking off for the day ordered takeaway.

According to Countdown insiders, retail crime has got so out of hand at the supermarket that when added to a raft of seismic issues the premises presents, the supermarket was on thin ice.

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Sonja van Vliet, who has lived in Nawton since 1978 and had shopped at the supermarket for almost all of its 35-year existence, said it was “incredible” that it was set to shut.

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“They’re keeping that nice and quiet,” she said.

She would travel to a neighbouring suburb of Dinsdale, several kilometres away, for her regular shop instead.

According to a Countdown spokesperson, on Friday the supermarket was slated to remain open.

“No, we aren’t closing down Countdown Nawton,” they said.

However, by Tuesday Countdown had told Stuff the Nawton branch would indeed close. What had changed over the weekend was a “matter of making sure stakeholders were aware”.

A staff member at Sanjay Joshi’s West Hamilton pharmacy serves a customer.

In Tuesday’s statement, Matt Grainger, Countdown’s director of property, confirmed the store’s closure.

“We’ve recently let our team know that we’ve made the difficult decision to close the Countdown Nawton store later this year.

”Countdown Nawton is one of our smaller stores and has been part of our network for over 35 years so this is not a decision we take lightly. We’ve looked at how we could keep the store open but unfortunately there are a number of issues that mean it's unable to meet the requirements of a modern retail supermarket.”

Several Countdown insiders and those who operate businesses in the same shopping precinct told Stuff one reason was retail crime.

When put to Countdown, a spokesperson said: “We can’t provide particular detail about retail crime in one of our stores.”

Bruce Flay says thieves have ruined the shopping potential for the rest of the community.

Sanjay Joshi, the owner of West Hamilton pharmacy and the chairperson of the precinct’s body corporate said: “What I'm told by the employees of Countdown so far is that there are two reasons behind their leaving. One of them is concerns the building not being earthquake proof.”

Joshi says that is “difficult to believe”.

“I am the landlord for our shop and if that particular shop wasn’t earthquake proof the same thing should have been the case with my shop. I haven’t been informed by any authority that this is the case … I have difficulty seeing whether this is true or not.

“The second thing they told me is that they just can’t handle the thefts any more, they just can’t even touch anybody whether he is pocketing something, something is up their sleeves, sometimes they stuff it up their jacket. So, with that they can’t handle the losses any more.”

Joshi and other business owners nearby tell of witnessing repeated episodes in which shoplifters and thieves brazenly walk out of the shop flouting security guards and the law.

Bruce Flay isn’t sure any community pushback would have much of an effect on Countdown’s decision.

“I think it’s going to happen no matter what people say. From what I’ve heard it’s not only the unsafe building but the theft as well. We pay for our groceries, why can’t those other buggers pay for theirs?”

Flay says its unfair that thieves have taken away an important amenity away from his community.

Van Vliet, another Nawton local, added that Countdown’s “hope that [customers] continue to shop with us at one of our other locations nearby including Countdown Dinsdale, Countdown Te Rapa and Countdown Hamilton” belies the realities of the neighbourhood.

Those stores are between 2.3km and 5.3km away.

”Although for a lot of people Dinsdale might not be far, for some people it's a hell of a long way because they might not have transport,” she said.

Hamilton West MP Tama Potaka agrees, and said while he doesn’t want to presuppose the reason for the store’s closure: “it wouldn’t surprise me if the level of crime goes into decision-making, but I’d like to speak to Countdown properly before making a more sweeping comment”.

He said the impact of the community of Nawton would be “huge,” and would “increase the strain on whānau” who would now have to travel further afield to buy groceries.

“There are a whole raft of implications from that decision. I’m not sure Countdown have taken that into account … It’s probably more about dollars.”

Potaka said he plans on meeting the CEO of Woolworths New Zealand in the coming days.

“Let’s see what Countdown have to say.”