The Warehouse goes toe-to-toe with Ikea, revives abandoned Auckland site (temporarily)
Thursday, 4 December 2025
The Warehouse is opening a pop-up store in one of its abandoned sites in the leadup to Christmas, hoping to divert some of the shopping traffic away from Auckland’s new Ikea store.
But the drive to give Kiwis an ever better bargain in the affordable furniture stakes seems to go against comments Red Shed management made at the company’s AGM six days ago ‒ that bargain-hunting is ruining retail in New Zealand.
This morning, the listed retailer unveiled plans to revive ‒ albeit briefly ‒ the big red shed on the corner of Auckland’s Dominion and Balmoral roads, the site of a once vibrant Warehouse that has sat, dilapidated, for more than 10 years now.
Promising that customers can visit the store and get their homes ready for summer, “without blowing the budget or getting stuck in Sylvia Park traffic”, the store is promising that new bargains will be “dropping every week”.
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Mark Stirton, CEO of The Warehouse Group, said “The Warehouse Bargain Shed” ‒ as it will be known ‒ is “about us getting back to our roots and doing what The Warehouse does best: great value, and a bit of Kiwi ingenuity. For anyone keen to skip the Sylvia Park traffic and hunt for a homeware bargain, Mount Eden is the place to be.”
The store will look a little old school and basic compared with other The Warehouse stores, but inside shoppers are promised a wide range of bed, bath and homewares “designed to make homes feel fresh.
“There are soft, stylish throws from just $11, glassware sets from $6 to make summer entertaining easy, curtains for $29 to give rooms a quick refresh, and plate sets for $10 to set the table for Christmas lunch.”
This compares with Ikea’s $6-$10 or so for the most basic glassware set ‒ already running low at the company’s new store in Sylvia Park, according to its website ‒ $10 for a stock-standard throw, plate sets that start at about $40 for a four pack and a $25 curtain.
The Warehouse Bargain Shed is giving Ikea a run for its money in the opening stakes as well, trading seven days a week from 10am to 6pm. Parking is currently quite free; the store’s parking lot is often used by locals to teach their teens to drive and on Sunday becomes the very popular central city flea markets.
No cash is accepted.
“This pop-up store is all about fun, value, and giving Kiwis more choice, because when it comes to refreshing your home nothing beats a real bargain,” Stirton said.
The fight on price is an interesting tack for Stirton to take, given only six days ago at Warehouse Group annual meeting he said New Zealand retail had trained the consumer to “hunt for discounts all the time”, making it more difficult for operators such as itself to keep regular sales stable.
But Stirton had said the group did not want to be discounting, particularly given the state of its eroded margins.
“We don't want to discount, that's the worst thing in retail is to discount your margin, but we've obviously got to respond to the market conditions and what others are doing,” Stirton said.
“I think we've also trained the consumer to hunt for a discount all the time, and so that's also making things more difficult.”
The group was cautious but hopeful for a strong trading environment in the current quarter ‒ typically the busiest of the year, after it had spent much of last year revamping its product assortment, pricing and in-store experience, in part to take on the likes of Ikea.