Aussie retail icon Adairs to close its New Zealand stores

Wednesday, 6 May 2026

An Australasian retail icon has signalled it will not survive the downturn in New Zealand - with bedding, bath, homewares and furniture store Adairs closing all its seven retail stores here.

The stores are closing due to being 'commercially unviable' following recent financial losses, with Australia’s AFR reporting the Kiwi stores were “bleeding cash”.

Those stores include its first in Sylvia Park, opened in 2016, Albany, Botany, and the Manawa Bay Outlet in Auckland, at the Tower Junction in Christchurch, at The Base in Hamilton, Bayfair in Tauranga and at Capital Gateway in Wellington.

Online shopping will also be closed at the company, it said in an email to customers today.

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The company has 160 stores in Australia on top of its New Zealand properties. The Australian operation of the ASX-listed group is currently undergoing a 'reset' and expansion strategy.

Although the group saw a 34% drop in net profit for the first half of the current financial year, this was largely attributed to margin compression and high clearance activity rather than a lack of sales in the Australian market, which grew by over 44% in some divisions.

The situation is different this side of the Ditch.

“Adairs has made the difficult decision to close our New Zealand retail operations during June 2026,” it said.

“We want to sincerely thank our New Zealand team and customers for the loyalty and support you’ve shown Adairs over the years. Being part of your homes has meant so much to us.”

In ANZ card spending data for April released yesterday, spending on homewares and furniture across the month contracted significantly, down 2.5%, while the net proportion of households believing it is a good time to buy a major household item (the primary indicator for furniture and homewares) fell 11 points to -25.

But not everyone believes it is general market weakness. Retail expert Juanita Neville-Te Rito said in the crowded homewares space - which recently became more crowded with the entrance of Ikea - “the competitive landscape in NZ means gaining brand cut-through has been hard”.

She also said the Australian iconography the company retained in New Zealand - koalas and kookaburras and so forth - may not have translated well.

Adairs also operates Christchurch-founded furniture company Mocka, which it purchased in 2020 for A$75.5 million. That brand is reportedly growing by about 30% each year.

Mocka currently utilises physical space within select Adairs stores (such as Sylvia Park, Albany, and Hamilton ) as 'shop-in-shops' to display furniture. These will close along with the Adairs retail locations by June 2026.

Mocka is 'open and actively looking' for its first standalone physical store in New Zealand, aiming for a launch in the second half of the 2026 financial year.