‘We won’t have a city’: Pandoro closing Wellington cafes

Friday, 6 September 2024

Cafe and bakery chain Pandoro is closing its Wellington stores.

A spokesperson confirmed the Allen St, Willis St and Woodward St outlets were shutting permanently today.

The Auckland operation is unaffected.

Pandoro’s website says it has operated in New Zealand for 22 years after “being set up by its original founders to produce and retail the highest quality authentic Italian artisan breads and cakes”.

It is another blow to Wellington’s hospitality scene, which has been rocked by a spate of closures - most recently Egmont St Deli & Diner, restaurant Concord and two Courtenay Pl bars, Sugarwoods and Rubix.

Pandoro Willis St manager Sarantos Economo, who had been working there for 22 years, said the closure was “heartbreaking”.

“We won’t have a city,” he said.

The staff were told of the closure on Tuesday.

Customers flooded the cafe this morning, supporting Economo and his staff.

“The most beautiful people, the most beautiful place,” a customer said, while holding back tears.

Some staff had other jobs lined up, but not all.

Loyal customers were wondering where they were going to go for their daily coffee.

“I feel sorry for the staff, they are all so amazing,” one said. She said it was very sad to have such little notice and she would miss the hardworking staff and great coffee.

“It feels surreal, I’m in denial.”

Economo said the reasons were “obvious”. Although there was a culmination of issues like the rise in people working from home, the council had made everything worse.

He said no one would want to come in if Wellington City Council kept “stuffing the city”.

Pandoro Wellington owner Tony Beazley said consultation had just finished with staff at the three bakeries in Wellington, with plans to pay wages, rent and creditors as long as he could, before closing down the sites.

The decision to shut followed a failed attempt to sell the business last year. Trade had been hit by the economic climate and mass redundancies in the public sector.

“Wellington remained profitable and quite strong, but this has absolutely gutted it. There was a day on The Terrace where 2500 people were made redundant one Friday, we sold a lot of cakes, but we didn’t see anybody in the next Monday,” Beazley told Stuff.

Foot traffic had also been killed off by construction work, and cycle and bus lanes, he said.

“Our original bakery on Allen Street is absolutely flat because of the cycle lane and bus lanes coming off Cambridge Terrace.”

Wellington City councillor Tim Brown, chairperson of the Environment and Infrastructure Committee and a “coffee shop-aholic”, rubbished claims roadworks were to blame.

Myrtle, on Kent Terrace, had limited parking and a cycle lane in front of it, but was so busy he had to queue most times. Aro Bake was another often-packed favourite.

“There’s a hell of a lot of coffee shops in Wellington that are doing really well.”

Brown had been to Pandoro many times over the years and was sorry to see it closing, but “I don’t blame it on the council, I blame it on the market”.

He was sympathetic to businesses affected by infrastructure work, but usually it was necessary. The council should consider compensation if businesses had lost traffic, he believed.

Deputy mayor Laurie Foon said it was devastating to hear about another “highly-regarded business that's contributed much to Wellington's rich hospo culture” closing.

“We feel for all of our local retail and hospo business community as central Wellington in particular is doing it tough due to people working from home, inflation and the economy in general – and now the Government’s job cuts are exacerbating the situation. I urge Wellingtonians that can, to be out supporting our local businesses as much as possible through this time.”