The Tipping Point: Times finally got too tough for Wellington design store

Saturday, 7 March 2026

Clint Black opened Bello design store in 1999 as a way of introducing Kiwis to cutting edge design. He will close the Willis St store on March 28.

Hundreds of failed businesses shut their doors every year - but behind every closure are owners who had lofty dreams and ambitions. The Tipping Point tells their stories

You can’t, says Clint Black, keep flogging a dead horse.

Black is talking about retail, specifically bricks and mortar retail.

The owner of Wellington design store Bello is shutting its physical store front at the end of the month, after almost three decades of trading from the same Willis St site.

Bello opened in 1999, showcasing a range of cutting edge global designware, unique pieces from places the former pattern maker had travelled to during 13 years as a flight attendant.

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“Wellington had nothing like it,” says Black.“We were bringing something fresh and new.”

The city was pumping. Movie production was at its peak, the big corporates and international ad agencies were spending up large and bars and restaurants were heaving.

But the writing was on the wall. Increasing numbers of independent stores folded as the chains moved in, the corporates moved to Auckland, costs rose and kept rising, and Covid happened.

Black believed the traditional bricks-and-mortar retail chapter was over.

Escalating rents and interest rates made the reality of keeping the doors open 'too tough”. With his lease due to expire, Black made the decision to close.

“I just thought it’s not worth sticking around, here’s my opportunity.”

The post-Covid landscape was an added challenge; the shift towards working from home combined with public sector job cuts had hollowed out the city centre.

“The bottom line is that people are working from home, [usually on] Fridays and Mondays, so there’s two days out of your equation in the city. And then they often taken Wednesday, Thursday, so there’s another two days.

“Then we had the change of government and higher interest rates and [thousands of] people lost their jobs. There's no real coming back from that.”

Yes there’s a tinge of sadness ‒“definitely, because I love retail and I love the interaction” ‒ but ultimately it came down to economics and a much-changed city.

“We survived stock market crashes, we survived earthquakes. During Covid it was great, but the knock-on effect since … it’s been difficult. Really, it hasn’t been viable for the last 18 months. Basically it’s been a case of keeping the doors open just to stay open.”

While Bello will continue to operate as an online store, Black believed the traditional bricks-and-mortar retail chapter was over ‒ that was unsustainable, and not just for independents and owner-operated stores but for the wider retail sector.

“I would say the chains are hurting too, maybe more so.”

He points to the closure of Debenhams department stores in the UK as an example. The company traded from its physical shops for more than 200 years and was still opening new ones as recently as 2017. Bought out by Boohoo in 2021 it now trades online only.

Evolving shopping habits ‒ especially among younger people ‒ were part of a broader, irreversible change across “the whole marketplace”.

“It’s generational. Young people don't want to shop in a store. And you know, I admire people who want to come in and do new things, but you can’t beat a bucking trend, you can’t keep flogging a dead horse if it’s not going to happen.

“I don’t see retail coming back to what it was ever again. I see it evolving into a new way of thinking with maybe shop fronts becoming more showroom focused” ‒ so brand touch points rather than the main place people actually buy.

Black plans to take a well deserved holiday before hitting the European trade fairs in September to pick up new stock for a rebranded and refreshed online store.