Affordable rents, spruce-up key to restoring golden vision
Saturday, 27 June 2026
Years of uncertainty over upgrades to Wellington’s Golden Mile has left it with empty store fronts as small businesses struggle to find affordable spaces.
Along the Golden Mile, which stretches from Courtenay Place to Lambton Quay, The Post counted 50 vacant storefronts.
Welly Collective co-founder Libby Dearnley said she had found it difficult to secure an affordable new lease on Courtenay Place, after their flagship store in the Reading Cinema complex closed in December.
Previously, it was their most productive location.
But despite the number of empty retail spaces along Courtenay Place, Dearnley said the places she approached didn’t want to sign new tenants.
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She said it seemed like “a lot of people [were] holding off on projects”, with building owners waiting to see if the Golden Mile would go ahead before upgrading their buildings.
“People just seemed to be holding their breath waiting to see what happened.”
The Golden Mile project has been a point of contention among councillors and business owners for nearly a decade, with Wellington City Councillors voting last Thursday to cut back the project once and for all.
Despite its drab appearance, Dearnley said some Courtenay Place landlords expected higher rent than was practical given the current economy, which meant Welly Collective couldn’t find a space on the street within their budget.
She believed the only businesses that could afford the rent on Courtenay Place were the big nationwide brands, but they didn’t seem interested in setting up shop in a run-down area.
“[Landlords] can't get the locals, and you can't get the big box, because you haven't got the appearance of a thriving area.”
Dearnley said she had been excited about the prospect of the Golden Mile but also understood why people had reservations.
“Throwing around big numbers when everybody's struggling just to buy the weekly normals. I can totally understand why a lot of people are grateful that it's not going ahead, but I think that's a very short-term look rather than a long-term look.
“I would love to see some changes for Wellington,” she said, pointing to the recently opened Wellington-to-Petone cycleway as an example of community-minded infrastructure investment.
“Now that that is open, the people have come. It is that simple. Thousands of people are walking it.”
She believed the Golden Mile would have provided that for Wellington’s city centre.
But for some businesses in and around the Golden Mile, leaving felt like the only option.
Business owner Nicola Cranfield saidthe uncertainty surrounding the plans for the Golden Mile ultimately drove her to move her business out of the city after 33 years.
Up until two years ago, she had run her home goods store, Cranfields, from its Waring Taylor St location before moving her business up the coast to Kāpiti.
“We didn’t move because it wasn’t going well; we moved because of the uncertainty,” she said.
Cranfield said she didn’t renew the lease for her city location because it would have tied her up for three years. “I was so worried about all the construction and the noise and the disruption. I just didn’t know whether the business would survive that.”
She said many people were unwilling to commit to a lease amid so much uncertainty.
“I love Wellington, and I’m really passionate about it. It just makes me a bit sad when I walk around now. It needs some revitalisation.”
Retail NZ Chief Executive Carolyn Young, said there were many factors keeping businesses off the Golden Mile.
The most consequential were the rising cost of living and public-sector layoffs, which had hit Wellington particularly hard.
She said industries such as hospitality, catering, wholesale and cleaning had been affected as businesses were forced to reduce staff. Fewer people working meant less foot traffic.
Young said areas like Willis St and Lambton Quay came with high lease costs, and retailers needed to consider whether the amount of foot traffic justified those costs.
“If you're looking around and you're seeing half a dozen empty stores in the vicinity of where you might be looking, you're not going to open a store in that space,” she said.
“It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. As soon as one store closes, then another might close, then someone's not going to open in those places because there aren’t the right success factors to remain profitable and sustainable.”
Young said Wellington had been a particularly challenging environment for retailers, but was hopeful the recent Golden Mile announcement would give businesses more confidence.
Councillor Nicola Young, a vocal advocate against the Golden Mile proposal, said the project played a huge role in keeping businesses off the strip.
“I believe the council’s dithering procrastination of the Golden Mile has done an enormous amount of damage to our commercial sector,” she said. But work was still needed to “spruce up” the area.
“It’s not comfortable walking through Courtenay Place, Manners St, Te Aro Park in the evenings.”
Young said Wellington already had the highest commercial rates in the country, about 2.7 times more than Auckland and Christchurch.
Green Party Councillor Geordie Rogers was one of three councillors to vote against scrapping the project.
From Rogers’ perspective, the lack of pedestrian and communal spaces were killing businesses along the strip.
People didn't drive cars in the city centre as they used to, and city spaces needed to reflect that.
“All of these places that provide space for people to socialise, be able to experience indoor and outdoor flow and have a sense of community really are thriving,” he said.
With more people working from home, he saw a need to create spaces that incentivised people to visit businesses in the central city.
“When you provide high-quality public space, far more people actually go and visit that space.”
He said it would lead to better occupancy of buildings and a growing economy, with more people earning and, therefore, spending money.