New Store Not Hypermarket

By HARVEY, Helen

THE new Warehouse in Palmerston North, due to open in Church Street next month, won’t be a hypermarket, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

But the new store will have an extended grocery section.

Down the road, Pioneer New World Supermarket owner Darrin Wong said the opening of the new Warehouse doesn’t bother him.

“It’s a positive move. It will bring people down our end of town.”

He doesn’t think the discount store will take his custom, but said it isn’t for him to comment.

Speculation mounted this week that the discount retailer may be going to sell alcohol if it opens a hypermarket sometime next year.

“We have openly talked about the fact that we are going down the hypermarket route, and we have to be prepared for the opportunities that could go along with that,” the spokeswoman said.

But she stressed that no decision has been made at this point.

A hypermarket would include full grocery service selling fresh and frozen foods.

The new Palmerston North store has more than 7700 square metres of retail space and includes new services such as a cafe, a mothers’ room and an ATM.

Fresh food will also be available in a grab-and-go section that will be stocked with a range of ready-to-eat products including sandwiches, salads, a heat and eat range, muffins and ice-creams.