Bay Harbour: November 04, 2020

PAGE 8 Wednesday November 4 2020
BAY HARBOUR
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Smiths City moving with the times
• By Bea Gooding
SMITHS CITY has officially
settled into a new home after
more than 100 years serving
Cantabrians from its former
central city location.
The iconic furniture and appliance
retailer opened its new
flagship store in The Colombo,
Sydenham, last week, a site
previously occupied by Spotlight
until last year.
It also rebranded with a new
logo to reflect the beginning of a
new era.
Chief executive Tony Allison
was excited with the launch and
said the relocation to Sydenham
was for a more “local approach,”
and to be in the heart of a community,
rather than the central
business district.
Decisions behind the move
were a combination of the store’s
ownership change earlier this
year and the expiry of their former
Colombo St store’s lease in
the coming months.
It was now owned by Colin
Neal, of Polar Capital.
“It’s a great opportunity. We’ve
been in big cities, but we moved
to feel more local and to get
amongst the suburb which is
more like us going forward,” said
Allison.
“The retail experience has
also been lifted. The look, the
NEW ERA: Smiths City chief executive Tony Allison at the new flagship store in The
Colombo.
textures, the colours – everything’s
a lot more vibrant now, I
believe.”
Shoppers can expect a modern
and inviting atmosphere, new
fixtures, an updated product
range and interactive events.
The new premises is nearly
half the size of the former site,
downsizing from 6600 sq m to
3233 sq m.
A “smile” was embedded in its
new logo to celebrate what it is
to be Kiwi – “warm, straight up,
and honest,” – while delivering
its services with a “cheeky” grin.
New beginnings meant new
approaches to how services were
delivered.
“In retail, everyone looks
over their shoulder to see what
everyone else is doing, they go –
how do we outcompete them?”
he said.
“We want to do the opposite,
when everyone else is zigging,
we want to zag. We want to be
honest, Kiwi retailers, with good
service, that know our products
and tell you honestly what the
[product] is going to do.
“We don’t want to bamboozle
customers with buzzwords and
specs to try and get the sale, we
want to do the right thing by the
customer.”
Allison was concerned about
the future in spite of the new
store.
“If you don’t have concerns at
this time with what’s going on,
you’re probably not thinking
hard enough,” he said.
“We’ve got to be mindful
of what’s happening with the
economy and be prepared.”
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