Bunnings quick to grab 'key' Tory St Mitre 10 site

Mitre 10's key downtown site in Tory St has been nabbed by the competition – giant Australian DIY chain Bunnings.

Auckland property developer Rob Vincent, who ran the Mitre 10 outlets in Tory St, Kilbirnie and Crofton Downs, had the three companies put into receivership last week and receivers BDO Spicers had been looking to sell them as going concerns. The stores were still trading as normal.

Bunnings national property manager Dan Kneebone said the Tory St store would be rebranded by April and talks with existing staff about ongoing employment would be held soon.

Bunnings New Zealand acting general manager Peter Darbyshire said the Tory St store was a key site.

"We've got our eyes on a number of potential sites across the country. We want to get closer to 30 stores by 2013 – we are currently sitting at 18."

Bunnings' store in Wellington's Lyall Bay would be upgraded this year to a large format warehouse store. The company announced last August that it was looking to spend $150 million in expansion into new sites, and was scouring the country.

Bunnings had allocated $42m for land acquisition and $108m for new construction.

Mitre 10 Group spokesman Ray Clark said he knew another party was looking at the site, but could not add anything further.

He said Mitre 10 did not like to give up prime space in Wellington, and the lease should have been better managed by Mr Vincent.

"I would have thought that he would have negotiated a better deal after taking over from Radfords," he said.

The dealings of the individual owner-operators was their own business and the group had little control over how it was managed, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News