Tax and online trading kill Statue Bargain Barn

BY MARGARET IRVINE - KAPITI OBSERVER

The Statue Bargain Barn in Paraparaumu, once claimed to be the largest second-hand store in the country, will close its doors for the final time on March 31.

"We've been regulated out of business," owner Bruce Lang said last week.

"There's one three letter word that explains why we are closing and that is t-a-x. I cannot and will not compete with people on Trade Me who do not pay GST or PAYE and have no overheads for rent, power or wages.

"I have paid out $2500 for a second hand dealer's licence and I have to keep a police book for records. I've paid millions in taxes over the years. It's unbelievable that people can go online and sell and don't have to do any of this.

"We all love to have free hospitals and free schools but if people aren't paying tax it's not going to happen."

He said Occupational Safety and Health regulations had also impacted on the store, with a range of products, nursery furniture for example, governed by OSH regulations for their resale, which meant he no longer accepted them for sale although they could legally be sold online.

He said 75 per cent of all second hand shops had gone out of business and some real estate agents and car dealers had also been affected by online trading.

Mr Lang said he had already closed the upstairs floor of the shop which had once been very successful. He has reduced the number of staff from 15 to two and cut the Bargain Barn's hours from seven days a week down to five, but the writing was on the wall and he would be closing shop.

Part of the business was seriously damaged by fire in 2000, but he rebuilt and continued to trade.

"We survived the fire. We survived the influx of cheap imported goods at shops like The Warehouse, the two dollar shops and the cheap auto places. They had the same overheads and taxes we had. But we can't compete with Mr Brown and Mrs Jones who can go on Trade Me and sell the same goods I do. "If I go out and pick up a two-seater couch for $20 I've already spent that much again on it with diesel, time and wages. So I put it out on the shop floor for $90 and even then I don't get that much on it, because over $10 will go in GST. But someone from home can sell the same couch for $50 online and make a clear $50 profit."

Mr Lang said there was an element of relief in his decision to close up shop. "I've been in business since I was 23 and I'm 62 now. There are other things to think about, like family and health."

He would still have some work irons in the fire, doing chattel valuations of deceased estates and matrimonial settlements, but he would no longer trade.

The Statue Bargain Barn in Tongariro Street was available for sale or lease.