Competing with massive foreign-owned rivals eventually proved too tough for Smiths City, a Dunedin commercial property investor says.
Smiths City Dunedin, which moved to Crawford St this year, was among nine stores that temporarily closed yesterday after the company was placed into voluntary administration.
Property investor Jason La Hood, who is also a director of the city’s Golden Centre mall, said the announcement was “very unfortunate” for staff.
“If you are in a low-margin business with increasing fixed costs and your competitor is an Australian heavyweight such as Harvey Norman with immense buying power and a strong balance sheet then it doesn’t take much of a downturn for the dam to break.”
There was still strong demand…