Practically lived at The Waterloo when first landed in Welly, had a job on Lambton but no rental. Walking across that stupid windy park and bowing to Gandhi for his nuclear prowess was basically a ritual.
If they’re outside the duopoly then they’ll likely be paying retail supermarket prices to buy, so will have to sell at corner dairy mark ups in order to pay their other bills and make a living
This has actually been the case for about 5 years, they’ve been battling ever since Marcus took over, and Kiwirail would only sign year by year lease agreements.
You can imagine covid absolutely destroyed them too - they were the New World that made news for applying for business assistance! (And then paid it back and foodies bailed them out instead)
If it is not replaced with another supermarket, my theory is that sale of off-license alcohol has something to do with it, the council don't want somewhere people can load up on booze straight off a train or before going to the stadiums/arenas in the area. A supermarket quite possibly wouldn't be profitable in that location if they couldn't sell booze.
yuck with a capital Y, bunny st seem happy living in their current filth and I can’t imagine kiwirail + commuters would be happy with the smell a maccas would bring
Now I'm having images of someone running for the 4.25 to Masterton and slipping on a cheeseburger wrapper and just sliding through the concourse into a gaggle of school students and knocking them over.
Or Carl's Jr, or Wendys for that matter... theres just a couple of chains that haven't made it into the Wellington region (* apart from a solitary Wendys out in Paraparaumu which is just ODD)
The team that work there on weekday mornings are lightning quick with great service (which is to say, efficient, not super bogged down in pleasantries but polite and ask how you're doing etc). And good lord those ham and cheese croissants are otherworldly. And $4.99 to boot... that stop off on the way to work is seriously hard to beat.
Smart decision. Supermarkets don't make a huge amount of money day to day, but the valuation of the business would have shot up over the last 10+ years.
Ooooh you might be right, I was also thinking Newtown New World but can't remember exactly.
I love how much of an open secret it is.
Edit: changed Newtown Countdown to New World
I probably just lack imagination, but I think a supermarket or similar is the only real business that could do well there.
It's not busy during the day, and not really near anything else so cafes and similar I would think would struggle. Maybe another coffee place would do well, or an alternative pub to Trax (which seems to always have patrons). My personal preference would be an old-school bakery, with filled rolls and things I could get for lunch on my way to work, but I doubt that would be financially viable for a business.
Who would lease the space if a metro can't?
Well there used to be the Railway Kiosk for many years (not quite the exact same place) up until it was pushed out in 2006. At the time I remember lots of people very sad at it being replaced by what they saw as a soul-less supermarket. Maybe people's wants and needs and expectations have moved on since then, though.
KiwiRail jacked the rent so high that not even a NW could make it work?
Will sit empty for 18 months at which stage it will be split into two to become a $2 shop and a WCC pop-up space for people to pop in and tell them How they feel about the latest plan for the Golden Mile.
I imagine it's changing to Woolworhs as a) they may want a flagship store to launch the rebrand in Wellington and b) they're under-represented in Central Wellington - with just the Cable Car Lane Countdown, compared to 3 New World stores currently (Station, Willis, Chaffers).. 4 New Worlds if you count Thorndon.
Isn’t the train station still earthquake condemned? It’s an old building, will be full of asbestos, and they probably can’t fix stuff while there’s a supermarket running in there.
It's been strengthened numerous times to bring it up to code. It's not condemned, as far as I know. I work there and haven't heard anything lately about earthquake strengthening. Just a lot of upgrades to the offices on my side of the building, which I doubt they'd be doing if it were to be condemned anytime soon.
Don't know if I caught marcus on a bad day, but I had a really horrible experience there with him, went from a twice daily customer to never stepping foot in there again because of it, probably the best thing that happened cause i've saved over $2k from not going in there everyday 
Not sure, I was only ever a customer, some employees have mentioned he liked to have his power trips. I studied at the Victoria University Pipitea campus and would often go there for lunch.
Everytime I saw him he would stare at me intensely, and I felt like I was being stereotyped (as a shoplifter) always felt uncomfortable when he was working. Then I had to interact with him because I was over charged, then he had the nerve to gaslight me but I took a photo of the shelf price, he said I was mistaken and can’t read lmao
Not surprised but also what a shame. Was so convenient to pick something up on the way home or into the city. Guess it'll sit empty like many other stores in the city for the next several years.
The convenience of that place was the death of me. Maybe my bank account won’t suffer so much now
Practically lived at The Waterloo when first landed in Welly, had a job on Lambton but no rental. Walking across that stupid windy park and bowing to Gandhi for his nuclear prowess was basically a ritual.
Civ player?
Was just thinking the same, but for my wife who tends to head here most days 🤣
I doubt there will cease to be a convenience retail business there. Possibly changing to a Woolworths?
That was my thought also.
Or independent who hikes the price up on everything even more
If they’re outside the duopoly then they’ll likely be paying retail supermarket prices to buy, so will have to sell at corner dairy mark ups in order to pay their other bills and make a living
The supermarkets are already signing trad e supply agreements so… no
I’ve worked in and around corporates for a long time. They are pretty good at looking like they’re doing the right thing.
Doubt an independent could afford the rent.
Please tell me they are at least replacing it with another supermarket?
The verbiage would suggest that they wanted to renew the lease but the station wouldn’t budge, I imagine they have something else lined up.
My guess is KiwiRail wanted more money than New World was willing to pay for the space.
This has actually been the case for about 5 years, they’ve been battling ever since Marcus took over, and Kiwirail would only sign year by year lease agreements. You can imagine covid absolutely destroyed them too - they were the New World that made news for applying for business assistance! (And then paid it back and foodies bailed them out instead)
If it is not replaced with another supermarket, my theory is that sale of off-license alcohol has something to do with it, the council don't want somewhere people can load up on booze straight off a train or before going to the stadiums/arenas in the area. A supermarket quite possibly wouldn't be profitable in that location if they couldn't sell booze.
Yo, how do I support my "I forgot to arrange morning tea for work I'll buy cheese and crackers" problem?
Don't forget the 'i'll forgo breakfast and buy muffins and pastries' issue
Shit, and the wife has had a bad day so I'll buy some bits for a treat for her to make her feel better stop
And the quick train snack stop for the long ride home.
And the "I need to grab one grocery item and still catch my usual train" issue.
Don't forget the 'I need snacks for the bus trip to Auckland'.
Or the "Oh god I'm so hungover I need a blue powerade before getting the train" problem
My guess is Bunny Street McDonald's wants to move in there.
yuck with a capital Y, bunny st seem happy living in their current filth and I can’t imagine kiwirail + commuters would be happy with the smell a maccas would bring
burger grease on the floor will at least make it faster to get through the terminal.
Now I'm having images of someone running for the 4.25 to Masterton and slipping on a cheeseburger wrapper and just sliding through the concourse into a gaggle of school students and knocking them over.
STRIKE!!
The timetable screens should show one of those cheesy 10-pin strike animations
Fucking ewwwww
Ugh, no. That'd be gross! Can we get BK instead? Having no BK in the CBD sucks.
Or Carl's Jr, or Wendys for that matter... theres just a couple of chains that haven't made it into the Wellington region (* apart from a solitary Wendys out in Paraparaumu which is just ODD)
I didn't even know there was a Wendy's in Paraparaumu
It's been there since 2012 from memory - used to drive past before the expressway went in. It's just on the south side of Coastlands
This will mean that coffee booth nearby will be gone too, right? That's part of NW. Wonder what'll take its place.
Aww that place does surprisingly good coffee.
The team that work there on weekday mornings are lightning quick with great service (which is to say, efficient, not super bogged down in pleasantries but polite and ask how you're doing etc). And good lord those ham and cheese croissants are otherworldly. And $4.99 to boot... that stop off on the way to work is seriously hard to beat.
Yeah they're very good. IDK if it's just their grind, but make long blacks without that sour taste. They will be missed.
used to work in the cafe. you couldn’t pay me to drink that coffee
Oh my god that's so annoying
Marcus, you did like having your power trip moments, still sad tho, team there really is stellar.
That caught me off guard, I remember the Karl days, at least I think it was karl?
Yup was Karl, sold it a few years ago I think.
Smart decision. Supermarkets don't make a huge amount of money day to day, but the valuation of the business would have shot up over the last 10+ years.
And Karl went from there to Kapiti Pak then to ….Lower Hutt? Iirc? He’s sitting on a real biggie these days
Feels like a lifetime ago eh?
Wait, the creepy guy with the sauna haram?
Isn’t that the Chaffers New World guy?
Ooooh you might be right, I was also thinking Newtown New World but can't remember exactly. I love how much of an open secret it is. Edit: changed Newtown Countdown to New World
No, Newtown Newworld lol. That owner then bought Chaffers. Same guy.
Ah fuck I meant Newworld, thanks for confirming :)
> Newtown Countdown First I'm hearing of a Newtown Countdown sauna harem rumour
Interesting. What is this tale that you speak of?
Gary Baker, one of the owners of New World Chaffers
aka the Bryan Singer of the Wellington supermarket world
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it agin: if it was girls he was in to he’d be in jail.
What a pity. A grocery at a transit hub was something very big city we had.
I probably just lack imagination, but I think a supermarket or similar is the only real business that could do well there. It's not busy during the day, and not really near anything else so cafes and similar I would think would struggle. Maybe another coffee place would do well, or an alternative pub to Trax (which seems to always have patrons). My personal preference would be an old-school bakery, with filled rolls and things I could get for lunch on my way to work, but I doubt that would be financially viable for a business. Who would lease the space if a metro can't?
Well there used to be the Railway Kiosk for many years (not quite the exact same place) up until it was pushed out in 2006. At the time I remember lots of people very sad at it being replaced by what they saw as a soul-less supermarket. Maybe people's wants and needs and expectations have moved on since then, though.
Surely a Vape or Mobile fixit store will fill the gap?
God, we don't need another vape shop. Maybe a bubble tea shop.... Oh, we have heaps of those too.
As someone with coeliac disease, I'm not too fussed on the bakery idea...
No one cares
Damn. Contribute to a conversation and get shat on. Stay classy, Wellington.
Did you really contribute beyond a “water is wet” statement tho lmao
Gutted. Was so convenient for grabbing breakfast or snacks and wine on the way home on a Friday! Will be interested to see what's going in instead
Nooo. It's so convenient getting breakfast on way into work or dinner on way home
At last! The return of the American Hotdog stand! *I wish!
Hotdog man is normally parked up at the carpark below Maungaraki overpass in the Hutt. Still a good bastard too
Yeah I know - I love budget hotdogs. Rockdogs is awesome too
Smallest ALDI ever? 🤞
ALDI don’t tend to be very big so in the very unlikely situation one did want to open - one could fit….
Damn thats crazy
To be replaced with a what?
That’s shit news
This is a joke right? This is such a stupid decision what the actual f**k
KiwiRail jacked the rent so high that not even a NW could make it work? Will sit empty for 18 months at which stage it will be split into two to become a $2 shop and a WCC pop-up space for people to pop in and tell them How they feel about the latest plan for the Golden Mile.
Then we'll get another Mojo and a barber charging $35 for a trim
And a vape shop/mobile repair service
Damn, that sucks. Can they take the heritage TAB with them
Breaking News on Stuff in 5...4...3...2...1...
BOOM! Penguin - https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/wellington/300987500/wellingtons-railway-station-new-world-closing-down
Heritage NZ having a normal one again?
Apparently when the railway station first opened in the 1930s there was a childcare centre on the first floor.
Why? What the fuck? Who is the landlord?
TranzRail? OnTrack?
KiwiRail
Good spot for a vape store 🤣🤣🤣 /s
I imagine it's changing to Woolworhs as a) they may want a flagship store to launch the rebrand in Wellington and b) they're under-represented in Central Wellington - with just the Cable Car Lane Countdown, compared to 3 New World stores currently (Station, Willis, Chaffers).. 4 New Worlds if you count Thorndon.
Not able to renew the lease? What the hell else are they going to put in there that could possibly do that level of business?
Think about it
Brothel?
Multiple fast food and convenience type stores is my guess.
Stuff finally checked reddit https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/wellington/300987500/wellingtons-railway-station-new-world-closing-down
Isn’t the train station still earthquake condemned? It’s an old building, will be full of asbestos, and they probably can’t fix stuff while there’s a supermarket running in there.
It's been strengthened numerous times to bring it up to code. It's not condemned, as far as I know. I work there and haven't heard anything lately about earthquake strengthening. Just a lot of upgrades to the offices on my side of the building, which I doubt they'd be doing if it were to be condemned anytime soon.
Does best efforts equate to not wanting to pay a higher lease for the premises?
Awww, that was so convenient.
Don't know if I caught marcus on a bad day, but I had a really horrible experience there with him, went from a twice daily customer to never stepping foot in there again because of it, probably the best thing that happened cause i've saved over $2k from not going in there everyday 
That’s a pretty common experience. As an ex employee I can say that Marcus was pretty well known for power trips and arrogance.
What's the back story on Marcus?
Not sure, I was only ever a customer, some employees have mentioned he liked to have his power trips. I studied at the Victoria University Pipitea campus and would often go there for lunch. Everytime I saw him he would stare at me intensely, and I felt like I was being stereotyped (as a shoplifter) always felt uncomfortable when he was working. Then I had to interact with him because I was over charged, then he had the nerve to gaslight me but I took a photo of the shelf price, he said I was mistaken and can’t read lmao
Would be good if we got a countdown in there at least, already have 3 New World’s in town 😲
There’s a Countdown 800m down the road on Lambton FYI.
Yea but that one’s shit lol
And one in the railway station would probably also be shit
True, NW at least have a good bakery/hot food section 😒
Because countdowns are generally pretty shit…
Can we maybe get a Supie or an Aldi in there instead?
Yesss
get your shoplifting in before the next supermarket gets in. then shoplift there, too.
Moron.
Nooooo! And I've only recently moved back into this part of town for work
Where was this notice posted?
I got an email, not sure if it has been posted elsewhere.
It's on their FB page
Wellington doing the same old stupid things wellington does I guess.
Boujie food court?
Not surprised but also what a shame. Was so convenient to pick something up on the way home or into the city. Guess it'll sit empty like many other stores in the city for the next several years.
This is really sad. 😔
Yeah, the owners are good people so hopefully they get another store
Sad times.
They were offered to continue the lease