New World Hutt City owners Steve and Sarah Williams, together with their team and Foodstuffs’ help, have opened a pop-up shop in a giant marquee in a safe zone outside the existing store.
“We’ve had to close our store due to the required demolition of the Queensgate car park building. It’s frustrating as our store is perfectly sound and packed to the rafters with awesome products our customers need. We just can’t let them in safely at the moment,” says Sarah. “So, the clever team at Foodstuffs North Island put their thinking caps on and together we’ve come up with a ‘New World Hutt Pop-up’ which will be live for a week or so. The pop-up store will sit in our car park and offer a wide variety of fresh fruit and veg, popular dairy, meats, deli and frozen items and our most sought-after weekly grocery products. We’ll have around 750 of our most popular items available for sale and of course it’s all the great quality and good value our customers know and love. ”
In the true spirit of the Foodstuffs Co-operative it’s been a real team effort to get this off the ground says Chris Quin, CEO Foodstuffs North Island. “Our unique culture gives us the chance to think outside the square, and the close personal bonds we have with our owner-operators, and the connection they have in turn with their customers, push the whole team to do extraordinary things every day.”
The large marquee will be a real talking point in Hutt City. “There will still be plenty of parking, customers will be able to use EFTPOS, and everyone can still earn points on their New World Clubcard,” says Steve. “Our staff can’t wait to get back in amongst it again, and catch up with customers they are used to seeing each week.”
The pop-up is likely to be in place until the Hutt City Council declares it’s safe to re-open the store following the demolition of the Queensgate car park and cinema. “We’ve worked really closely with Council. They have been very supportive at a very tough time for us and a number of other businesses in the area. We’re hopeful to be back in the store proper as soon as possible,” says Chris Quin.
In the meantime Steve and Sarah want to thank all their customers and their amazing staff who have pulled out all the stops to get the pop-up going. “We’re getting back on our feet again, and want to help you get back to normal too,” says Steve. “Christmas is just around the corner, it’s time to load up on essentials – after all, there’s actually a lot to be thankful for, and it’s a time of year when generosity means everything.”
View New World’s video showing how they built a pop-up supermarket in a day below:
