| OMBA Manager, Murray Chapman is on medical leave this week so thanks to Matt Henderson from Warkworth Menswear for writing the newsletter intro. |
| Friday, July 14th, Matariki 2023. Warkworth’s first long weekend since the opening of the new road. A chance to showcase what we have to offer to visitors from all over Auckland. A chance to finally have a long weekend where we aren’t a town tucked in beside a slow-moving carpark. An opportunity to showcase Warkworth as a destination. So how did we do? The day started slow as any public holiday does. But then they came. People from all over Auckland, with one thing on their mind. A late café breakfast followed by a bit of retail therapy. And in reality, what did they get…….. not a single café was open. There were only a handful of retailers open, and our shop had its best Friday in two months. The only bakery in town that was open had queues out the door. Mr. Grind was kept busy being the only coffee place in town open. The general feedback from our customers was disbelief that everyone in Warkworth was closed. That there wasn’t a single café open. That in a struggling economic time, how could shops be closed when there was an opportunity to make money? This makes me wonder as a retailer…. are we about to ruin what has been given to us by the new road? We have the opportunity to make Warkworth a visitor destination. People can now visit us without sitting in traffic for hours. This has already been displayed since the opening of the new road. Warkworth Menswear is now getting customers from Orewa, Silverdale, and from the North Shore, just popping up for lunch and a bit of shopping knowing that it is only a 35-minute drive. And they won’t get caught in a traffic jam! On Friday 14th July I had customers from as far as Howick on a day trip. Warkworth was their planned destination. Will they be back again? Regretfully, probably not. As a town, we can no longer assume that long weekends will be slow for us. We need to, dare I say it, pivot to a direction that reflects a town with a growing population. The Mahurangi Winter Festival of Lights has shown that people will come if given a reason. Public holidays, Sunday trading, and even maybe late-night shopping are all things that as a town we need to think seriously about. And as a small business owner, I worry that if the town doesn’t change then when the strip malls come, we will be ignored by all and slowly become a forgotten town. This is our chance to make Warkworth a destination that visitors choose to journey to, not through anymore. We have already fallen at the first hurdle. But it gives us a chance to take stock and work together on how we will approach and shape future public holidays. What will happen during the next long weekend? Will it be more of the same or will the business owners of the town realise that the only way forward is change? And the only way to survive and go onto thrive is to be open. |
 Matt Henderson One Mahurangi Committee Member Owner of Warkworth Menswear warkworthmenswear.co.nz | www.onemahurangi.co.nz Support Local, Buy Local, Employ Local, Love Local! |
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