Showgrounds supermarket delayed due to incomplete roading into development

The opening of a supermarket in a large new retail centre on the outskirts of Timaru has been further delayed.

A Countdown spokesperson said the supermarket chain’s new Timaru North store was supposed to open on March 2, but that had been delayed until March 9 to give the developer more time to complete road works into the site.

“This is slightly later than originally planned to allow the developer time to complete roading that leads to the store.

“Countdown Church Street will continue to operate until our Timaru North store opens,” the spokesperson said.

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It is the latest in a string of delays for the new 3900sqm supermarket.

In June – the supermarket announced it would close its Church St store. It was originally hoped the new supermarket would open in August 2022, but that was pushed out to November in July before being further delayed.

In October, Countdown indicated the store was expected to open in early December, however a week later it reported it was working to confirm a date with the developer as the opening date had “unfortunately been further delayed”.

Countdown had said the decision had been made to close the Church St store because of the significant cost of fixing the building’s deteriorating condition.

At the time, it said the closure would align with the opening of the new store enabling a smooth transition for staff wanting to relocate.

“The [new] store is looking great with a fresh, modern look and feel along with many state-of-the-art features which we look forward to sharing with our customers at opening,” the spokesperson said.

The new store is expected to have a “beautiful bakery”, a “stunning produce section” and dedicated food-to-go areas.

The store will also have a number of sustainability features including electronic shelf labels to reduce paper use, EV chargers for customers, a transcritical refrigeration system (which use natural refrigerants), and doors on milk and dairy fridges to help reduce energy use.

The supermarket is the first store expected to open at the 34,000sqm development, with developer Redwood Group recently given the green light by Timaru District Council to open the first stage of the complex before an access intersection is completed.

Previously, the land use consent conditions stated stage one of the development could not open until Redwood Group had completed construction of an intersection at Grants Rd and SH1/Evans St.

However, a request to change the conditions of the consent was rubber-stamped by the Timaru District Council in December – paving the way for the first stage of the retail complex to open before the access intersection has been completed.

The new condition states, although the permanent intersection still needs to be constructed, “in the event that some retail is operational prior to the completion of stage one, an interim intersection solution to allow for only stage one shall firstly be constructed by the consent holder…”

The latest changes to the consent came four months after the council approved other changes requested by the developer. The requests included the relocation of a planned food and beverage area and a request to change the height and width of signage

Redwood Group, has been approached for comment.