New World Kaikoura re-opens

There’s some good news for the Kaikoura community this morning as the New World supermarket re-opened.

Steve Anderson, CEO, Foodstuffs South Island Limited says, ”The team worked round the clock yesterday to get access to Kaikoura and assist the owners in re-opening the store this morning. They are facing significant challenges with key services such as power and water having been out in the town for a period of time yesterday.”

“With the help of emergency services we were able to fly an engineer into Kaikoura to assess the store, thankfully it has been declared structurally sound which means we can resume trading this morning.”

“The store has opened with reduced stock availability as fresh and frozen products have been affected due to the power outages. We would like to let customers know they can come to the store to access emergency supplies and staff will be on hand to assist. The store is working hard to manage stock and ensure all of the community can access supplies, and at this time customers are being served from the front foyer with the assistance of staff.”

“Access to the community is still very limited and the business is working with Civil Defence to get supplies through to the store but until this detail is confirmed the store is unable to re-stock. We would ask the community to bear with the owners and their staff while they attempt to ensure everyone has the opportunity to access key staples such as water, canned goods and other essential items.”

Anderson confirms that with the exception of Kaikoura, Foodstuffs (North and South Island) has more than adequate stock available so customers should not be concerned, and except for the odd delay, trucks are continuing to arrive at stores as normal and stores are managing stock to ensure that everyone has access to staple items. “It’s great news that trucks are now coming across on the Interisland ferries and are able to access Christchurch via the Lewis Pass and on top of this we are continuing to utilise sea freight options.”

The South Island DCs are well stocked and the business has strong resilience plans in place to ensure supply is maintained following an event such as the earthquake. Foodstuffs is working with Civil Defence, suppliers and Foodstuffs North Island to ensure continuity of supply is maintained.

“At this stage our focus is on Kaikoura and the surrounding communities which have been hardest hit. We need to ensure they have access to essential supplies of food and water, both in the short and long term. Our supply chain is incredibly robust and has been tested many times through the Canterbury earthquakes. Product is arriving to stores and a variety of freight options are being utilised across the supply chain.”

Advice to customers is to shop as normal, the supply chain is intact and the business is working hard to ensure the remaining stores open as soon as possible.

Store status as of Tuesday morning 9.00am is;

• Wellington region;

o All stores are now open

• Canterbury region;

o New World Kaikoura (opened with stock limits)

o Four Square Kaikoura (closed)

o Henry’s Kaikoura (closed)

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