Local Flavour. Exploring the changing face of Panmure’s Town Centre.
As oversized malls alter our shopping habits and immigration and the housing boom change our suburbs, what 's going on in our town centres?
At ten am the suburb that nearly became New Zealand’s capital is blearily rubbing the sleep from its eyes, shuffling from slippers to shoes and getting ready for a day of business. Panmure’s shabby shopping stretch contains a mish-mash of unlikely bedfellows; a seemingly awkward ménage à trois of food, sex and money-lending that 's a far cry from the buzzing but conservative working class shopping hub of the 50s – 70s. This tryst brought about by mega-sized shopping malls, immigration and social housing clusters has produced a place …show more content…
Unemployment in the area sits at 17%, well above wider Auckland’s 8.1% and for those fortunate enough to have a job, the payoff can be meagre. Over half of the employed bring home less than $20,000 a year for their toil. Panmure 's population doesn 't have a lot of cash to spend and very little of what they do have finds its way to their town …show more content…
In the the 1990s owning a business in New Zealand was a sure-fire way to get a residency application rubber stamped. Shop owners with little passion for their enterprises emerged in the centre only to close when their residency was granted. Units have sat vacant for over a decade; their derelict state putting off future tenants. Retail competition is playing a part in the centre 's woes too. Nearby Sylvia Park shopping mall is syphoning much of what little money there is away from the local shopping centre. Its construction on land initially zoned for industrial use was fought bitterly by Otahuhu and Panmure who feared it would mean the demise of their retail centres. In an act of cynical altruism Westfield NZ sprang to the defence of the cash-strapped centres. Westfield’s Environment Court submission suggested the creation of their competitor’s mall would result in a loss of revenue for town centres. The court ruled in favour of allowing the mall construction to proceed and implied that town centres would need to adapt to survive stating they “…do not accept the claims that the sustainability of those centres would be destroyed, that their viability would be jeopardised, that their social functions would be significantly reduced, or that people would be disenabled in access to local shopping.” The court went on to firmly lob the ball in the town centres ' court
As oversized malls alter our shopping habits and immigration and the housing boom change our suburbs, what 's going on in our town centres?
At ten am the suburb that nearly became New Zealand’s capital is blearily rubbing the sleep from its eyes, shuffling from slippers to shoes and getting ready for a day of business. Panmure’s shabby shopping stretch contains a mish-mash of unlikely bedfellows; a seemingly awkward ménage à trois of food, sex and money-lending that 's a far cry from the buzzing but conservative working class shopping hub of the 50s – 70s. This tryst brought about by mega-sized shopping malls, immigration and social housing clusters has produced a place …show more content…
Unemployment in the area sits at 17%, well above wider Auckland’s 8.1% and for those fortunate enough to have a job, the payoff can be meagre. Over half of the employed bring home less than $20,000 a year for their toil. Panmure 's population doesn 't have a lot of cash to spend and very little of what they do have finds its way to their town …show more content…
In the the 1990s owning a business in New Zealand was a sure-fire way to get a residency application rubber stamped. Shop owners with little passion for their enterprises emerged in the centre only to close when their residency was granted. Units have sat vacant for over a decade; their derelict state putting off future tenants. Retail competition is playing a part in the centre 's woes too. Nearby Sylvia Park shopping mall is syphoning much of what little money there is away from the local shopping centre. Its construction on land initially zoned for industrial use was fought bitterly by Otahuhu and Panmure who feared it would mean the demise of their retail centres. In an act of cynical altruism Westfield NZ sprang to the defence of the cash-strapped centres. Westfield’s Environment Court submission suggested the creation of their competitor’s mall would result in a loss of revenue for town centres. The court ruled in favour of allowing the mall construction to proceed and implied that town centres would need to adapt to survive stating they “…do not accept the claims that the sustainability of those centres would be destroyed, that their viability would be jeopardised, that their social functions would be significantly reduced, or that people would be disenabled in access to local shopping.” The court went on to firmly lob the ball in the town centres ' court