Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Briony Hogg: Marsden Books Karaori Owner expects 35% revenue hit as a result of NZ Post closures

Transcript

Briony Hogg: Marsden Books Karaori Owner expects 35% revenue hit as a result of NZ Post closures · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: New Zealand post is dumping twenty percent of its urban
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: postal counters. This is small businesses that are connected to
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: these shops. They are going to hurt. They're really worried
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: about how they'll make up the lost revenue. One of
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: those businesses is Marsden Books in Karori, where the owner
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: is Briani Hogg and Brian's with me this morning. Good
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: morning Briani, Good morning Ryan. So how much do these
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: counters make you? How much business do they bring.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: In in terms of revenue. It's not a lot. The
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: margins are pretty low. But for us, as a small
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: bookshop and you know, a suburban area, it's all about
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: the people that it brings into the store. You know,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: people would come in to do their posting and while
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: they're in there, they'll buy a car, then they'll buy
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: a book and they'll have a chat and you know,
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: we build a relationship with these people. And yeah, we're
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: really really disappointed that was lost.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: At Do you know what sort of impact it might
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: have on your bottom line?
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: It's going to be pretty significant. It is a large
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: portion of our revenue, you know, So now we're going
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: to have to think about ways that we pivot ways
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: that we change in the way we do business. And
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: you know, it's been a pretty exhausting couple of years
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: to be a small business owner. I'm sure these people
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: out there there just don't have the energy to do
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: that sort of pivot anymore. So, yeah, it's going to
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: be really really significant, not just on me, but on
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: all the other one hundred and forty one outlets that
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: got closed.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Yestinay, where's the next closest one to you?
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: So we're in Karori and Wellington, which is New Zealand's
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: largest suburb. There's about eighteen thousand people that live in Karori,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: so there's actually there was two outlets in Karori, of
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: which we were won. The closest one to us is
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: not too far away, but unfortunately New Zealand Posts have
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: made the decision to remove our postal services and concentrate
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: it on the other outlet and Corori, which is actually
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: in the petrol station, which is a bit of a
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: weird fit. And also, you know, there's a lot of
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: concerns around health and safety, elderly people crossing four courts,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: you know, that sort of thing. So that's the thing
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: that we're really quite devastated about. To our customers.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this one does seem a bit curious to me.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Did they say why or you know, what was the
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: criteria for which one they packed?
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: We have no idea. We got no feedback about that. Unfortunately.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: I imagine it was something to do with the bottom line,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: which I understand is important. But you know, for us,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: the thing that's important is that community spirit and that
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: social connection which we went above and beyond to our
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: customers to provide. We had great relationships with our post customers.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I'm just not sure they're going to get that same
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: level of service at a petrol station.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Briani. I appreciate your time this morning. All I can
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: say is best of luck. You know, you've been in
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: business a long time, and I'm sure you will have
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: the resilience and you will pivot as you say. For
• 2:50
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• 2:53
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• 2:57
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