The property at Queen Street in the Nelson suburb of Richmond is occupied by a branch of Smiths City. Founded in Christchurch in 1918 by Henry Cooper Smith, Smiths City Group Limited is an established player in New Zealand’s retail and consumer finance sectors.

The chain has 24 branches throughout New Zealand – from Tauranga in the north to Invercargill in the south – offering virtual ‘one-stop-shops’ for whiteware, furniture, computer equipment, and home appliances.

The Richmond branch of Smiths City, like its sister operations, stocks consumer product brands such as Fisher & Paykel, Panasonic, Samsung, Mitsubishi, Masport, Apple, Acer, Hewlett Packard, La-Z-Boy, Sleepyhead, LG, and Breville, in an elongated open plan format.

Queen Street is Richmond’s foremost retail strip – sustaining scores of retail outlets, food and beverage stores, health and beauty businesses, and the offices of multiple professional services consultancies, in addition to the Tasman District Council offices and the police station.

The 880-square metre single-storey Smiths City building sits on some 1,024-square metres of land - zoned central business under the Tasman District Council plan – and is located directly across the road from the popular Richmond Mall.

The central business zoning for Queen Street encompasses properties facing onto the main retail routes within Richmond, Motueka and Takaka, and is designed to maintain the commercial vitality of those town centres by underpinning retail and commercial usage.

The freehold property at 197 Queen Street, Richmond is being marketed for sale by deadline through Bayleys Nelson, with the negotiation process closing at 2pm on June 8, 2022 (unless sold prior). Salesperson Paul Vining said the building underwent earthquake strengthening in 2020 and now has a new building standards rating of at least 67 percent.

“The property’s street profile is enhanced by full-height floor-to-ceiling windows in addition to signage above the awning which stretches out over the pavement. Customer parking is available immediately outside the premises – allowing for a high degree of customer satisfaction,” said Vining.

“Access to the rear of the building, which has a high stud roller door for delivery truck access, comes off John Wesley Lane which is used as a service route by neighbouring retail properties.”

Smiths City Richmond has signed a new six-year lease for the Queen Street premises, running through to 2028 with two further four-year rights of renewal, and generating net rental income of $165,800 per annum.

Vining said the building was laid out with warehouse-style showroom space at the front of the premises, administrative offices, toilets, and staff lunchroom situated midway, and the goods storage area located at the rear of the building.

“There are relatively few buildings of this size in the heart of Central Richmond, which is one of the reasons Smiths City has just resigned a new lease. Queen Street has the highest foot traffic volumes in town – which is why the location is such a sought-after destination by retail tenancies,” he said.

“Retail activity in town is underpinned by ongoing population growth in and around Richmond, and this bodes well for businesses with a presence in the heart of this suburb.”

The latest Tasman District report compiled by economic research agency Infometrics shows that the region’s economy is growing marginally faster than the national economy – with gross domestic product (GDP) in Tasman growing at 5.6 percent compared to the national rate of 5.5 percent in the year to December 2021.

The Infometrics data also recorded that the employment rate in Tasman grew by 1.6 percent in the year to December 2021, with hiring most noticeably up in the construction and health sectors.

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