H&J Smith has confirmed it will close its Dunedin department store on 30 January 2021, as well as the Armoury Store which operates in the Wall Street precinct. 

Earlier this month, the company confirmed the closure of its Te Anau and Balclutha stores, the downsizing of its Gore store and the closure of Outdoor World at Remarkables Park in Queenstown. 

The company says it has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and is also grappling with issues like increasing wage and compliance costs, store size and scale and an ageing store network in need of capital expenditure. 

Managing director Jason Smith said reducing its store network and consolidating its operations back to its home base of Invercargill, would enable H&J Smith to secure the long term future of its retail division.

"We’ve been working in the background with the Dunedin mall owners and managers to finalise terms. Late [Thursday 18], June we received the necessary legal documentation to allow us to firm up exit dates.”

85 employees are affected by the Dunedin store closure.

“While I appreciate this will be very difficult for our Dunedin-based staff, I am pleased to be able to provide certainty so they can now plan for their futures,” Mr Smith said. 

“We deeply regret the impact the Dunedin department store closure will have on our employees and their families, as well as the community.”

Mr Smith said that distance meant redeployment wasn’t a realistic option for the majority of employees however the company would consider this for staff who wanted to relocate. 

“We are working closely with our staff to ensure we are able to provide our high level of service to our customers until we close in January next year.”

Decisions on the future of the H&J Smith store at Mosgiel were under active consideration with no further details were available at this time, he said.  

The other businesses operated by the H & J Smith Group, Mitre 10 MEGA in Invercargill and Queenstown and Laser Electrical in Invercargill are not affected by the restructure.