The Woolworths supermarket will become New World next year. Photo: Supplied / Woolworths
Woolworths will close the doors of its Te Atatū Peninsula supermarket on Thursday.
The site of the building has been bought by Foodstuffs and will reopen as a New World next year.
Meantime, the 15,000 residents of the suburb must travel to Te Atatū South to find their closest supermarket or to Pak'n Save on Lincoln Road.
Woolworths said it was sad to leave the community and wanted to thank customers for their support.
The shop would close at 6pm Thursday and staff would attend a dinner for closure.
"We're pleased that many of our team will be continuing their careers with us at nearby stores. Others have decided to make a change and move on to new opportunities and we wish them all the best.
"We look forward to continuing to serve many locals at our Te Atatū South and other nearby stores, and through online shopping. Again, we'd thank the community for their kind words and support over the last few weeks."
While RNZ research showed that the distance Te Atatū Peninsula residents must travel to a supermarket for the next year is not large by national standards, marketing expert Mike Lee said the inconvenience was upsetting locals.
Lee is a professor of marketing at the University of Auckland business school.
"The traffic around that part of town is absolutely horrendous," he said. "Getting out of the peninsula towards Henderson could take up to half an hour, depending on traffic, so that's half an hour there, an unfamiliar shopping environment and half an hour back, compared to a 5-10-minute trip down the road that they are used to."
He said the population density of the area meant the new owners would likely want to get the supermarket up and running as quickly as they could.
"I don't think residents need to fear a lack of business incentive in terms of reopening a New World on that site. I also don't think it will affect the property prices in the short term, even though convenience and proximity to amenities is one of the key features of a good property location.
"If anything, once the fancy New World is opened, property prices might increase, but it is unfortunate that the residents will have to put up with a significant amount of inconvenience for the next year at least."
Earlier, retail consultant Chris Wilkinson said people formed habits with their shopping and got used to places they visited, which was why there had been an emotional reaction to the absence of a supermarket on the peninsula for a period.
"These types of things can show you that familiarity, convenience are really important things and drivers in shopping decisions."
