Packed inside a 40-foot shipping container, the formerly Auckland-based Essentially Tamara made the voyage down to Dunedin just over a year ago, in what was the "ultimate game of ... Tetris", co-director Matt Lamb said.
"We thought, we can’t really move our family and our other businesses all the way to the other end of the country.
"So we’ll just bring it down to us."
Stock, raw materials, machinery — "literally the whole factory" — arrived in Port Chalmers by boat, fellow co-director Carla Stratton said.
"Right down to the microwave and the fridge out of the smoko room," Mr Lamb added.
"It took us three days to pack it up and about a week to unpack it."
The business was founded by Tamara Bonfante in May 2019, who deciding to hand over the reins towards the end of 2023.
It manufactured "shower bombs", the same concept as a bath bomb but placed on the floor of your shower, and had a network of wholesale retailers around New Zealand and Australia — so it did not matter where production was based, Mr Lamb said.
"We saw the merit in the business already being pretty well-established, and it’s a nice product and we could see the scope for growth within the business."
Neither had considered moving up to Auckland themselves.
The pair have operated the business from its new Maclaggan St premises for just over a year, but it had initially been a bit more challenging to do from the bottom of the South Island, Ms Stratton said.
"It was not as easy as it is in Auckland.
"Importing things, we’ve learnt, is not that easy when you’re trying to get it into Port Chalmers, but it’s all been a learning curve."
But once they had worked through the logistical challenges and had their supply chains settled, it was "business as usual", Mr Lamb said.
"All our family’s here, so we’re well-rooted in Dunedin.
"It had to be here or not at all, really; it was definitely worth it."
