H&J Smith will be closing its doors for good later this year.
Following a four-week consultation process, H&J Smith Group announced yesterday the last day of trading for the Invercargill and Remarkables Park stores would be November 18.
The Gore store is also closing.
H&J Smith Group managing director Jason Smith said the consultation process had been emotionally tough.
"It’s 28 years I’ve been managing director for team, so I’ve worked closely in this business for a long period of time, and a lot of these people I’ve worked pretty close to them."
Staff were informed of the final decision at 7pm yesterday.
The reasons for the closures varied, but ultimately the stores were not sustainable, he said.
The group had looked through a programme of potential remediation of the Invercargill store that could take three to five years.
"If we go down that path of totally rebuilding the store and bringing it up to standard and things, what does the business look like?
"At that point, we couldn’t see a sustainable business period."
He said challenges included supply changes and the speed of those changes post-Covid.
"We’ve tried our best to work it out to get through all these factors."
H&J Smith employed about 220 people — 190 in Invercargill, four in Gore and 20 in Queenstown.
Mr Smith said staff were being offered support through several key services, including counselling and career planning.
The company’s staff and determining the future of the business were the group’s two key priorities, Mr Smith said.
"It’s only now that it’s appropriate for us to discuss potential uses for the building and site.
"We feel very strongly however, that the community has an opportunity to assist in the creation of new vision for this space."
He said he had been working on the building’s remediation programme while having initial discussions with key landlords.
The group had identified areas of the business, including Gun City, School Uniforms and Paper Plus, where there was potential opportunity to continue independently from the H&J Smith brand, though details would be released in the coming weeks.
Chief executive John Green said supporting staff in the wake of the announcement was a top priority, and the Invercargill store would be closed for the day following the announcement to give their team space and time to absorb the news.
Southland Business Chamber board president Neil McAra said it was disappointing to see the store close and for the city to lose a long-standing business.
"We feel for the staff that obviously have to be going through this process as a part of that situation.
"It certainly will leave a vacuum in that part of the city ... Hopefully someone comes forward to take it and do something. That’ll be, I suppose, a question of time."
H&J Smith closed its Te Anau and Balclutha stores in July 2020 and its large Dunedin store in the Meridian Mall in January 2021.
